Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote affordable housing developments in rural areas.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The National Planning Policy Framework already makes clear that planning policies and decisions should be responsive to local circumstances in rural areas. Our Rural Exception Sites policy allows for the development of small affordable housing sites in rural areas, with the majority of housing on these sites being available to local people in perpetuity, and we published planning practice guidance in 2020 to help local authorities and developers bring more of these sites forward.
Our proposals for the National Planning Policy Framework launched for consultation on 22 December 2022. As part of this consultation we are seeking views on how we can strengthen the role of community groups in delivering affordable housing, particularly in rural areas.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that rural areas are able to bid successfully to the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my Hon Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Levelling Up (Dehenna Davison) to Question UIN 129836 on 26 January 2023.
We recognise that economic differences remain between different parts of the UK including in rural areas. That’s why the Levelling Up Fund is open to all local authorities across Great Britain to apply. We recognise that what constitutes priority investment will vary across local authorities and geographies, including in rural areas of the UK. That is why applicants have the flexibility to prepare proposals against one of the three investment themes, focusing on high priority and high impact projects that will make a visible positive difference to the context of their local area.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the division of Levelling Up funding between (1) rural, and (2) urban, areas.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my Hon Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Levelling Up (Dehenna Davison) to Question UIN 129836 on 26 January 2023.
We recognise that economic differences remain between different parts of the UK including in rural areas. That’s why the Levelling Up Fund is open to all local authorities across Great Britain to apply. We recognise that what constitutes priority investment will vary across local authorities and geographies, including in rural areas of the UK. That is why applicants have the flexibility to prepare proposals against one of the three investment themes, focusing on high priority and high impact projects that will make a visible positive difference to the context of their local area.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of social homes built in each local authority area in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The number of new affordable homes delivered, including acquisitions, since 1991-92, can be found in Live Table 1008C, published here . Figures for new build only can be found in Live Table 1011 or through the open data found at the same link.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on their plans to scrap the new affordability rules for housing developments.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
National policy currently states that sites under ten units (or five units or fewer in designated rural areas) should not be required to provide affordable housing. A decision (attached) was taken in April 2021 not to take forward a proposal to change the threshold at that stage, but to keep the situation under review.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the Community Warm Spaces Fund in the Isle of Man; and what plans they have to implement a similar scheme in England and Wales.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Domestic and non-domestic energy users across the UK, will be protected from excessively high energy bills through our Energy Price Guarantee and Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
The warm hubs in the Isle of Man are a fantastic example of the way faith and community groups can work together with the local authorities to provide support and help for their communities. Decisions on what services are delivered in community hubs are rightly taken at a local level. The Government has made no specific assessment of the Community Warm Spaces Fund. The Right Reverent Prelate, the Bishop of St Albans is extremely welcome to write to us with any points he thinks are worthy of further consideration.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made with their plans to end section 21 eviction notices.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Everyone deserves to live in a safe and secure home. The Prime Minister has committed to the ban on Section 21 'no fault' evictions to protect tenants. Ensuring a fair deal for renters remains a priority for the government and we will legislate in this Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assistance they plan to provide to non-qualifying buy-to-let landlords with more than two leasehold properties who (1) are unable to sell their properties, and (2) are unable to afford the fire safety remedial work.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
We are clear that leaseholders are no longer the first port of call to pay to fix building safety defects, we have taken action to support all leaseholders. The Building Safety Act will require that historical safety defects in any building above 11 metres or five storeys owned by the developer who built or refurbished it, or by a landlord associated with that developer, must be fixed by them. And over 45 developers have signed up to our developer pledge to fix their own buildings. This will benefit all leaseholders in the building.
In addition, leaseholders, including those with more than three properties may also benefit from government grant funding for the removal of unsafe cladding.
Where more than three properties are owned, the principal home always qualifies for the leaseholder protections, capping liability for building safety remediation costs on this property. We have also made changes to enable compensation to be sought through the civil courts for historic building safety defects from those responsible. We are, therefore, not planning to provide low-interest long term loans to non-qualifying buy-to-lent landlords.
The risk of bankruptcy is subject to personal circumstances and usually as a result of a myriad of factors. The action that the government has taken in legislation is to reduce this risk for the majority of people, regardless of their circumstances, when previously they would have faced exorbitant bills. We would hope that following the action we have taken no leaseholder, regardless of how many properties they own, will now face the risk of bankruptcy. We understand that those with multiple properties are better insulated from this risk.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of non-qualifying buy-to-let landlords with more than two leasehold properties who (1) are unable to sell their properties, and (2) are unable to afford the fire safety remedial work.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
We are clear that leaseholders are no longer the first port of call to pay to fix building safety defects, we have taken action to support all leaseholders. The Building Safety Act will require that historical safety defects in any building above 11 metres or five storeys owned by the developer who built or refurbished it, or by a landlord associated with that developer, must be fixed by them. And over 45 developers have signed up to our developer pledge to fix their own buildings. This will benefit all leaseholders in the building.
In addition, leaseholders, including those with more than three properties may also benefit from government grant funding for the removal of unsafe cladding.
Where more than three properties are owned, the principal home always qualifies for the leaseholder protections, capping liability for building safety remediation costs on this property. We have also made changes to enable compensation to be sought through the civil courts for historic building safety defects from those responsible. We are, therefore, not planning to provide low-interest long term loans to non-qualifying buy-to-lent landlords.
The risk of bankruptcy is subject to personal circumstances and usually as a result of a myriad of factors. The action that the government has taken in legislation is to reduce this risk for the majority of people, regardless of their circumstances, when previously they would have faced exorbitant bills. We would hope that following the action we have taken no leaseholder, regardless of how many properties they own, will now face the risk of bankruptcy. We understand that those with multiple properties are better insulated from this risk.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of non-qualifying buy-to-let landlords with two or more leasehold properties who will go bankrupt due to being unable to afford fire safety remedial work.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
We are clear that leaseholders are no longer the first port of call to pay to fix building safety defects, we have taken action to support all leaseholders. The Building Safety Act will require that historical safety defects in any building above 11 metres or five storeys owned by the developer who built or refurbished it, or by a landlord associated with that developer, must be fixed by them. And over 45 developers have signed up to our developer pledge to fix their own buildings. This will benefit all leaseholders in the building.
In addition, leaseholders, including those with more than three properties may also benefit from government grant funding for the removal of unsafe cladding.
Where more than three properties are owned, the principal home always qualifies for the leaseholder protections, capping liability for building safety remediation costs on this property. We have also made changes to enable compensation to be sought through the civil courts for historic building safety defects from those responsible. We are, therefore, not planning to provide low-interest long term loans to non-qualifying buy-to-lent landlords.
The risk of bankruptcy is subject to personal circumstances and usually as a result of a myriad of factors. The action that the government has taken in legislation is to reduce this risk for the majority of people, regardless of their circumstances, when previously they would have faced exorbitant bills. We would hope that following the action we have taken no leaseholder, regardless of how many properties they own, will now face the risk of bankruptcy. We understand that those with multiple properties are better insulated from this risk.