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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many Help to Buy leaseholders paid the £425 administration fee following the commitment by Homes England that the RICS president would find a surveyor to make a cladding-affected valuation of their property.

All customers who wish to pay off their equity loan need to have their home professionally valued first to ascertain its current market value. Those whose properties have building safety issues, such as unsafe exterior cladding, can present additional challenges in valuing. The process to get a valuation and redeem an equity loan for properties affected by cladding can be found on Target, the loan administrator's, website here.

We are aware that some customers are having difficulties finding a valuer prepared to value their properties. We are working with Homes England and RICS to try to find ways to help customers, including potentially unlocking more valuation options for them in the future.

Homes England previously referred some customers to the President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to appoint a valuer. Fourteen customers paid and were subsequently refunded the £425 fee once it became clear that the option was no longer viable.