Homeowners: Cladding-related Costs

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Thursday 24th June 2021 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to protect homeowners from further costs as a result of unsafe cladding, in addition to the £5.1 billion investment in building safety

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op) [V]]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and in doing so refer the House to my relevant interests as set out in the register.

[The Minister of State, Home Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Lord Greenhalgh) (Con)]

The Government will fund the cost of replacing unsafe cladding for leaseholders in residential buildings of 18 metres and over in England. This will make homes safe and protect leaseholders from costs. There is no reason to suggest that there will be a funding shortfall for eligible applications to our remediation funds.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op) [V]]

My Lords, the response from the Government is woefully inadequate. When will the noble Lord, the Government and the Prime Minister get a grip? The thousands of people trapped in this living nightmare need their Government to help and support them. When are we going to see action on the failures of the companies who built these buildings; the professional failures; the insurance companies not delivering on their obligations; the increased insurance premium costs levied on people; the building safety fund contract terms, which are not fit for purpose; the unrealistic bills being sent to innocent victims; the dangerous fire safety and building safety defects which have not been addressed; and the EWS1 form fiasco, which is making buildings unsaleable? What will it take to get the Government to make those responsible pay up, so that innocent victims get the justice they deserve?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I think that extended beyond two points. In addition to the unprecedented sum of £5.1 billion towards the remediation costs, we recognise the need to strengthen redress mechanisms. That will come forward as part of the building safety Bill. We have also stepped forward to support the installation of many hundreds of alarms to ensure that people do not have to pay for a costly waking watch, with our waking watch relief scheme of some £30 million. We recognise that it is for the building owners to shoulder their statutory responsibilities to keep their buildings safe. We will continue to work with all levels of government to make sure that that happens and that the costs are not passed on to the leaseholders.

Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development etc.) (England) (Amendment) Order 2021

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I draw the attention of the House to my relevant registered interests as a vice-president of the Local Government Association, a non-executive director of MHS Homes Ltd and chair of the Heart of Medway Housing Association. I should make clear that at the appropriate time I intend to divide the House on my regret Motion.

It is extremely disappointing that this order is before us. I concur with many of the remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock. However, sadly, it is how the Government operate, with scant regard for communities, the need to make their areas sustainable or, frankly, any understanding of what a stable community actually is. The order is another example of the Government’s inept planning policy. I have stood here so many times in recent years discussing orders, planning Bills and so on. They are just non-stop and I am sure we will be back again. The Government are completely inept in what they are doing.

Imagine if the roles were reversed. The noble Lord, Lord Greenhalgh, would be standing up and demanding, “You must let local communities have their say. How dare you do this?” I am sure that he would make the arguments that I am now giving. The Government have no interest in what local communities want to do. The noble Lord should know because he has been the leader of a council, whereas I have been only a member of a council. He knows how much councillors are the voices of their local communities and how much the local community wants to engage with its council. What we have here pushes all that to one side. It will hold back our high streets and open the floodgates for poor-quality housing in towns, cities and villages across England with no regard for what communities actually want.

What happened to localism? That word has disappeared from the Government Benches recently. There is nothing about that any more. Now Whitehall will decide and you will do as you are told. Localism was another fad from the Government—another slogan that has now gone out of fashion.

The country is in desperate need of affordable housing. We talk about it all the time. This order does nothing to achieve that. Instead, what we have here is a developers’ charter that removes powers from locally elected representatives and hands them to Whitehall-appointed boards. As the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, said, there is virtually no scrutiny whatever, just a negative Motion before the House. There is no legislation here. The Government are not prepared to put it in front of the House of Commons. It is only because we have tabled the regret Motion and the fatal Motion that we are actually debating these issues. The Government are running scared from debating them.

There are three main reasons why I have tabled this regret Motion and I will set them out. I believe that this order will hold back communities. First, it takes away from local people and locally elected people the ability to make their points known. Local councillors know their area best. They are the right people to decide. Instead, we are transferring powers to Whitehall-appointed boards. It shows contempt for local representatives. More than that, is the Minister actually saying that the boards and the Government know better than local councillors and local people? Surely, he is not saying that at all. Local communities know their interests and their needs and know what needs to happen in their area.

