Housebuilding

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Wednesday 28th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

As I have said, we will carefully consider all the recommendations and findings from the report. Our National Planning Policy Framework means that councils must have local plans in place to deliver more homes in the right places and of the right type that are required in that particular community. As part of the recent consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, we have committed to review our approach to assessing housing need, once the new housing projections data based on the 2021 census is released next year.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, the excellent report from the Competition and Markets Authority shows why depending on a small handful of volume housebuilders does not produce either the quantity or the quality of homes that we need. Has the Minister thought about taking off the shelf the Oliver Letwin report, which is quoted in the CMA report very favourably? It calls for development corporations with master plans and compulsory purchase powers which could take the place of some of these volume housebuilders and get what we actually deserve.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

The noble Lord has some interesting ideas in this area, particularly about the large housebuilders, which seem to have controlled the market. That is why we are putting a lot of support into small and medium-sized housebuilders. As for the Oliver Letwin report, we will look at everything once we have got this report and when we start to work on it, and we will be bringing out further information in due course.

Temporary Accommodation Costs

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Wednesday 31st January 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My noble friend is absolutely right. The Government will support institutional investment in the private sector as well as in the social rented sector, provided, of course, that they stick to the rules and we can regulate them. That includes Build to Rent homes, which can boost supply and drive up standards. We are offering support through the £1.5 billion levelling up home building fund being delivered through Homes England to provide loans, equity investment and joint ventures to encourage such institutional investment companies and to support new Build to Rent developments. I think they will be a growing part of the market.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the Devon Housing Commission. I can confirm that the rise in temporary accommodation is not just in London and the conurbations. Devon is deeply affected, and that affects the budgets of local authorities. What progress is being made with the Government’s proposals to enable local authorities to limit the switching or changing of use of ordinary private rented accommodation into Airbnb holiday accommodation and short-term lets, which is having a huge effect in Devon and elsewhere?

Social Housing: Mould

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Wednesday 10th January 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, I am delighted to see the noble Baroness back in post. The Government are absolutely right to come down hard on social housing landlords who have not doing what they should have in keeping their properties up to a decent standard. The ombudsman, the social housing regulator and legislation are all great but the amount of money available for social housing remains the same, and switching resources to getting that older stock up to muster is going to absorb an awful lot of money in the years ahead. Are we going to see quite a big decline in the new affordable social housing that is so badly needed?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

No. Through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, which, sadly, I did not see the end of, we intend to deliver more social housing. That came out strongly throughout proceedings on that legislation. The noble Lord is right; there are a lot of challenges for the sector in upgrading its stock, after many years of not putting money into it. We will all be working on that. This year we gave £30 million to Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. We wanted to look at how such investment would help them make improvements, and we are looking at that intervention quite closely for the future.

Leasehold Properties: Managing Agents

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Monday 17th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I thought the noble Viscount was going to go on further with that question; it was nice and quick. He is absolutely right; I get more letters about service charges, particularly at this time, than ever before. We believe very strongly that service charges need to be more transparent and communicated more effectively by freeholders, because there should be a clear route to challenging them, or to redress if things go wrong. We are working to make sure that we get further changes to leaseholder legislation to ensure that transparency.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy of Southwark, raised the regulation of managing agents of leaseholder properties. Does the Minister recall that the working group the Government set up looked at estate agents and letting agents as well, grouping them all together as property agents and requiring a regulator that covered all three sectors together? This makes a lot of sense because some people do all three jobs.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

The noble Lord is right, and I thank him for the work he has done on this. I assure him that we are still looking at his review. We are also working with National Trading Standards to improve particularly the disclosure of material information in property listings, and with estate agents to ensure that they are offering an appropriate service to consumers all the time. We will continue to work with the sector to make sure that it is behaving appropriately and ensuring that people who go to agents are treated with the respect that they deserve.

