Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of shared ownership leaseholders (a) nationally and (b) in London who are unable to sell or remortgage their homes due to cladding or EWS1-related issues.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Ten major mortgage lenders have signed the updated joint statement on cladding, confirming they will consider lending on properties in buildings 11 metres and above, where the building is in a remediation scheme or the property is protected by the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act and the leaseholder has completed a ‘Leaseholder Deed of Certificate’ to evidence it. Officials in my department engage with lenders individually should we receive evidence to suggest a signatory is not upholding the statement. The Government does not collect data on the number of shared owners impacted by building safety issues who have difficulty selling or remortgaging their properties.
The leaseholder protections give greater protection from costs to shared ownership leases. Specifically, holders of qualifying leases which were shared ownership leases as of 14 February 2022 have lower maximum contribution caps, proportional to their share of ownership of the property on that date. Government is not currently considering expanding the leaseholder protections further. The Leaseholder Protections balance the rights of leaseholders with those of those freeholders not connected with the developer who were equally innocent in the creation of the emerging defects.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of consumer protections on the marketing and selling of shared ownership properties with cladding or remediation based issues.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Ten major mortgage lenders have signed the updated joint statement on cladding, confirming they will consider lending on properties in buildings 11 metres and above, where the building is in a remediation scheme or the property is protected by the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act and the leaseholder has completed a ‘Leaseholder Deed of Certificate’ to evidence it. Officials in my department engage with lenders individually should we receive evidence to suggest a signatory is not upholding the statement. The Government does not collect data on the number of shared owners impacted by building safety issues who have difficulty selling or remortgaging their properties.
The leaseholder protections give greater protection from costs to shared ownership leases. Specifically, holders of qualifying leases which were shared ownership leases as of 14 February 2022 have lower maximum contribution caps, proportional to their share of ownership of the property on that date. Government is not currently considering expanding the leaseholder protections further. The Leaseholder Protections balance the rights of leaseholders with those of those freeholders not connected with the developer who were equally innocent in the creation of the emerging defects.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the regulatory and charitable framework governing housing associations that operate shared ownership schemes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The majority of Shared Ownership providers are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing. This means that they are required to meet the applicable regulatory standards. These include standards relating to governance and financial viability, alongside relevant consumer standards, including those relating to transparency, influence, and accountability.
Where they are registered charities, not for profit registered providers are also required to adhere to charity law principles, to ensure that their purpose serves the public interest.
As part of the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme, we are placing new expectations on providers to improve the experience of shared owners. These include giving greater consideration to long-term customer affordability, increasing transparency and fairness on costs, and giving customers the ability to opt out of fees for services that are optional.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many homes for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership were promised to planning authorities in England as part of section 106 agreements, but not delivered following viability assessments in each financial year from 2016–17 to 2024–25; whether these figures can be broken down by local authority and compared to the numbers of affordable, social rent and shared ownership properties required by those local authorities’ policies; and how these figures compare to the total numbers of homes built by private developers that do not fit into those three categories.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The requested information is not held by the Department.
The government is committed to strengthening the system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities have a clear process to follow for shared ownership and community benefit clean energy planning permission.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the Clean Power Action Plan, we made it clear that where communities host clean energy infrastructure they should feel tangible and enduring benefit of doing so. Shared ownership plays a key role in ensuring all communities can share the benefits from the transition to net zero 2050.
We are in the process of reviewing responses to our recent working paper and will continue to explore the role of local authorities in community benefit funds and shared ownership opportunities.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans her Department has to manage industrial disputes within the rail sector following the proposed transfer of all rail franchises into full public ownership.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to resetting industrial relations. A first of its kind joint industry and trade union Rail Engagement Group recently held its inaugural meeting to discuss shared ambitions for GBR. The Government plans to use this group to foster productive relationships with rail workers and their trade unions, where they are valued and respected partners in delivering the positive change we need to see on the network.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason the Right to Shared Ownership has been disapplied to rented homes funded by the Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026 to 2036.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Right to Shared Ownership, uptake of which has been very low, has been removed as a contractual condition of funding from the Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026-36 to protect much needed social and affordable housing stock and to increase certainty for social landlords in respect of long-term rental income.
At their discretion, landlords will still be able to offer tenants the opportunity to purchase their home via Shared Ownership.
This change does not impact tenants already living in homes funded by the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, who will still be able to access the Right to Shared Ownership in their current properties.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) social rent, (b) affordable rent, and (c) shared ownership homes have been provided through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme since its inception.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Bidding for the Programme in question has not yet opened.
On 7 November 2025, my Department published a policy statement on the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) which can be found on gov.uk here. This was accompanied by detailed guidance for prospective bidders published by Homes England and the Greater London Authority.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of mechanisms for homeowners to seek recourse when land held by the Duchy of Cornwall reverts to Duchy ownership following the insolvency of housing developers.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Homeowners will have such rights of recourse against insolvent corporate developers as exist under the corporate insolvency regime. The Duchy’s policy is to give an appropriate person or body the opportunity to purchase the property formerly owned by insolvent housing developers. Interested parties may also have the right to apply to Court for a vesting order under a variety of routes (the Trustee Act, Law of Property Act or Companies Act for example).
For communal or shared land, the Duchy co-operates to see the land is disposed of to interested parties directly or via a vesting order.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when he will announce Government plans for community benefit funds for solar developments following the Community Benefits and Shared Ownership for Low Carbon Infrastructure consultation which closed in July 2025.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This government has made clear that where communities host clean energy infrastructure, we will ensure they benefit from it.
We are in the process of reviewing responses to our community benefits and shared ownership for low carbon energy infrastructure working paper and intend to publish a response setting out our next steps in due course.
In the meantime, Solar Energy UK, the industry trade body, are planning to publish a voluntary community benefit protocol later this year.