The second concern from these Benches is the risk of swathes of poor-quality housing appearing as a result of this order. We have enough poor-quality housing in this country. We have a housing crisis, as the Minister knows. We talk about it all the time in this House. This will do nothing at all to help that. We need good-quality homes and this, sadly, will do nothing to deliver on that.

The third point is about how it seems acceptable to let it go through with little scrutiny in Parliament. The risk is that we will see retail units being converted to low-quality flats. There is no guarantee that they will be what the local community actually wants. It could also decimate town centres. We all know that our high streets are in crisis. I would like the Minister to set out for us how this order will help and save our high streets. It does nothing for them at all. It adds to the risk that our high streets will become ghost towns. In these tough times for local businesses, the Government should be standing with businesses and communities and ensuring that our high streets and town centres are developed and supported, but, sadly, they are not.

To be clear, I intend to divide the House on my regret Motion when the time comes but neither I nor my Benches will be supporting the fatal Motion in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock. I like the noble Baroness very much and I respect her views but I am also conscious of the constitutional position of this House. The House has the power to put forward fatal Motions but should use that power very sparingly. I want to express my regret, annoyance and anger at what the Government are doing here. They need to behave better on these things and should have put them in front of the House of Commons in proper legislation to have them debated.

I suspect the Government are not doing that because they know the problems they will have from their own Back Benches in the other place, in particular, if they put these proposals forward. That is why they are using this negative measure. It is regrettable that it takes away the voice of local communities and will hold back the high street. It also does nothing to improve the housing situation. I suspect that this is the way that the Government will continue on a number of issues. I will leave it there. As I said, I will put my regret Motion to the vote but will not support the fatal Motion.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Alderdice) (LD)]

The noble Lord, Lord Lilley, has withdrawn from the debate so I call the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, with the agreement of the usual channels, we are going to defer both votes until tomorrow, so they will be on tomorrow’s Order Paper. After this, to give everyone time to move over to the next business, we will have a short adjournment.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

I thank the Government Chief Whip. I would have been very happy for my vote to be agreed by the collecting of voices, but the Government did not take me up on that offer. Obviously, I fully understand about these technical issues and we are happy for the votes to take place tomorrow.

Rogue Landlords Register

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Wednesday 26th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

We have taken a balanced approach whereby we have tried to ensure that we do not see the mass evictions the noble Lord refers to. Equally, it is important that we crack down on rogue landlords. We have invested close to £7 million to improve the enforcement powers of local authorities, because those who do overstep the mark need to feel the full force of the law, whether that is the criminal law or housing legislation.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I refer the House to my relevant interests as set out in the register. Does the noble Lord think that the whole concept of the rogue landlords database has so far been a failure? Notwithstanding his answer to that, what is he planning to do to make the intent behind the concept a reality? Can we have a bit more detail on the White Paper and future measures?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

I do not accept that it has been a failure, partly because of the time taken going through the process of charging and convicting individuals. As I pointed out in the previous answer, it is one of a number of measures that we introduced to tackle the issue of rogue landlords. Obviously, we are consulting on a number of wider measures, including increasing the scope and accessibility of this database as part of that White Paper. More will be announced later in the year.

Fire Safety: Leaseholder Bankruptcies

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Monday 24th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I point out that our approach prioritises action on the risks of unsafe cladding, which is what accelerates fire. The costs for remediating this, and the risk posed by it, are high. We are putting in unprecedented sums to cover those costs.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, when does the Minister think the Prime Minister will take action to honour the promise he made in the House of Commons, when he said:

“We are determined that no leaseholder should have to pay for the unaffordable costs of fixing … defects that they did not cause and are no fault of their own”?—[Official Report, Commons, 3/2/21; col. 945.]

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, the Government have now committed more than £5 billion to the remediation of unsafe cladding. That will ensure that remediating the most risky element of a building will be covered in its entirety for those in high-rises and a substantial part of it for those in buildings of medium height.