Homelessness: Vagrancy Act 1824

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Monday 10th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My noble friend is right. We did consult when the Vagrancy Act was within DLUHC, and the Home Office is holding further discussions particularly with those stakeholders who are important in local authorities, such as the police. However, the anti-social behaviour plan, which was published last March, outlined further details of our plans to introduce new powers for local authorities and police to respond to begging and rough sleeping, coupling this with improved multiagency working between local partners so that vulnerable individuals receive the support they need. This is a complex issue, and further details will be set out in future legislation at the earliest possible parliamentary opportunity.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is rather disheartening to the way in which we operate when the correct processes are followed—an amendment is carried in this House by a large majority, it goes back to the House of Commons for a second thought, the House of Commons decides to support us, Parliament then passes legislation to repeal the Vagrancy Act—and then nothing happens?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

As I have said, this is a really complex issue. We need to get this right and to be talking to people. The noble Lord is right that we have committed to repeal the Vagrancy Act as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. We have started the consultation, we are discussing with stakeholders but, as I have said, we will look for the proper place in legislation, and the proper piece of legislation is not LURB.

Social Housing (Regulation) Bill [HL]

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Consideration of Commons amendments
Tuesday 27th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (Baroness Scott of Bybrook) (Con)]

My Lords, with the leave of the House, as well as moving that this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments 1 to 12, I will also speak to all the other Commons amendments.

I am pleased to bring the Bill back to the House and to see the progress that it has made since it left. This legislation seeks to drive the change that we know is so desperately needed in the social rented sector. It is vital that everyone learns from the mistakes that led to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and the Bill will ensure that social housing tenants receive the protection and respect that they deserve. The Grenfell community’s tireless campaigning will leave a legacy of real change to social housing in this country.

The need to drive up the quality of social housing and rebalance the relationship between tenants and landlords was also thrown into sharp relief by the tragic death of Awaab Ishak. I know that Awaab’s father is watching today, and I know that I speak for all of us when I say that my thoughts remain with the Ishak family. I thank the family, along with Shelter and the Manchester Evening News, for their steadfast campaigning on Awaab’s law. This law will make a real difference to people’s lives, and I hope that it brings some degree of comfort to all those who knew and loved Awaab.

As I shall set out, the Government have listened carefully to the points raised, both in this House and in the other place, and tabled amendments in the other place to strengthen the legislation to its fullest extent. Commons Amendments 10, 11, 12, and 13 amend the clauses added by this House on competency and conduct standards and make provision for them to require that senior housing managers and senior housing executives have, or are working towards, appropriate level housing management qualifications.

We have also tabled a further amendment to the Bill to ensure that relevant managers employed by organisations which deliver housing management services on behalf of a registered provider are captured by the legislation, as was our original intention. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, for bringing the need for this amendment to my attention. This amendment will require registered providers to take steps to secure that relevant managers of these delegated services providers are qualified.

Our amendment also introduces implied terms into the contractual agreements between registered providers and delegated services providers and relevant sub-agreements, stipulating that their relevant managers should have, or be working towards, a specified qualification in housing management. This enables registered providers to take action against delegated services providers who are not compliant. These amendments, which have been welcomed by Grenfell United and Shelter, will drive up professional standards and the quality of housing services across the sector.

I turn to the amendments that we tabled in the other place on Awaab’s law. I am sure that I am not alone in saying that I was deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic death of Awaab Ishak. Commons Amendment 28 takes a power for the Secretary of State to set out requirements for landlords in secondary legislation to investigate and rectify hazards within a certain time. The amendment also inserts an implied covenant into tenancy agreements that landlords will comply with the requirements prescribed in regulations; this will impel landlords to deal with hazards such as damp and mould in a timely fashion, knowing that, if they fail to do so, they can face legal challenge from residents.

We have also introduced Amendments 14, 15, 17 and 29, which will ensure that the regulator sets standards for landlords to provide tenants with information about how to make complaints, and about their rights as tenants.

Commons Amendment 27 will give the ombudsman explicit statutory power to publish guidance on good practice, alongside the power to order landlords to complete a self-assessment if the ombudsman has received a relevant complaint about a landlord.

Amendments 1 and 2 repeal the provisions in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 which provide a specific power to enable the regulator to charge fees for inspections. Those fees will be recoverable under the regulator’s fee-charging powers under Section 117 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, so the specific inspections power is now unnecessary.

Amendments 3 to 9 are technical amendments concerning moratorium procedures when the regulator is unable to locate any secured creditors.

