Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of estate agent renewal fees on the cost of privately rented homes.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Tenant Fees Act came into force on 1 June 2019 to improve transparency and affordability for renters, by way of banning unfair fees and capping tenancy deposits. Letting agent fees previously charged to tenants, for renewals, 'admin' costs, inventory and credit checks are now banned unless they are specified in an existing tenancy agreement signed before 1 June 2019. These provisions benefit up to 4.4 million private renting households and save them an average of £70 per year.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether buildings which have received a B1 EWS1 assessment, and therefore do not require remediation, are eligible for the Building Safety Fund.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Where a building has been deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund but the building has since achieved a B1 rating through an EWS1 assessment then it is currently at the applicant's discretion if they wish to continue with their application for funding.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he has taken to end the use of segregated entrances for residents with different tenures in developments.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We have provided guidance to local planning authorities which asks them to take this issue into account when preparing their local plans and taking decisions on planning applications. The National Design Guide advises that housing should be designed to be tenure neutral and socially inclusive, avoiding features that could create actual or perceived barriers, or contribute to segregation, and that there should be no differentiation in the positions of entrances. The National Model Design Code gives advice to local authorities on how to prepare their own design codes which set standards for the design of new development. This clarifies that design codes can help by requiring that the same shared entrances and facilities are available for all tenants within a building.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to make additional resources available to the Health and Safety Executive for the proposed establishment of the Building Safety Regulator.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is funding and will continue to fund the Health and Safety Executive to establish and run the Building Safety Regulator. Budgets will be determined following the Spending Review. We intend to use the Building Safety Bill to give the Building Safety Regulator powers to recoup a significant proportion of costs from regulated parties.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to help support pet ownership among those living in shared ownership properties.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
There is nothing within the Government's Shared Ownership model which prohibits pet ownership. Instead, decisions on pet ownership lie with the landlord and will be set out as part of people's lease agreements.
Pet owners should, therefore, check the details of their lease with the relevant Shared Ownership provider prior to purchase. Help to Buy agents will be able to supply contact details for local Shared Ownership providers. A full list of Help to Buy agents can be found on the Government's Own Your Home website.
The Government is in the process of introducing a new model of Shared Ownership that will be more consumer friendly, fairer and more accessible. As with the current version of Shared Ownership, there will be nothing within the new model that prohibits pet ownership.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the average time from an application to the Building Safety Fund proceeding to the second stage to funds being released to the building owner.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Detailed information on the Building Safety Fund application process and estimated timelines can be found in the Building Safety Fund application guidance available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-application-process.
It is the responsibility of the applicant to submit correctly completed applications as soon as possible. The quicker an applicant submits their application correctly, the quicker their application will be processed. A poorly completed full application will result in delays.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make a further extension to the Building Safety Fund so that remediation works can follow a contract, rather than design and procurement route.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
It is the responsibility of the applicant to the Building Safety Fund to choose an appropriate procurement model to ensure that the remediation works are carried out in a timely manner. The Department is working closely with applicants to ensure that works take place as quickly as possible and we are also providing expert construction consultation support to actively engage and advise applicants on procurement and project management.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make additional funding available to leaseholders who are being asked to pay for the costs of remediating their balconies to make them compliant with fire safety regulations.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Safety Fund will cover all works directly related to the removal and replacement of unsafe non-ACM cladding systems, this will include costs to remediate balconies where they are integral to the cladding system. This is because unsafe cladding acts as an accelerant to fire spread, and funding will remove the biggest obstacle to remediation proceeding.
Works which are not directly related to the remediation of unsafe cladding systems will not be covered by public funding. Government guidance is clear that building safety is the responsibility of building owners and the consolidated advice note published in January 2020 provides information to building owners on the actions they should take to address the risk of fire spread from external wall systems including and balconies.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the projected cost of remediation works to balconies on blocks.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
An Economic Impact Assessment was published alongside the draft Building Safety Bill on 20 July 2020 which includes estimates of the average costs per building for addressing safety remediation in high rise buildings, including balconies.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether buildings that were not registered with the Building Safety Fund between 1 June to 31 July 2020 will be eligible for the additional £3.5billion of funding for cladding remediation.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The announcement on 10 February of an additional £3.5 billion of funding provides assurance for residents that all eligible applications to the Building Safety Fund will be able to proceed. We will publish more details on how the additional funding will work alongside the existing funds soon.