Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the qualifications that private property managers must hold before taking on the management of (1) private residential buildings and (1) mixed-tenure residential buildings.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Managing agents perform a critical role in managing and maintaining buildings, so it is vital that they provide a good service and are accountable to leaseholders for their actions. Many agents do so and with a high level of professionalism. The Government has not undertaken a specific assessment of the qualifications that managing agents must hold but we welcome the work of the industry itself to drive up standards across the sector. This includes ongoing efforts to encourage greater take up of professional qualifications and the development of Codes of Practice.
The Government will act quickly to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, including those designed to increase service charge transparency.
Over the course of this Parliament, the Government will further reform the leasehold system. We will enact remaining Law Commission recommendations relating to enfranchisement and the Right to Manage, tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, reinvigorate commonhold through a comprehensive new legal framework, and ban the sale of new leasehold flats so commonhold becomes the default tenure.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether photo ID will be required for any recall petition and any subsequent by-election.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This is set out in legislation, in the Elections Act 2022, (Commencement No. 6 and Savings) Regulations 2022 and the Voter Identification Regulations 2022. Voters will be required to show photographic identification in order to vote at a polling station for any UK parliamentary by-elections or to sign the petition in person at any recall petitions.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 18 October 2022 (PBC Deb 18 October 2022 col 789) where he stated that "the Government and I will engage in discussion with RICS about this in the coming weeks before further stages of the Bill", how many meetings have taken place between ministers and the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS); what subjects were discussed at those meetings; and what steps they took as a result of those discussions.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Details of ministerial meetings are set out quarterly on gov.uk.
Further to those publications, senior officials and I met with the Earl of Lytton, the Chief Executive and the Chair of RICS on 7 February 2023 to discuss RICS' concerns regarding the clause.
Subsequently senior officials have met with RICS to discuss this further.
The Secretary of State also met with the CEO of RICS on 23 November 2022 as part of a wider meeting which included mortgage lenders. This meeting related to opening up the mortgage market for property affected by building safety.
I am happy to meet with the noble Baroness to discuss this further.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement the recommendations of the report of the working group on the Regulation of Property Agents, published on 18 July 2019.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and renters and making sure that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. This commitment includes raising professionalism and standards amongst property agents, protecting consumers while defending the reputation of good agents from the actions of rogue operatives. We therefore welcome the ongoing work being undertaken by the industry itself to raise professionalism and standards across the sector.
The Government is considering the recommendations in the report received from the working group on the regulation of property agents. We welcome the work of the Noble Baroness as the Chair of the independent steering group on codes of practice for property agents, and we will continue to work with industry on improving best practice.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Housing Associations will be able to access the Remedial Fund for Cladding without having to use charitable resources ring fenced for charitable purposes and without having to charge leaseholders.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We continue to engage with the social sector to ensure that leaseholders are supported and do not have to bear the costs associated with remediation of unsafe non-ACM cladding. Housing Associations will be able to apply for funding to cover the cost of remediation that they would otherwise pass on to leaseholders. Each Housing Association will need to make its own assessment as to how best to meet the remaining remediation costs in line with their business plans and different sources of income.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have undertaken a review to ascertain whether leaseholders of Housing Associations properties might be unfairly discriminated against in relation to leaseholders of private landlords in the allocation of the Remedial Fund for Cladding.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Secretary of State considered the decision to launch the Building Safety Fund in line with requirements under the Public Sector Equality duty. Funding is being provided to support leaseholders in both the social and private sectors. Where funding is claimed from government, the costs of remediating unsafe non-ACM cladding systems cannot be passed onto leaseholders.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to develop the application process, including the criteria and decision-making process for applications, for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and when they will publish these details.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Government has committed to creating a UK Shared Prosperity Fund to succeed European structural funds and bind together the whole of the United Kingdom, tackling inequality and deprivation in each of our four nations. The UK Government can cut out bureaucracy and create a fund which invests in UK priorities and is easier for local areas to access.
The government understands the importance of this investment for people, business and places and will set out further plans for the fund in due course. Final decisions on the design of the fund will need to be taken after a cross-Government Spending Review. In the meantime, we will continue to work closely with interested parties whilst developing the fund.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they are making on plans to introduce mandatory electrical safety checks in the private rented sector.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
On 13 January 2020, the Government laid before Parliament new regulations that will require private landlords to make sure the electrical installations in their properties are safe.
The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 require that:
The Regulations also set out enforcement powers for local authorities who will be able to tackle those rogue landlords who breach their new duties under the Regulations.
Subject to approval by parliament, these requirements will come into force for all new tenancies from 1 July 2020 and for all existing tenancies from 1 April 2021.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether surveyors are returning zero valuations on properties in high-rise buildings by citing the Government's Advice Note 14 Advice on external wall systems that do not incorporate Aluminium Composite Material, published on 18 December 2018; and what steps they intend to take in response.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to these questions in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with industry representatives about leaseholders in high-rise buildings being unable to sell their properties due to blanket zero valuations by surveyors citing the Government's Advice Note 14 Advice on external wall systems that do not incorporate Aluminium Composite Material, published on 18 December 2018.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to these questions in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.