Amendment 16 removes Clause 24 relating to energy demand, which was inserted into the Bill by this House. Although we are sympathetic to the aims of the clause, and we agree with the need to continue progress on making social homes warmer and more energy efficient, we do not believe it is appropriate to set consultation parameters without ministerial oversight. We recognise that the sector would benefit from clear standards to support energy efficiency improvements: that is why we announced that we will consult on standards for improving energy efficiency in the sector within six months of the Bill receiving Royal Assent. We remain committed to this, and officials have already begun work on this consultation. I am able to give noble Lords here today an indication of some of the areas for consultation. We will ask what the appropriate compliance date is for meeting an energy efficiency standard, what energy performance metric this should be measured against and what, if any, exemptions are appropriate.

Amendments 18 to 21 and 23 to 26 deliver technical changes that will ensure that, during a survey or emergency remedial action, any decision to leave equipment or materials on the premises takes into account the impact of that on tenants.

Amendment 22 amends requirements relating to the production and publication of an inspector’s report following the completion of an inspection. These amendments provide that the inspector must produce a summary of findings, as well as a report on any matters specified by the regulator. Amendment 31 was tabled to remove the Lords privilege amendment in Committee in the other place.

Amendments 32 to 51 deal with notices under Sections 104 to 108 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016. These amendments ensure that technical requirements relating to notices do not prevent the legislation working effectively, and help make provisions relating to insolvency easier for the regulator to operate.

Finally, Amendment 53 introduces a provision to clarify the relationship between the data protection legislation and Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. I beg to move.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, I welcome the Commons additions to this important Bill. As a prelude, I thank the Minister for the earlier amendment she promised and delivered before the Bill left your Lordships’ House. This created the duty for the social housing regulator to carry out regular, routine inspections rather than just looking at the social landlord’s accounts and paperwork. This amendment had been earnestly requested by the Grenfell United group, which has campaigned tirelessly to improve key aspects of social housing regulation. If only the regulator’s team had made an inspection visit to the social landlord of Grenfell Tower and talked to residents, it would have been obvious that all was not well. The Minister has taken a close personal interest in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy, and I congratulate her on the amendment she brought forward which will now ensure routine inspections are a key part of the regulator’s future role.

I now welcome Commons Amendment 17, Awaab’s law, which will strengthen the role of the regulator in requiring social housing landlords to deal swiftly with problems of disrepair. Sadly, some housing associations and some councils have not been on top of these issues, with tragic consequences. There is a need now for some serious investment in the upgrading of outdated public housing, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s. As well as encouraging social landlords to listen more attentively to the matters raised by their residents, I hope we are moving to an extension of the ombudsman role, which will cut down the need for some of the sharp practices of the no-win, no-fee lawyers, who can exploit tenants’ predicaments. There is more to do here.

In particular, I greatly welcome the new Amendment 13B, which covers standards relating to competence and conduct. This amendment is of particular concern to the Grenfell United group and is intended to achieve greater professionalism of the social housing sector, requiring senior housing managers and executives to have or to work towards relevant qualifications. The noble Baroness, Lady Sanderson, raised these issues on behalf of Grenfell United when the Bill was in this House. We have had to wait until conclusions were reached in the other place to amend the Bill accordingly, but the wait has been worth while and I pay tribute to the noble Baroness.

These Commons amendments to Clause 21 will, over time, see the social housing sector properly “professionalised”. This approach was advocated for personnel managing privately rented and leasehold properties by the Government’s working group on the regulation of property agents, which I was pleased to chair. That badly needed change has yet to come about for the private rented sector, although the matter may be raised in the forthcoming Renters (Reform) Bill or the leasehold reform Bill. In the meantime, measures akin to those proposed for managers of privately rented homes will now be applied by this Bill to the management of the social housing sector. This enhancement of the skills of social housing personnel will greatly increase the role and responsibilities of the Chartered Institute of Housing, which is well able to play a vital role here.

Families with Children: Accommodation

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Monday 19th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

First, obviously we keep a review of councils’ delivery. I am not aware of any being called in recently since I have been a Minister, but we have a homelessness advice and support team drawn from local authorities and the homelessness sector which provides support and help for local authorities to end the placement of families in bed-and-breakfast accommodation. I think that is a better way to do it: supporting local authorities to deliver.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that the fastest and best way of relieving the misery and cost of temporary accommodation is to fund councils and housing associations to buy the properties of private landlords who are now exiting the market? They could then relet those same houses at affordable and secure rents for the future.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

We are providing funding for local authorities either to build or to buy property in order to help them increase their stock. We are also providing more than £1 billion to local authorities over the next three years to help them prevent homelessness. Councils can use this funding flexibly so that they can help people find a new home and stop evictions; they can also move them into better temporary accommodation more easily and quicker when necessary.

Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Committee stage
Monday 24th April 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Best (CB)]

I am encouraged by the tone with which these issues are being approached. As regards the placing of penalties upon those who are not getting on with the job by refusing future applications from that firm, I can see some hazards here, not least if the delay is happening in one area and the applications for further schemes are somewhere completely different. Is this new power of withholding permission for new applications because you have been so slow in building out the ones you already have to be transferred from one local authority to another, or is it confined to a local authority acting only with regard to interests within its own boundaries?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I believe it is in one local authority, but I will check that. I will let the noble Lord know and make sure that everybody else in the Committee is aware.

Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Committee stage
Tuesday 18th April 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, I support Amendment 274A on small sites in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill. Mine is slightly qualified support, but I am supportive. The amendment has been devised by the innovative people at Pocket Living, a company that specialises in imaginative developments on small sites, which are always difficult to develop. The amendment proposes a fast track through the planning system for smaller operators of this kind working on smaller sites—a quarter of a hectare and smaller—in return for delivering 50% affordable housing in every case.

It is a tempting proposition. We certainly need a boost for SME builders. In their evidence to your Lordships’ Built Environment Committee last year, the Federation of Master Builders explained that the output of SME firms had declined from about 40% of all new homes in the 1980s to around 10% today. One clear reason for this loss of their input has been the time and expense of trying to secure planning consents. My reservation is that the 50% affordable housing offer is not quite so tempting if all the homes are for shared ownership or the 80% of market rents of the so-called affordable rent variety. I would want to see half these new properties being for truly affordable social renting. Then we would have a really exciting proposition from the sector. With that reservation, I support Amendment 274A.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (Baroness Scott of Bybrook) (Con)]

First, I will respond to the first remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill. Yes, I think everybody in this Chamber who has taken part wants the same thing: we want more of the right type of housing across our country. The difference is on how we deliver that, and that is what we are taking many hours and days to deliberate on—but it is important that we do that, because it is a really important issue for the country well into the future. The way the Government see it is that we need to give clear guidance on the big issues that need to be taken into account, but that we must ensure that local planning authorities start producing local plans that no longer need to take into account the national guidance, because that will be there anyway, but that work with all the data in their local area to ensure that what is in their local plan is what is required. That is not just numbers; it relates also to the view of the noble Lord, Lord Best, and others that we need to look at demography and the types of houses that we want to deliver.

If a local plan has strong evidence, I think it is then up to local leadership to stick to that plan. There may be some government work that needs to be done on the Planning Inspectorate, but we must stick up for what the evidence shows is required in our local area, reflected in our local plan. That is the way I see it; I wanted to get that off my chest.

I turn to the amendments in this group, which relate to planning and housing, starting with Amendment 208, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Stevenage, and Amendment 274A, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill. These amendments both relate to the provision of small housing sites and are therefore considered here together.

The National Planning Policy Framework already sets out that local planning authorities should identify land to accommodate at least 10% of their housing requirement on sites no larger than one hectare, unless it can be shown, through the preparation of relevant plan policies, that there are strong reasons why this 10% target cannot be achieved.

The framework sets out that local planning authorities should use tools such as area-wide design assessments and local development orders to help bring small and medium-sized sites forward; and to support the development of windfall sites through the policies and decisions in the local plan, giving great weight to the benefits of using suitable sites within existing settlements for homes. Local planning authorities are asked to work with developers to encourage the subdivision of large sites where this could help to speed up the delivery of homes—we heard about that earlier.

The framework also sets out that neighbourhood planning groups should give particular consideration to the opportunities for allocating small and medium-sized housing sites. However, we have heard views that we could strengthen these policies to further support the Government’s housing objectives. This is why we invited views, as part of our recent consultation on reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, on how national planning policies can further support developments on small sites, especially those that will deliver high levels of affordable housing and, particularly in urban areas, to speed up the delivery of housing, giving greater confidence and certainty to smaller and medium-sized builders, and to diversify the housebuilding market. The consultation ended on 2 March and responses received will help to inform our policy thinking on this important issue, as will this debate. We will look at the ideas that have been put forward, together with the responses. This is something on which there will be further consideration.

