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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 23 October (HL1773), whether they have any plans to establish an independent regulator to oversee the standards of housing owned and let by charities such as the National Trust.

The Government is determined to improve and raise standards in the rented and leasehold sector. Local authorities already have strong powers to tackle rogue landlords and poor property conditions.

We have already introduced a range of additional powers through the Housing & Planning Act 2016 with Rent Repayment Orders and Civil Penalties of up to £30,000 for certain housing offences as an alternative to prosecution which came into force on 6 April 2017.

The Government is also seeking views on the regulation of letting and managing agents and the approaches government could take to implement any such regulation, and has published a Call for Evidence, ‘Protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market, which closes on 29 November 2017.