Social Housing

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Monday 24th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I do not accept that characterisation of our planning reforms. They look to simplify the developer contribution through a new infrastructure levy that I am sure will capture the land value uplift so that that can be put into social and affordable housing.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I refer the House to my relevant interests as set out in the register. Can the Minister explain why, when asked about social housing, he often refers to affordable housing? They are not the same thing. We need a greater percentage of government spend on social rented homes to address the chronic shortage of homes for people on low incomes. Many of the affordable homes he talks about are just not affordable for these people.

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I was very clear in my original reply that this programme will deliver approximately double the number of social rented homes, but there are also ways to provide subsidised housing that gives a discount on the market price, which is the definition of affordable rent.

Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [HL]

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Monday 24th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I refer the House to my relevant interests as set out in the register, namely as a vice-president of the Local Government Association, a non-executive director of MHS Homes Ltd and chair of the Heart of Medway Housing Association.

The Minister will have heard the speeches of all noble Lords who have taken part in the debate today. I think it is fair to say that everybody welcomes the Bill as far as it goes. I entirely accept that progress is being made and it is welcome, but—there is always a “but”—the issue that noble Lords have mentioned is the pace of reform, which is slow. In fact, it is really, really slow, and it is regrettable. This Bill could do so much more than it is doing.

My noble friend Lord Berkeley asked whether this Bill is doing the easy bits. Sadly, it is doing exactly that. The Government have form here. On a lot of legislation, they like doing the easy bits and making announcements about what will come down the track, but in many cases we are still waiting for what is coming down the track. I am reminded of the Housing and Planning Act 2016—a dreadful piece of legislation. Thankfully, Theresa May got rid of most of it, but regarding the rogue landlord database, which the noble Baroness, Lady Grender, just mentioned, the Act was passed in 2016 and five years later we are still waiting for the legislation to make that publicly available. I hope that we get some progress and are not just kicking the can down the road.

Perhaps the Minister can give us some more detail about when we can expect the more substantial legislation dealing with the real issues, such as the 4.5 million people today who are struggling with unsatisfactory leases. Leaseholder problems are nothing new and neither is the call for the reform. However, the problems have got worse. The Bill’s major failure is that, if you have problems with your leasehold property today, there is nothing here to help you.

The noble Lord, Lord Hammond of Runnymede, made a very fair point about conveyancers and the advice that they gave to leaseholders. I hope that the Minister responds to the noble Lord’s points.

The noble Earl, Lord Lytton, raised the issue of the consultation flaws. I have raised issues about inadequate consultation many times. Again, I hope that the Minister responds to those questions.

The noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, in a most enjoyable speech, set out why the Government must act urgently. We got it all: the Romans, the Normans, the Doomsday Book, the Peasants’ Revolt, Wat Tyler—the only one missed out was Lord Mayor Walworth. However, although it was enjoyable, the noble Lord’s serious point was that reform is desperately needed and long overdue. This goes back so many years. I hope that the Minister takes that on board. We must ensure that this leasehold type of property ownership has had its day and that the Government are marking that, and that this is the start of the process to end that. If that is what we will hear from the Minister, I will be very pleased, because if you are a leaseholder, you can be trapped in very unfair terms and must go on waiting for that leasehold reform, which is unacceptable.

Many noble Lords have described the Bill as “timid”. The Bill is good as far as it goes, but it could do so much more. Why is it so timid and what is the time scale for a more substantial piece of legislation? When will we see it in this House? It would be good for all of us to know, because this Bill is a missed opportunity, and in that sense it is a failure. The noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick, made these points.

My noble friend Lady Andrews pointed out the huge problems that people face when they buy a leasehold property and then see their ground rent double, as well as other onerous charges. We have heard several times of people being “ripped off”, which is totally unacceptable.

I will be pursuing several issues in Committee and on Report. I hope to persuade the Minister and the Government of the merits of my case, and I am sure that the Minister will want to do the same, but if not, I am happy to divide the House on Report regarding certain issues. Here are some of the issues that I will be interested in looking at. We will be exploring whether we can remove the ground rent from existing leaseholders and put into the Bill a requirement for the Government to begin that work and get a timetable for it to go forward.