Amendment 213 tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Stevenage, seeks to create a legal requirement for local authorities to set policies in their local plans which ensure that housing needs are met in a way that secures the long-term health, safety and well-being of local people and ensures that such housing is affordable to those on average and lower incomes. We have, as she rightly said, debated this quite a lot. While I entirely understand the sentiment behind this, as I have said on previous groups, and consider the goal to be laudable, the Government are already committed to ensuring that new development, both market and affordable, meets high standards of quality. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies in local plans should aim to achieve healthy, inclusive and safe places, and local authorities should ensure that they properly assess the needs of different groups when planning for new housing.

Ensuring that a sufficient number and range of homes can be provided to meet the needs of present and future generations is part of achieving sustainable development. Local planning authorities should set out an overall strategy for the pattern, scale and design quality of places, and make sufficient provision for housing. Furthermore, the framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should promote an effective use of land in meeting the need for homes, while ensuring safe and healthy living conditions. Local authorities are empowered to ensure that developers deliver a defined amount of affordable housing, including social housing, on market housing sites, unless exceptions apply. Our initial consultation on revisions to the NPPF seeks views on whether the role of social rent should be strengthened and whether we could go further to promote the delivery of housing for older people, as we discussed earlier.

Finally, under the community infrastructure levy, we will introduce a new “right to require” through regulations, in which local authorities can require that a certain amount of affordable housing is delivered in kind as a levy contribution. The noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, asked why the Government are not doing more to deliver this affordable housing. The Government are totally committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing. That is why, through our £11.5 billion affordable homes programme, we will deliver tens of thousands of affordable homes, both for sale and for rent, right across the country. The levelling up White Paper made a commitment to increase the supply of social rented homes. The affordable homes programme will respond to that commitment by increasing the share of social rent homes that will be delivered through the programme, helping those most in need. Since 2010 we have delivered over 632,000 new affordable homes, including 441,000 affordable homes for rent, of which 162,000 are homes for social rent.

Although there is a comprehensive legislative code within which local plans and decisions are made, the content of local plans is produced on the basis of national policy, which is flexible to allow updates to be made without new laws being passed. I hope this provides the noble Baroness with the clarification and assurances she needs to not press this amendment.

Amendment 504GJA tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, would require all local housing authorities in England to publish the contents of the database of rogue landlords and property agents. The Government have stated their commitment to improving standards in rented accommodation and driving out rogue landlords. We will legislate to amend the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and make certain landlord offence information public as part of the forthcoming renters reform Bill. Opening up this information will ensure that tenants can make informed rental decisions, leading to a better rental experience, as was asked for by the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle.

Housebuilding

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Thursday 30th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Best (CB)]

Does the Minister agree that, of the 300,000 target, 10% or 30,000 homes ought to be for older people’s housing—retirement housing—because this gives us terrific gains in terms of health and care facilities? It also means two for one because, for every one of those homes, another is released by an older person moving on. Can we in the levelling-up Bill therefore insist on local authorities including provision for older people—retirement housing—in their local plans?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

The Bill makes it clear that local authorities, in their local plan, have to include housing for older people and for disabled people and other vulnerable groups. The Government want to deliver the best possible outcomes for these groups by helping them to live independently in safe, appropriate and good-quality housing for as long as they can possibly stay in it. The £11.5 billion affordable homes programme includes the delivery of new supported housing for older, disabled and vulnerable people, and our planning rules already mean that councils must consider them in their plans.

Housing: Conditions in Rented Sector

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Thursday 16th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My noble friend is absolutely right: local councils are responsible for enforcing standards in the private rented sector and have a duty to take action where they find hazards at the most dangerous category 1 level. The Secretary of State has asked all local housing authorities to do everything in their power to improve the conditions for tenants and to have particular regard to high-score category 2 damp and mould hazards when enforcing current standards. The Secretary of State has also asked councils to provide an assessment of damp and mould issues particularly affecting private rented housing in their area. The department is currently analysing their responses to determine what needs to be done to address the issues raised by my noble friend.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, has the Minister’s department had a chance to look at the recommendation from the Affordable Housing Commission for a national housing conversion fund that would finance local housing associations to acquire from private landlords properties that need a lot of attention? This would increase the amount of safe, affordable, secure social housing at the same time as improving the property, ending or reducing fuel poverty and having an impact on climate change as well. Is this a real bargain for government?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I have not got an answer on that specific report, but I can say that this Government are investing £11.5 billion in new, good, affordable housing, £8.6 billion of which had already been allocated. So we are looking at more good housing and, at the same time, we are challenging to ensure that those responsible for social housing in particular are making sure that those houses are in good condition.

