Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it remains his Department's policy to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Any announcements will be made in the usual way.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Communities, Housing and Local Government Committee's report on leasehold reform, published in March 2019, whether his Department plans to implement the recommendations for a Code of Practice to ensure (a) local authorities provide evidence to leaseholders that they are receiving the same value from procurement practices in the public sector as they might reasonably expect in the private sector and (b) public procurement rules are not being used for overcharging.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is clear that service charges must be reasonable, and where costs relate to work or services, the work or services must be of a reasonable standard. Leaseholders may make an application to the appropriate tribunal to challenge the reasonableness of their service charges.
We are committed to better protecting and empowering leaseholders by giving them more information on what their costs pay for. This will help them more effectively challenge their landlord if they consider their fees are unreasonable. We are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this parliament.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to encourage developers that have not yet signed the building safety repairs pledge to do so.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government expects all developers to do the right thing, irrespective of whether they have signed the building safety repairs pledge. We are in ongoing discussions with several developers who have not signed the pledge and will invite them to sign the finalised self-remediation contract.
We have made clear that developers who fail to do the right thing face significant commercial consequences. In August, we made commencement regulations that are an important step towards giving Ministers powers to stop developers who fail to do the right thing from commencing developments for which they have planning permission and from being granted building control sign-off.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will amend the General Permitted Development Order to require that all new surfaces in front gardens should be permeable.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Permitted development rights already require that hard surfacing in excess of five square metres is made of porous materials or the run-off is directed from the hard surface to a permeable or porous surface within the curtilage of the house.
The Government has published Guidance on the Permeable Surfacing of Front Gardens , available at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/7728/pavingfrontgardens.pdf
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of allocating social housing to young professionals.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Local authorities are responsible for allocating social housing through schemes they set locally. These are governed by a framework of rules set by central government which ensure social housing is prioritised for those in housing need.
In 2015, government introduced the Right to Move to make it even easier for tenants to move closer to work or to take up a job offer.
The Right to Move prevents local authorities applying a local connection test that could disadvantage tenants who need to move across local authority boundaries for work related reasons, and ensures that social tenants who need to move for work related reasons, such as young professionals, are given appropriate priority under the local authority's allocation scheme.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of Houses of Multiple Occupancy regulations on the ability of private renters to access affordable accommodation; and what steps he is taking to increase the availability of regulated multiple occupancy private accommodation.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) are a valuable part of the housing market, particularly for tenants who may not have the opportunity or ability to rent a single-family home. All HMOs are subject to management regulations which impose duties on managers. Duties include adequate means of escape and other fire precautions, maintaining services such as electrics, gas and water supplies. There has been no formal assessment of the impact of HMO regulations on access to affordable accommodation.
Under national permitted development rights a dwelling house (a standard home) is able to change use to a smaller HMO for up to six people sharing facilities without the need for a planning application. This enables the change of use without placing unnecessary burdens on landlords and local planning authorities.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of leasehold reform on landlords.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
We will continue with our reforms to leasehold as part of our mission to level up homeownership.
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 came into force on 30 June 2022. It makes homeownership fairer and more transparent for thousands of future leaseholders, by preventing landlords under new residential long leases from requiring a leaseholder to pay a financial ground rent. The impact assessment for the Act was published on 12 May 2021 and can be accessed via the Parliamentary Bills website (https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2864).
In line with usual practice, the government's intention would be to publish an assessment of the impact of our leasehold reforms as part of taking future primary legislation through Parliament.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has plans to ban junk food advertising near schools, nurseries and children’s centres.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The health of our nation's children is of great importance to this Government. The Government will be publishing a Health Disparities White Paper, aiming to break the link between people's backgrounds and their prospects for a healthy life. The specific policy content of the White Paper will be set out in due course.
The display of advertisements is controlled under the advertisement consent regime by local planning authorities. However, it is the effect on amenity and public safety rather than the content of the adverts themselves which is subject to planning control.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Written Statement of 22 June 2022 on Homes for Ukraine: Update, Official Report, HCWS123, how his Department defines personally known to the parents; and whether a sponsor who has spoken extensively with the parents over a previous sponsorship application for another member of the family would qualify.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
It is expected that the sponsors of unaccompanied eligible minors should personally know the parent(s) or legal guardian of the child and that relationship should date from before the start of the conflict on 24 February 2022, except in exceptional circumstances. Further guidance will be published in due course.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Housing and Communities, whether the changes announced on 22 June to the Homes for Ukraine scheme will preclude children with no connection to the UK.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
It is expected that the sponsors of unaccompanied eligible minors should personally know the parent(s) or legal guardian of the child and that relationship should date from before the start of the conflict on 24 February 2022, except in exceptional circumstances. Further guidance will be published in due course.