There is also the issue of unfair terms and conditions beyond ground rents, which is not addressed anywhere in the Bill. I am talking about unfair terms and conditions such as transfer fees imposed by freeholders on the sale of a leasehold property, which are totally unfair and unjustified.

Another issue is leasehold forfeiture, which has been talked about already today. That is a process whereby somebody can lose their property for a small debt, which is totally unacceptable and needs to be dealt with. The concept is disproportionate in relation to the potential debts involved. The Bill could have been used to stop that practice and put in place a more proportionate system to address issues of debts owed, but it does not do that.

I am also not convinced that the penalties in place to deal with rogue freeholders who seek to illegally charge leaseholders a fee beyond the peppercorn go far enough. Is the maximum fee of £5,000 the right amount? Should there not be an extended sliding scale for repeat offenders?

One of the clauses refers to getting the fee back that has been charged to a leaseholder illegally. If the fee has to be paid back, that is good but I would like to see some interest and compensation for the leaseholder if it was charged to them illegally. I would also want to see larger-scale fees charged to companies that do that, because they probably need to be deterred. If their fee is only ever £5,000, they might well get away with it in some places and think, “Actually, this is worth taking the risk.” We need a much larger fee to deter people from behaving like that.

Another problem the Bill does not address is what people and companies will seek to do to get around this ban on ground rents. By that, I mean a whole new raft of additional fees, special provisions and other charges—generally, rip-off revenue streams which freeholders might seek to place on the leaseholders. These types of fees will be of no benefit to the consumer or leaseholder; it is unfair if they are just cash cows. What will the Minister do to stop this becoming a reality? Let us be clear: some of these organisations have lots of clever people. Their lawyers will sit down and say, “Right—this has been banned, but what can we do to get around it by doing something else?” What are the Government going to do about this? Otherwise, we will be here in a few months’ time saying, “That’s great, but what about these charges?”, and people would be no better off. The noble Lord, Lord Stunell, referred to this in his contribution.

The noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, rightly highlighted the problem of service charges. I have spoken to many leaseholders over the past few months who have been asked to pay a really unfair level of service charge. I often wonder how much these charges reflect actual work done and how much they are a sort of management fee, where they do not get a lot for them. Again, we are not dealing with that and it is disappointing, as the Bill could have dealt with those things as well.

The noble Lord, Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, highlighted the permission fees. Again, that is another example of leaseholders being ripped off and seen as cash cows.

The noble Lord, Lord Best, spoke about the risk of rogue property agents and others acting in an unscrupulous manner. Often when we legislate in this House, it is not to deal with the good people who play by the rules but to deal with the rogues—the people who just push their luck and pull strokes. How are we going to deal with that, when it is really important? It is not about good businesses but the rogues who will behave badly. The noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, mentioned those points in his contribution as well.

This has been an excellent debate with lots that we can generally agree on. There is also a lot to get our teeth into during our Committee and Report stages. I hope the Bill will be given three days, or maybe a bit longer. As we can see from this debate, lots of issues will need addressing. I hope that the Minister will have an open mind—I am sure he will—and want to engage with the House. I think we all want the same thing here; we know there is a problem and are trying to sort it out. It is just that we are a bit more frustrated and maybe want to get it done a bit quicker. We have raised serious points that need to be addressed in the Bill, even given its narrow provisions, so we ensure that when it becomes an Act it is a good one and does what the Government seek to do. With that, I look forward to the Minister’s response and our deliberations in the next stages.