Leasehold Charges

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Monday 20th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

The Government recognise the strength of feeling in this House in particular, and the other place, on the leasehold issue, but it is complex and needs careful consideration. The Government have said that we will bring a Bill forward in this Parliament and that is what we intend to do.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that proper consumer protection is particularly important for older people, who may be downsizing or rightsizing to retirement apartments and feel totally confused by the plethora of service charges, exit fees, commission fees and commission on insurance? Is this vulnerable group not particularly important in leasehold reform? Otherwise, who is going to downsize or rightsize ever, knowing the difficulties they may well face?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. This is an important issue, particularly for older people who may be considering downsizing. It is just too complex at the moment. That is what we will be dealing with as we move forward, and I thank the noble Lord for all his help in doing so.

Housebuilding: Government Targets

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Monday 16th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

Yes. Many local authorities in the country certainly work closely with community land trusts. I do not have an update on what is happening nationally, but I will certainly get an answer to the noble Baroness.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister will have seen the press reports from Barratt and some of the other big-volume housebuilders, saying that they are going to produce fewer homes in the current economic circumstances of the year ahead. This is not a great tragedy in everybody’s view, since some of these schemes will be horrible, soulless estates outside town with very few amenities and poor public transport. However, we need the extra homes in this country to meet the nation’s needs. Is this not the moment to boost social housing investment? Is this not just the right time, when we know that the housebuilders are not going to do it, to really get going with some of the social housing that we so desperately need?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

Yes, the noble Lord is absolutely right. That is why we put £500 billion this year into local authorities, so that they can buy houses for social housing rent, particularly in areas of most need.

Residential Leaseholders

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Thursday 12th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I would love to put the Bill out in draft, because I would love to stop these Questions coming every three months from the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy. We have committed as a Government to making enfranchisement easier and cheaper for leaseholders, and that is important. We have also committed to abolish marriage value cap ground rents in enfranchisement calculations and prescribe rates to be used. We have already made clear that this is what we will do. We just have to be patient until the Bill comes forward.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, back in 2018 the Government set up the regulation of property agents working group, which I had the honour of chairing. This came forward with proposals that managing agents for blocks of flats who look after leasehold properties should be properly regulated, to deal with a number of the issues that have been raised. Can I have the Minister’s assurance that this ingredient will form part of the new Bill?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I have not seen the new Bill, so I cannot give that assurance. However, I am aware of the noble Lord’s review and I know that we are still considering it.

Housing: Cost of Living

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Thursday 15th December 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

The Government have a number of schemes that we are using to support small and medium-sized house builders to help them to provide not only social housing but also private housing. I am happy to write to my noble friend with all that information.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, the Affordable Housing Commission, which I had the honour of chairing, has recommended a national fund to enable social housing landlords to acquire and modernise the properties of those private landlords who now want to exit from the market. Does the Minister agree that that would produce an enormously good bang for the buck? Not only would we swiftly get more social housing that was secure for those who lived in it, but we would see the modernisation of properties that need to be decarbonised, thereby reducing fuel poverty at the same time.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

Yes, I agree with that. We are seeing some difficulties within the private rented sector because of the issues of the maintenance of these private properties, but also because of the expectations, as the noble Lord said, about the decarbonisation of those properties. That is why we are offering a number of funding streams to SMEs at the moment in order to do that.

Renters Reform Bill

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, if it is in the White Paper, we will see whether it comes through into the Bill and will discuss that. I am sure that if the noble Baroness tables any amendments, we will discuss those in full.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, I recognise that the Government are not going to introduce a freeze for the private rented sector or the social housing sector, but there is a cap on rents for social housing landlords, housing associations and councils. That cap means that they will not be getting the revenue they expected if they have the full increase in their rents. The main beneficiaries of this are the Government and Treasury, because housing benefit will be reduced—so the autumn Statement tells us—by £650 million. Will this windfall gain of £650 million for the Treasury over the next five years be recycled or reinvested back into social housing, where it is very badly needed, to upgrade the stock and build new homes?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

The Government are already investing in social housing; we are putting £11.5 billion into building social housing. Some of the money from the windfall, as the noble Lord called it—I would not call it that—will go into that. There is also support going to local authorities to support those in the private rented sector who might have problems this winter and whom we might need to help out.

