Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing councils to take more rapid action to shut down shops repeatedly found to be trading illegally.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to taking further action against illicit activity on high streets. There has already been a significant crackdown on illegal working, raising enforcement activity to the highest levels in recorded history. The 2025 Budget provided £15 million per year for a range of additional interventions, including an uplift in funding for Trading Standards and a cross-government taskforce to better understand and disrupt criminality on our high streets.
Alongside this, our Pride in Place Programme will give local communities greater control to influence the make-up of their high streets, and support communities to take ownership of shops and key assets. These measures build on existing powers to ensure that high streets remain safe, vibrant, and welcoming for consumers and legitimate businesses.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will convene a meeting of ministers from relevant Departments to discuss the final report of the Independent Commission for neighbourhoods.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We continue to closely follow the work of the Commission which continues to make a strong case for investment in our most deprived neighbourhoods.
The Pride in Place Programme, announced in September, demonstrates this Government’s firm commitment to backing neighbourhoods that have for too long been left behind and overlooked. This flagship programme will deliver up to £5bn funding and support to 244 of the most deprived places across Britain over the next decade, and our accompanying Pride in Place Strategy set out a broader plan for giving communities across the country the tools and powers they need to drive change in their neighbourhood.
We will carefully consider the Commission’s findings once the final report is published which will inform our response on how we can build on this agenda to support the most in need neighbourhoods.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring private parking enforcement companies to provide an online appeals option for motorists to challenge parking charge notices.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises motorists concerns about the private parking industry and the existing appeals process. Under the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, a new Code of Practice will be introduced to raise standards across the sector.
On 11th July 2025, the government published a consultation, setting out its proposals for the Code and specifically sought views on the perceived shortcomings of the current appeals process.
Responses are now being analysed, and the government will publish its final proposals in due course.
Many parking operators do provide an online appeals platform for motorists to use.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he expects the remaining provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 relating to the regulation of service charges to be brought into force; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure leaseholders are protected from excessive or unreasonable service charges in the interim.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has already made significant progress when it comes to commencing provisions in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024:
The government recognises the considerable financial strain that rising service charges place on leaseholders and tenants. The level of service charge that leaseholders pay depends on many factors, including the terms of a lease and the age and condition of a building. By law, variable service charges must be reasonable. Overcharging through service charges is completely unacceptable. Should leaseholders wish to contest the reasonableness of their service charges they may make an application to the appropriate tribunal.
On 4 July 2025, the government published a consultation, jointly with the Welsh Government, on strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services. The consultation included proposals to increase transparency over service charges and enhance access to redress through the relevant provisions in the Act. It also proposed new reforms the section 20 ‘major works’ procedure. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here. It closed on 26 September 2025, and we are analysing responses with a view to bringing the relevant measures into force as quickly as possible.
On 18 December 2025, the government launched a consultation on proposals to implement the Act’s new consumer protections for homeowners living on freehold estates. These include ensuring that homeowners who pay an estate management charge have better access to information they need to understand what they are paying for, the right to challenge the reasonableness at the First-tier Tribunal (in England), and to go to the tribunal to appoint a substitute manager. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 12 March 2026. We will look to bring these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter.
The Act also sets the method for calculating the price of a statutory lease extension or freehold acquisition, known as the valuation process. It removes the requirement for marriage value to be paid, caps the treatment of ground rents in the valuation calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value, and allows government to prescribe the rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium. Valuation rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium will be set by the Secretary of State in secondary legislation. We will consult on valuation rates and commence the relevant provisions as soon as possible. As per my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), primary legislation will be required to rectify a small number of specific flaws in the 2024 Act before the Act’s enfranchisement provisions are commenced.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 potential impact of allowing subletting of retirement properties on people in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 95245 on 8 December 2025 and UIN 68820 on 2 September 2025.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 potential impact of exit fees from selling a retirement flat on retirees in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 95245 on 8 December 2025 and UIN 68820 on 2 September 2025.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 potential impact of permitting the subletting of retirement homes on the wider housing market.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 95245 on 8 December 2025 and UIN 68820 on 2 September 2025.
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, what steps are being taken to ensure that private parking operators consider mitigating circumstances, including disability and medical necessity, when issuing parking charge notices.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is determined to drive up standards in the private parking sector.
Private parking operators are required to consider The Equality Act 2010, including arrangements for drivers with disabilities, and follow the single industry code launched by the main trade associations.
Operators risk being banned from issuing charges if they do not reasonably comply with the code of practice.
The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 places a duty on the Government to prepare a code of practice containing guidance about the operation and management of private parking facilities.
A consultation document outlining proposals to raise standard across the private parking industry was published on 11 July 2025.
As part of this consultation, views and comments on implications that proposals may have on groups defined by reference to protected characteristics was requested (Question 35a).
All responses are now being analysed and the government will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what regard he has given to representations from the Gardens Trust about his Department's plans to remove it as a statutory consultee in the planning system.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 17 November 2025, my Department published a consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system. That consultation closed on 13 January 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.
No decision will be made on the Garden Trust’s role until responses to the consultation have been fully analysed and considered.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the Government’s response to the consultation entitled ‘Modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases’ published on 9 November 2023.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to Question UIN 99005 on 5 January 2026.