Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help individuals aged over 65 living in rented accommodation.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Renters (Reform) Bill is currently making its way through Parliament. It will deliver the Government’s commitment to a fairer private rented sector in England, improving the system for responsible tenants and good faith landlords.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Budget statement announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 6 March, what assessment they have made of the long-term implications of abolishing tax relief for holiday lets and ending multiple dwelling relief from stamp duty land tax on the housing market and local economies.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
By abolishing the Furnished Holiday Lettings tax regime, the government will remove the current incentive for landlords to offer short‑term holiday lets rather than longer-term homes. This will level the playing field between short-term holiday lets and long-term lets and support people to live in their local area.
An external evaluation exploring the use of Multiple Dwellings Relief showed no strong evidence the relief is meeting its original objectives of supporting investment in the private rented sector.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 assessment of the (a) challenges faced by disabled renters in the private rented sector and (b) potential impact of the Renters (Reform) Bill on tackling those challenges.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to helping disabled people to live independently and safely in their home. The Renters (Reform) Bill will help improve the quality of privately rented homes by introducing a Decent Homes Standard in the private rented sector for the first time. This will ensure tenants, including those with disabilities, benefit from homes that are safe and decent.
Through the abolition of Section 21 evictions, the Bill will give all tenants greater security in their home and will empower disabled tenants to challenge poor practice and request home adaptations where they are needed, without worrying about retaliatory eviction by their landlord. The Bill will also create a new PRS Landlord Ombudsman which tenants can complain to if they think their landlord unreasonably refused permission to make an adaptation to their home. The Bill will also make practices by landlords and/or those acting on their behalf which discriminate against those who receive benefits, including disability benefits, illegal.
We are working with a range of stakeholders to understand what information is important to tenants when using the property portal and will outline this in regulations.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 merits of using the Property Portal to record accessibility information on private sector dwellings.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to helping disabled people to live independently and safely in their home. The Renters (Reform) Bill will help improve the quality of privately rented homes by introducing a Decent Homes Standard in the private rented sector for the first time. This will ensure tenants, including those with disabilities, benefit from homes that are safe and decent.
Through the abolition of Section 21 evictions, the Bill will give all tenants greater security in their home and will empower disabled tenants to challenge poor practice and request home adaptations where they are needed, without worrying about retaliatory eviction by their landlord. The Bill will also create a new PRS Landlord Ombudsman which tenants can complain to if they think their landlord unreasonably refused permission to make an adaptation to their home. The Bill will also make practices by landlords and/or those acting on their behalf which discriminate against those who receive benefits, including disability benefits, illegal.
We are working with a range of stakeholders to understand what information is important to tenants when using the property portal and will outline this in regulations.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support low-income renters.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We spend around £30bn annually on housing support for low-income renters in the private and social rented sectors.
From April we are investing £1.2bn increasing the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of market rents, ensuring 1.6m private renters gain on average almost £800 in 2024/25 in additional support towards rental costs. This significant investment will cost £7bn over five years.
Discretionary Housing Payments are available for those who need additional support. Since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7bn for DHPs to local authorities.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on how many Disabled people were evicted thorough section 21 no-fault evictions in the private rented sector in 2023.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 14713 on 22 February 2024.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to allow landlords of rented properties to claim (1) adding insulation where there was none before, and (2) upgrading a central heating boiler from an older, less efficient model, as expenses.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government continues to support both owner-occupier and private rented sector households to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. Landlords are therefore eligible to claim support to install low-carbon heating or energy efficiency upgrades in their properties under schemes like the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) 4.
The Government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review and any decisions on future changes will be taken in the context of the wider public finances.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on housing benefits in the last financial year; and how much of that was spent on housing provided by (a) local authorities, (b) other social housing providers and (c) private sector landlords.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2022/23 the Department spent £28.97 billion on Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Housing Element combined.
£15.00 billion was spent on Housing Benefit and £13.97 billion was spent on Universal Credit Housing Element. The quoted Housing Benefit expenditure excludes expenditure funded by Local Authorities.
Housing Benefit expenditure by tenure in 2022/23:
Universal Credit Housing Element expenditure by tenure in 2022/23:
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of private renting on mental health.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency’s Adverse Weather and Health Plan, which was last updated in November 2023, sets out evidence on potential impacts that housing conditions such as excess cold, damp, mould, and overheating can have on mental health. This plan is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-weather-and-health-plan
In September 2023, the Government published Understanding and addressing the health risks of damp and mould in the home. This guidance sets out the physical and mental health risks of damp and mould, and the steps social and private landlords should take to address these issues. The 2022 Levelling Up white paper set out our ambition to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030, with the biggest improvements in the lowest performing areas.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many Disabled Facilities Grants were distributed to private rented sector tenants last year.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Government is committed to helping older and disabled people to live independently and safely. Government funding for Disabled Facilities Grant has more than doubled, rising from £220 million in 2015-16 to £623 million for 2023-24.
The Department does not hold the requested data for 2023.