Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it remains his policy to progress the Renters’ Reform Bill this Parliament.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to PQ 147433 on 27 February 2023.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support shared ownership homeowners.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
As set out previously the Government is taking numerous steps to support shared owners. For example, in April 2021, we introduced a new model of Shared Ownership.
Following discussions with the sector, we are pleased that the majority of providers have confirmed that they will voluntarily limit Shared Ownership rent increases to no more than 7% in 2023-24.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has put in place a cap on rental increases for social housing renters; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of implementing a cap on those increases for people with shared ownership homes.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to the Autumn Statement’s (Official Report, HC, Volume 722, Column 855) announcement on the cap on social rents. Further, to the answer I gave to Question UIN 173100 on 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of !4 December to Question 107087 on Housing: Mould, whether his Department is providing extra resources to local authorities to help ensure that they have the capability to address these issues.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Secretary of State wrote to social housing providers alerting them to respond to the Regulator of Social Housing on damp and mould in their areas. The Regulator has since written asking for information to be provided by 19 December. This information should provide a clearer picture on the scale of the problem for the government to consider what action is needed.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of households that are affected by mould as of 9 December 2022; and whether his Department is taking steps to implement a strategy to help reduce that number.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Secretary of State has written to social housing providers, setting out his expectation that they act swiftly to rectify damp and mould and be prepared to respond to the Regulator of Social Housing on the extent of these issues in their areas.
For the private rented sector, the Secretary of State has written to all local authorities setting out his expectation that they will take action to resolve poor housing conditions in their area and requiring them to respond to the department on current conditions.
The annual English Housing Survey publishes data on damp and mould.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the number of planning permissions that lapsed without construction commencing in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We do not have readily available statistics on the number of those permissions which lapse.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential security implications of the siting of the Chinese Embassy at Royal Mint Court.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
A planning application for a new Chinese Embassy is currently before the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. As the Secretary of State has a quasi-judicial role in the planning system, it would not be appropriate to comment on the merits of the proposal in case it were to come before Ministers in the future.
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to prevent housing associations from adding hidden costs to shared ownership transactions.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is clear that all costs should be clearly set out as part of Shared Ownership lease agreements.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Government plans to take steps to support private renters who would like to own a pet dog or cat to do so responsibly, in the context of Battersea’s Pet Friendly Properties campaign.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government recognises the importance of pet ownership to many renting in the private rented sector. We have therefore taken steps to make it easier for responsible tenants to keep pets in the private rented sector.
We have revised the national Model Tenancy Agreement, the government’s recommended contract for assured shorthold tenancies in the private rented sector, in order to make it easier for tenants with pets to find private landlords who will accept them. The revision aims to strike the balance between protecting private landlords from situations where their properties are damaged by badly behaved pets and ensuring responsible pet owning tenants are not unfairly penalised.
The Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of the revised Model Tenancy Agreement in supporting pet ownership in the private rented sector.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the revised Model Tenancy Agreement in supporting more tenants in privately-rented homes to own a pet dog or cat.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government recognises the importance of pet ownership to many renting in the private rented sector. We have therefore taken steps to make it easier for responsible tenants to keep pets in the private rented sector.
We have revised the national Model Tenancy Agreement, the government’s recommended contract for assured shorthold tenancies in the private rented sector, in order to make it easier for tenants with pets to find private landlords who will accept them. The revision aims to strike the balance between protecting private landlords from situations where their properties are damaged by badly behaved pets and ensuring responsible pet owning tenants are not unfairly penalised.
The Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of the revised Model Tenancy Agreement in supporting pet ownership in the private rented sector.