Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the demand and supply problem in the private rented sector; and if they have not conducted such an assessment, what plans they have to do so.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The English Housing Survey provides information on households and housing stock. The proportion of Private Rented Sector (PRS) households has remained relatively stable for nearly a decade. The PRS was 19% of households in 2013-14 and continues to be at 19% according to the latest data for 2022, collected during the pandemic.
The Department continues to monitor private rent levels using the Office for National Statistics' Index of Private Rents as an indicator of demand. This data shows that Private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK increased by 4.0% in the 12 months to November 2022.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of introducing rent controls in the private rental sector.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government does not support rent controls to set the level of rent at the outset of a private rented tenancy. Evidence suggests that this would discourage investment in the sector and lead to declining property standards as a result, which helps neither landlords, nor tenants. Recent international examples also suggest that rent controls can have an inadvertent negative impact on the supply of housing and may encourage more illegal subletting.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government in which circumstances, and under what conditions, listed properties will be exempt from Energy Performance Certificates requirements; and whether they will issue guidelines to that effect.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In setting the regulations that mandate Energy Performance Certificates, the government recognised that not all owners of listed buildings should be required to obtain an Energy Performance Certificates and an exemption is available where compliance with minimum energy performance requirements would unacceptably alter their character or appearance.
The government has issued guidelines to that effect in the published guidance, 'A guide to Energy Performance Certificates for the marketing, sale and let of dwellings
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to bring forward the second stage of leasehold reform.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The government remains committed to its manifesto commitment of leasehold reform and to providing a fair deal for renters. Legislation will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce the Renters' Reform Bill to Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The government remains committed to its manifesto commitment of leasehold reform and to providing a fair deal for renters. Legislation will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the supply of accommodation in the private rented sector; and in particular, of the effect of ultra-short term lets on the availability of longer-term rental tenancies.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Our key indicator on the size of the private rented sector is the English Housing Survey. The most recent headline report states that in 2020-21, the private rented sector accounted for 4.4 million or 19% of households in England, unchanged from 2019-20, but lower than in 2015-16 (20%). Renting is more prevalent in London where 27% of households lived in the private rented sector in 2020-21 (compared to 17% of households in the rest of England).
The sharing economy has brought many benefits to the tourism sector and wider economy, as well as creating an additional income stream for homeowners. However, we recognise that the increase in short-term letting has also prompted some concerns. These include the impact on the housing market and local communities, and a sense that new entrants in the market are not being held to the same health and safety standards as, for example, hotels and B&Bs.
The Government committed in the Tourism Recovery Plan published in June last year to consult on a possible Short Term Accommodation Registration Scheme in England. A call for evidence as the first stage of that consultation process was published on 29 June and runs until 21 September.
We want to hear from a wide range of stakeholders, including local authorities, in order to build a much-needed evidence base on these issues and enable us to develop proportionate policy responses. We ideally want to strike a balance between the benefits of the sharing economy and the concerns of the impacts on some communities, alongside ensuring consistency in quality among the range of different tourism accommodation providers.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the proposals in the Renters Reform Bill on the availability and supply of student accommodation in the private rented sector.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has used consultation feedback and extensive stakeholder engagement to understand the impact of proposals of the Renters Reform Bill on the availability and supply of student accommodation in the private rented sector.
The proposed reforms will support student households who have children or local roots to remain in their properties after studying if they wish to, whilst students living in privately-run purpose-built student accommodation will be governed by the same rules as those in university-owned accommodation, given the specific purpose of this housing.
We will continue to consider the impact of our reforms as we move towards legislation and will publish a full impact assessment in due course.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to introduce legislation to Parliament as part of the second phase of their leasehold and commonhold reforms.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government has already made great strides with the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which came into force from 30 June 2022. We will bring forward the second part of our leasehold reforms in the next session of this Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the compatibility of their Renters Reform Bill proposals with blocks of flats where pets are banned in the lease.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government announced in our White Paper ‘A Fairer Private Rented Sector’ that we will bring forward legislation to stop landlords from unreasonably withholding consent when a tenant requests to have a pet in their home. We know that that there are situations where it might be reasonable for a landlord to refuse a request. This may include cases where a landlord would be in breach of a superior lease agreement in a block of flats.
We will continue to discuss a common-sense approach with those in the sector as we look towards legislating and implementing these reforms.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposed abolition of fixed-term tenancies in the private rented sector on leasehold blocks of flats where short lets of under six months are prohibited.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government announced in our White Paper 'A Fairer Private Rented Sector' that all tenancies will be periodic, meaning tenants can stay in their home until they choose to leave or the landlord has a valid reason for possession.
The Government has consulted on tenancy reform and will continue to consider carefully the impacts of these reforms on the rental sector. We will look at all these issues as we prepare for legislation, including where they interact with other types of housing such as leasehold property.