Rent Arrears: Covid-19

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Thursday 20th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, we continue to review other examples of support, including that in Spain, as well as those in the devolved Administrations in the United Kingdom. We will consider what impact they might have, but we will continue with the policy we have about not encouraging further debt.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I refer the House to my interests as set out in the register. Right now, an estimated 353,000 private renters are in arrears. Rent arrears have doubled since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Government promised that no renter would lose their home due to the pandemic. Is it not time for the Government to accept the need for a Covid rent debt fund to clear Covid arrears for the most financially destitute renters, who are at severe risk of homelessness? If not, with the ban on evictions that has been in place during lockdown being lifted next month, how will the Government stop evictions because of Covid rent debt?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, we are aware of the exhortations from many organisations, but we consider that the increase in rent arrears is not statistically significant between the two surveys. It went from 7% to 9%. We also recognise that we have provided a substantial package of support for renters during the pandemic, including legislative protections and unprecedented financial support.

Mobile Homes (Requirement for Manager of Site to be Fit and Proper Person) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Wednesday 19th May 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I draw the Committee’s attention to the fact that I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I endorse the comments of my noble friend Lord Mann and look forward to the Minister’s responses to those points. Obviously, I supported the main order when we discussed it last September, and I am very happy to approve this one today.

My only question here concerns the error and how it was detected. How did the error happen? I assume that it was just a mistake. How was it detected, and what would the consequences have been if it had not been detected? It would be quite useful to find that out. In my 11 years in the House I have done lots of SIs and I do not recall ever doing one where we had to come back because we had got the name of the Act wrong. In this case, it does not seem to be too much of a problem, but potentially it could be very serious in other situations. With that, however, I am happy to approve it.

Tower Blocks: Cladding

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Wednesday 12th May 2021 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to a fire at a tower block in Poplar, London which left two people hospitalised and others injured, what plans they have to remove flammable cladding and ensure buildings are fire safe.

[The Minister of State, Home Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Lord Greenhalgh) (Con)]

I would like to express my deepest sympathies to the residents affected by the fire at New Providence Wharf and pay tribute to the swift response by the London Fire Brigade. We are providing an unprecedented £5.1 billion to fund the remediation of unsafe cladding, with expert support for those who need it. New Providence Wharf itself has received £8 million.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I draw the attention of the House to my relevant interests as set out in the register.

I join the Minister in expressing my sympathy to the victims of the fire and expressing my thanks to the London Fire Brigade. The fire in the tower block in Poplar is another devastating reminder of the dangerous, stressful, worrying and wholly unacceptable situation that thousands of people find themselves in today. Leaseholders and tenants are the innocent victims in a scandal that the Prime Minister promised they would not be picking up the bill for. So why are the Prime Minister’s words and promises to the victims so far removed from the reality and actions of the Government? When does the Minister expect the Government to start delivering on the repeated pledges and promises that the Prime Minister has made?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I start by pointing out that on 95% of the buildings that were identified at the start of last year as having the same cladding as Grenfell Tower either the cladding has been removed or work has started to remove it. We have made great progress in the past year, with some 159 starts on site. The building safety fund is open and continues to approve a number of works that will ensure that other forms of unsafe cladding are removed.

Leaseholders and Property Management Companies

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Thursday 29th April 2021 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the law in respect of the responsibilities of (1) leaseholders, and (2) property management companies, for the upkeep of communal areas in blocks of flats.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and, in doing so, I want to say that I am so proud to be able to ask a Question on your last day, Lord Speaker. You have been an exceptional Lord Speaker; thank you so much.

[The Minister of State, Home Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Lord Greenhalgh) (Con)]

The Government are committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that leaseholders are protected from abuse and poor service. Following Law Commission reports on enfranchisement, right to manage and commonhold, the Government are taking forward a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market. We are also considering the recommendation from the independent working group on property agents, chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Best.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I refer the House to my relevant interests as set out in the register. Does the noble Lord accept that, in many cases, leaseholders are trapped, paying expensive fees to management companies for the care and upkeep of communal areas or the property that they live in, and that the provisions that enable fees to be challenged and management companies to be replaced are not fit for purpose and need to be radically updated to place real control and choice in the hands of the leaseholders?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, we believe very strongly that any fees and charges should be justifiable, transparent and communicated effectively and that there should be a clear route to challenge or address things if they go wrong. That is why we commissioned the noble Lord, Lord Best, to do his report.