Social Housing Standards

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Wednesday 16th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, this is such a horrible tragedy. I join the Minister in sending sympathies to Awaab’s parents. To lose a two year-old child is just about as bad as it gets, and I feel very strongly about that. I know that the housing association itself is deeply troubled and upset by what has happened on its watch. The coroner said that this should be a “defining moment” for the housing sector. I spoke today to the chief executive of the housing association, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, and there are some important lessons that the housing associations and we in Parliament and government can learn from this tragedy.

First, the Statement from the Secretary of State explains that the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill, which we greatly welcome in this House—we have completed its stages here—will enhance regulation of social landlords and the role of the Housing Ombudsman. This new legislation is important, since I suspect that in this case there was no knowledge at all of the Housing Ombudsman. There was an opportunity to make a complaint and be listened to a lot earlier, but I think that opportunity was simply not known about in Rochdale at the time. We now have legislation that will strengthen the ombudsman, but we need to promote that ombudsman service really quite energetically, and I believe that this process has started.

In my ignorance, I did not understand that mould can actually kill a small child—it is as bad as that. Mould is a horrible thing to have in your house, but the fact that it can lead to death really brings home just how awful this plague is in so many houses where ventilation and heating in combination are not achieving a balance, and where condensation is causing this horrible mould. The urgency of doing something about this has now been magnified by this event and it means that all housing associations have to give priority to this. When they hear that a place has mould on the walls, they must take that very seriously. When a visit is happening for any other reason, staff need to be told, “Look out for mould as well; report that back to base. That is a serious issue”. Now that housing associations are very large enterprises, communications within them need to be good enough so that people share all the information and understanding they bring back from a visit or telephone call. That sharing of information needs to identify where mould is a problem so that something can be done about it.

My next point is that fuel poverty is also behind this. People are not putting the heating on and not making the place warm enough. They cannot be blamed for that; the cost of fuel is a major part of the house- hold budget. This will get worse with the current energy crisis and we will have more of these cases, not fewer. I am afraid that a lot of properties owned by housing associations—including pre-1919 street properties and 1960s and 1970s concrete buildings—need serious attention. They need insulating in a modern way that will cut those energy bills and mean that the lack of heating does not create the condensation that leads to the mould that leads to tragedies like this. We are going to have to invest in these older properties. We are ready for decent homes round 2; I hope the Government are up for this. These things are not just a matter of regulation; they are, as the noble Lord, Lord Stoneham, said, also about investment. We all agree on that. The social housing decarbonisation fund coming through will be really helpful. The levelling-up funding should target the insulation of older properties. We can see where the priority really lies in terms of the resources we are going to put into properties: cutting down on fuel bills.

There are some important lessons here. There are lessons for government as well as for the housing associations. Let us hope that some real value can come from this miserable tragedy of poor little Awaab, and that this is indeed a defining moment for the housing sector.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

It is indeed a defining moment. The Secretary of State has made it very clear that he thinks that this is a defining moment and that he is not going to let this go.

I was also surprised by how dangerous mould can be. I have concerns about the sharing of information in these cases, because a health visitor and a visiting midwife both noticed this mould. They put forward a report to the council, which did not seem to go as far as it should have. Sadly, communication is often an issue in these cases and we need to make sure that those problems are dealt with as well as the issues of the housing.

Obviously, this case was two years ago, but I am concerned about fuel—of course I am. However, I am mostly concerned about whether some of these tenants know what they can get from the Government to help them. I am not sure that they do. Through wearing my other hat as a Faith Minister, I am working very closely with the faith communities to make sure that when they talk to their communities and have their warm hubs and so on, they ensure that everybody knows exactly what the Government are offering to help them, because that sometimes is not the case. This case was not so much about heating but about ventilation, but that is another issue we need to look at across the sector, because mould often grows when ventilation is not correct.

Lastly, the noble Lord is absolutely right that not enough people know about the ombudsman. We had the Make Things Right campaign, which reached millions of social housing residents. This family obviously did not know about that, but I would then ask: where was the housing association to say that the family could go to the ombudsman when they first complained? There is more that we need to do, both the Government, in telling social housing residents about what they can get, and others who have contact with these families, by suggesting to them that the ombudsman is there to help them.

