Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the cost of living crisis on home-owners whose shared ownership rent increases are not capped by the voluntary rent cap.

Most registered providers of social housing chose to limit voluntarily annual rent increases for their shared owners in 2023-24 to no more than 7%. Though the department was clear in its discussions with the sector that we expected them to take reasonable and responsible decisions at a time when many shared owners were facing pressures on their finances, we recognise that the decision to engage in this voluntary arrangement was one for individual providers to take independently. Rent increases for shared owners will continue to be based on the terms of their lease agreements with their providers.