Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are giving to shared-ownership leaseholders in buildings requiring remediation.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Qualifying shared ownership leaseholders are protected from all cladding remediation costs. Additionally, where capped contributions for non-cladding and interim measure costs are required, they are reduced in proportion to their equity stake in the property. Where the landlord is associated with the developer, the landlord has an obligation to pay for all costs associated with the remediation of all defects and any associated interim measures.
All leaseholders can benefit from the funding available for cladding repairs for buildings over 18 metres through the Building Safety Fund and, potentially, the new scheme for 11-18 metre buildings (currently at pilot stage) where developers or building owners are not currently funding cladding remediation.
For those shared ownership leaseholders looking to increase or 'staircase' their ownership share, on 20 December 2022, the six largest mortgage lenders confirmed that lenders will consider mortgage applications on properties in buildings in England of 11 metres or 5 storeys and above in height with building safety issues, providing it is being self-remediated by developers, is covered by a recognised government scheme, or the property is protected by the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act.
For shared ownership leaseholders who need to move for work or family reasons, the Government has also made it easier for those living in buildings that require remediation to sublet their homes.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their proposals contained in their consultation Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy, published on 22 December 2022, on their commitment to build 300,000 new homes a year.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer my noble friend to the impact assessment for the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill here.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the review of the effectiveness of the Tenants’ Associations (Provisions Relating to Recognition and Provision of Information) (England) Regulations 2018 will be carried out.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Government wants to make it easier for leaseholders to come together to take on responsibilities for their properties. We are currently considering the Law Commission's report and recommendations on improvements to the Right to Manage for leaseholders. We will also continue to monitor the operation of the Statutory Instrument.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they consider that the QEII Conference Centre is unsuitable accommodation for the House of Lords; and what evidence they have for this.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Levelling Up is central to the Government's mission and the Government would welcome the House of Lords playing a leading role in that effort.
Peers relocating out of London during the decant would not only be a powerful symbol but a very practical way to boost local economies and ensure that lawmakers could hear directly from those beyond the capital. For this reason, the Secretary of State cannot support the use of the QEII Conference Centre, a location in the heart of Westminster, as a decant location for the House of Lords.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many buildings have been assessed as needing remediation under the provisions proposed in the Building Safety Bill; and on how many of these have agreements been reached with the construction industry to carry out the necessary remediation.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Information on the number of high-rise (over 18 metres) residential and publicly-owned buildings with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations is available in the Building Safety Programme data release here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/aluminium-composite-material-cladding#acm-remediation-data.
For high-rise residential buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding, the Department is continuing to work with building owners to progress applications for the Building Safety Fund at pace so more remedial works can begin as swiftly as possible. Information on the Building Safety Fund can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registration-statistics.
We have begun a pilot data collection project for 11-18m residential buildings to identify materials in use and to inform the design of a wider national 11-18m data collection exercise. We will publish further details in due course.
We have asked developers to provide comprehensive information on all buildings over 11m which have historic fire-safety defects and which they have played a part in constructing in the last 30 years. We are reviewing this data, alongside other data we have received, to ensure fire safety issues in these buildings are identified and addressed as quickly as possible.
The principle of protecting leaseholders living in their own homes is paramount.
It is fundamentally unfair that innocent leaseholders, most of whom have worked hard and made sacrifices to get a foot on the housing ladder, should be landed with bills they cannot afford to fix problems they did not cause.
We have been in intensive talks with the housebuilding sector to come forward with proposals on how it will make right its historic mistakes by taking responsibility for fixing the stock of unsafe buildings which have been built over decades.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the progress of the Building Safety Fund.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Secretary of State for Levelling Up made clear in his building safety statement on 10 January 2022 that the Government is focused on making sure the Building Safety Fund is more risk driven and delivered more quickly to protect leaseholders. The monthly Building Safety Fund statistics on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registrations-private-sector-and-social-sector show the progress that is being made with the Fund. Over £1 billion of funding has been allocated and over a thousand buildings are proceeding with a full application to the Building Safety Fund. This means that owners of over 80 thousand homes within high-rise blocks are covered by Building Safety Fund applications and leaseholders and residents can be assured the fire risks caused by the unsafe cladding will be addressed at no cost to them.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement on building safety by the Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 10 January (HC Deb col 288), whether leaseholders who are buy-to-let landlords will be covered by the "protection for leaseholders" referred to.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
As set out in our statement to Parliament on Building Safety on 10 January 2022, building owners and industry should make buildings safe without passing on costs to leaseholders, and leaseholders living in their own medium rise buildings should not pay a penny to remediate historic cladding defects that are no fault of their own. We have clarified that we have no intention of excluding leaseholders who have moved out and sublet from the protections that will be in place (including those in shared ownership) for buildings below 18 metres in England. We will explore whether this support should extend to other leaseholders, such as buy-to-let landlords.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish their Levelling Up White Paper.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Levelling up is a transformative agenda and the Department’s priority is to produce a White Paper which matches our ambition, building on existing action we are already taking across Government and setting out a new policy regime that will drive change for years to come.
Work is progressing well and we plan to publish the White Paper soon.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish their review of the Vagrancy Act 1824.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is clear that no one should be criminalised simply for having nowhere to live and the time has come to reconsider the Vagrancy Act.
Work is ongoing to look at this complex issue and it is important that we look carefully at all options.
We will update on our findings in due course.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to suspend repossession of leasehold properties until potentially dangerous cladding in such properties has been replaced.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government has announced a globally unprecedented investment in building safety and hundreds of thousands of leaseholders will be protected from the cost of replacing unsafe cladding on their homes.
On 10 February the Government announced it will provide an additional £3.5 billion grant funding for removal of unsafe cladding on buildings over 18 metres, which brings the total investment in building safety to an unprecedented £5 billion.
Lower-rise buildings between 11 and 18 metres, with a lower risk to safety, will gain new protection from the costs of cladding removal through a generous new financing scheme. As part of this financing scheme, no leaseholder will pay more than £50 per month towards the cost of cladding remediation.
This builds on steps already taken to support leaseholders, including £1.6 billion of funding to remediate unsafe cladding, the £30 million waking watch fund to help end excessive costs and new legislation in the Building Safety Bill which will ensure homes are made and kept safer in future.
The schemes will be launched in due course, and we will publish more details on how these will work as soon as we are in a position to do so.
The Government has worked with the lending industry and the regulators to prevent both homeowners and landlords from facing unaffordable bills or repossession if they can’t work, or if their tenants can’t pay rent due to the impact of coronavirus.
Mortgage holidays have been extended, with applications open to 31 March 2021. Borrowers that have been impacted by coronavirus and have not yet had a mortgage payment holiday will be entitled to a six-month holiday, and those that have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to top up to six months without this being recorded on their credit file. Current FCA guidance states all mortgage holidays must end by 31 July, so while no one can have more than a six-month deferral, any consumer applying now for their first payment holiday will not be able to take the full six months. Information on mortgage payment holidays is set out on the FCA website: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-confirms-support-mortgage-borrowers-impacted-coronavirus
The FCA has been clear that for borrowers who have taken six months’ holiday and continue to face ongoing financial difficulties, firms should continue to provide support through tailored forbearance options. This could include granting new mortgage payment holidays. Mortgage customers in this situation should speak to their lender to discuss their options.
A mortgage holiday is not the right solution for everyone, and a prolonged payment deferral may not be in a consumer’s best interest - it is important to remember that whilst someone takes a payment holiday, they will still owe the amount they don’t pay during the deferral period, and interest will continue to accrue. Where consumers can afford to re-start mortgage payments, it is in their best interest to do so.