Housing: Manifesto Commitment

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Wednesday 26th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

Yes, my Lords, from 2025, the future homes standard will ensure that new homes produce at least 75% fewer CO₂ emissions than those built to the 2013 standard. These homes will be future-proofed with low-carbon heating and high energy efficiency. In December 2021, the Government introduced an uplift in energy efficiency standards which delivers a meaningful reduction in carbon emissions and acts as a stepping stone to the future homes standard. New homes will be expected to deliver around 30% fewer CO₂ emissions.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, I am sure the Minister will agree that housebuilding is in for a very rocky time in the months ahead, with interest rates rising, building and material costs going up, fewer people able to buy, and housebuilders sitting on their hands. Therefore, is this the moment to invest rather more in social housing, which can compensate those losses, and get some affordable homes built?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, we have announced £10 billion of investment in housing supplies since the start of this Parliament, with our housing supply interventions due ultimately to unlock over 1 million homes over the 2020-21 spending review period. This includes an additional £1.8 billion investment announced in the 2020-21 spending review. Of course we want to invest in affordable homes, so we are also investing £11.5 billion in 2021 to 2026 on the affordable homes programme, which we hope will deliver 180,000 more affordable homes.

Housing: Leasehold Properties

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Monday 17th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

The noble Lord is right: I answered a Question from him not many weeks ago. I have spoken to myself a great deal since that time, as I promised. Noble Lords have to understand that these are very complex and technical issues. The reform will be felt for generations to come, so we need to take time and care. We have made very clear—it is in our manifesto—that we will bring further leasehold reforms in this Parliament. To move things on, I hope the noble Lord opposite will agree that we should meet and talk about what are the important parts of leasehold. I am happy to open that meeting to others in the House, because I know how important it is for noble Lords.

[Lord Best (CB)]

Can the Minister confirm that the recommendations from the Government’s own working group on regulation of managing agents will see the light of day in these new reforms? Managing agents look after nearly all the 5 million or so leasehold properties, and their quality and performance vary from the excellent to the dreadful. Will we see these regulatory measures, as recommended by that working group, in the new legislation?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for the work that he did on that group. The Government are making sure that tenants and homeowners are protected from abuse and poor service; it is happening—we know that. This includes raising professionalisation and standards among property agents, protecting consumers and defending the reputation of good agents. There are many good agents out there and they have to be protected from the actions of rogue operatives. The Government welcome what the industry itself is doing; it has set up a code of practice for property agents. We will work continually, keeping our eye on the working group on the regulation of property agents, chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Best, but also working with the industry to ensure that it continually improves best practice.

Leasehold Reform

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Tuesday 6th September 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for that question. The Government have confirmed that we will provide equivalent support of £400 for the households who will not be reached through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. This includes those on communal heating systems, where they are currently excluded. The Government are due to announce in the autumn details of how those households will receive £400 of support. The energy security Bill introduced in July will also give Ofgem powers to set prices for consumers on heat networks where necessary.

[Lord Best (CB)]

Can the Minister to add yet another item to the long list of things that she is going to take back to the Secretary of State—the special position of leases for retirement housing? People moving into retirement housing is a very good thing, because it frees up family homes, and we want people to be in more suitable accommodation in old age, but people are rightly put off by not understanding, and sometimes by being ripped off by, the lease arrangements that govern their service charges and other fees. Could she draw particular attention to that? Possibly a solution may lie in the new legislation, as it comes forward, specifying the content that will go into each leasehold that will be permitted in future.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for that. I am personally aware that this is an issue in housing for those over 50 and 55. I shall try my best to urge the department to take on board those issues when it comes to the next piece of leaseholder legislation.

Building Safety Bill

Debate between Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Best

Committee stage
Monday 28th February 2022 Grand Committee

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

We absolutely understand the issue We are working on it. As I said, if we have a meeting, maybe we would have some ideas. I do not know about guidance yet, but we will make sure that we can have that discussion. I hope that we will get something better in place before Report.

[Lord Best (CB)]

Those final comments were the ones that I hoped to hear: that, with a bit of discussion, we may be able to find a way around this. The test for me is a real one. My son in a block of flats says, “Dad, should I think about being one of these directors?” My answer at the moment is, “Steer well clear. It is not a good idea to volunteer for this at the moment.” I look forward to those discussions and hope that we can come to an agreement. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.