Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
Main Page: Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Conservative - Life peer)Housing and Planning Bill
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park Excerpts
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)
My Lords, before I turn to the amendments in the name of my noble friend Lady Williams it may be helpful if I say a few words about why we are making the changes to secure tenancies. I apologise at the outset if that means my remarks may be slightly on the long side.
The provisions in the Bill will ensure that social housing is focused on those who really need it, for as long as they need it, and that tenants are provided with more appropriate tenancies as their needs change over time. Local authorities will be able to get the best use out of their homes, so that more households are able to access social housing and so that social tenants who aspire to own their own home are supported into home ownership where they can be. We listened carefully to the debate in Committee and, indeed, now on Report, and recognise the strength of feeling on this issue, so I am happy to be able to say that as a result we are prepared to give an undertaking that we will bring forward amendments at Third Reading to extend the maximum tenancy period to 10 years in certain circumstances and to enable local authorities to give longer tenancies to cover the time that children are at school. I am also able to give a commitment that we will meet the concerns raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, about domestic violence, through regulations. I will return to these later in these remarks, as well as in remarks on the next group.
Amendments 79A, 80AA, 81ZB, 81ZC, 81ZD and 81ZE are technical amendments which are intended to help local authorities implement the provisions in Schedules 7 and 8. Amendment 79A ensures that local authority landlords will be able to terminate a new fixed-term tenancy on the statutory fault grounds during the fixed term without the need to take additional action to forfeit the tenancy. Very briefly, forfeiture is the method by which tenancies may be brought to an end by a landlord following the tenant’s breach of a tenancy condition. The Housing Act 1985 provides routes for local authorities to recover possession from tenants with fixed-term and lifetime tenancies.
Lifetime tenancies can be brought to an end on grounds specified in the legislation; however, there has been some debate about the effect of the legislation in relation to ending a fixed-term tenancy during the term. In particular, commentators differ in their views about whether landlords have to use both the forfeiture process and the statutory method of bringing the tenancy to an end. This issue was highlighted by the Opposition in the other place during debate on the provisions in the Bill. Until now the issue has been mainly academic, as most local authority tenancies are granted on a lifetime basis. However, as we move to fixed-term tenancies in future the issue is likely to gain in significance and we therefore want to put the matter beyond doubt. We do not think that there is any justification for landlords to have to go through a two-stage process to bring a fixed-term tenancy to an end during the fixed term. It would be unduly complicated and onerous.
The amendment will therefore ensure that landlords can terminate the tenancy during the fixed term by obtaining an order of the court for possession of the dwelling house on one of the grounds set out in the legislation and executing that order. We expect that local authorities will usually set out the statutory grounds on which they can seek possession in their tenancy agreements. However, this provision makes it clear that it is not essential for a landlord to rely on the statutory grounds when seeking possession. These changes apply only to new fixed-term tenancies granted once the Bill comes into force.
Amendments 80AA, 81ZB, 81ZC and 81ZE enable local authorities to continue to include provision for forfeiture to cover the situation where a tenancy is no longer secure—for example, where the tenant is no longer using it as their main home—and the statutory possession grounds would not be available. Under the normal rules of succession, the successor takes on the tenancy of the deceased, including any outstanding possession order attached to that tenancy. Amendment 81ZD ensures that this will continue to be the case where someone other than a spouse or partner qualifies to succeed and is granted a five-year fixed-term tenancy under the provisions in the Bill. These are technical amendments which are intended to clarify and simplify the existing legislation and make fixed-term tenancies work more effectively for local authorities. I therefore hope that noble Lords will accept them.
Amendment 81ZA introduces a new clause to deal with mutual exchange, whereby one social tenant swaps with another. It responds to a point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Best, in Committee about the position of social tenants who exchange. We want to ensure that social tenants continue to be able to move within the social rented sector, including when they move through mutual exchange. To ensure that the introduction of flexible tenancies did not act as a barrier to mobility, the Localism Act introduced a provision which enabled lifetime tenants of local authorities and private registered providers to maintain their security of tenure when swapping homes with tenants with fixed-term tenancies. It did this by giving tenants a power to insist that the prospective landlord must grant them a further lifetime tenancy where they consent to the swap.
Amendment 81ZA amends the provision in the Localism Act so that it applies to new local authority fixed-term tenants as well. However, with 1.2 million households on the waiting list, we do not think that it is sensible to guarantee that lifetime tenants should always be given another lifetime tenancy when they swap. Accordingly, the new clause provides that in future local authority and private registered provider landlords will have discretion to grant lifetime tenants a further lifetime tenancy where they swap. We will specify the circumstances in which local authorities may exercise this discretion. This will be similar to the position for lifetime local authority tenants who seek to transfer to another local authority home in future, where local authorities will have a limited discretion to offer another lifetime tenancy. We have already taken a power to regulate to specify the circumstances in which local authorities may continue to offer lifetime tenancies. We will ensure that these regulations cover the situation in which tenants swap as well as where they transfer.
The Localism Act gave protection only to tenants who had a lifetime tenancy before the Act came into force; that is, before 1 April 2012. We do not think there is any justification for retaining the inconsistency of approaches and are therefore proposing that the new provisions will apply to all lifetime tenancies whenever they were granted. The existing law will continue to apply where an application to swap has been made at the time the Bill comes into force. Amendment 80ZA makes a minor consequential amendment to Schedule 7 to allow local authorities to continue to grant lifetime tenancies where lifetime tenants mutually exchange.
Amendments 79 and 80B would remove altogether the provisions in the Bill that restrict the use of lifetime tenancies. While I appreciate the strength of feeling on this issue and I have spoken about some amendments the Government are willing to bring forward, I cannot accept these amendments. The provisions in the Bill deliver on a commitment in last year’s summer Budget to limit the use of lifetime tenancies in social housing. The noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, asked why these were not included from the outset. As I have just said, we made clear in the July Budget our intention to review the tenancies and since it is a complex area we needed to make sure that we got it absolutely right before introducing the amendments. We are clear that continuing to grant tenancies with lifetime security to households which may have only a short-term need is not a good use of scarce social housing; it is not fair to tenants who are forced to remain in unsuitable or overcrowded housing and not fair to the hundreds of thousands of households on waiting lists and in housing need.
We know that there is a need for more housing across the country and are already taking steps to provide it, but it is imperative that we also make efficient use of the existing stock. By requiring councils to grant fixed-term tenancies with regular review points, we will ensure that more households are able to access social housing, that those who continue to need social housing are provided with appropriate housing as their needs change over time and that social tenants who aspire to own their own home are supported into home ownership where this is viable for them. In Committee we gave a commitment to provide guidance to councils to assist them in implementing these changes. This will make it clear that where a tenant’s circumstances are broadly unchanged we expect that landlords will normally grant a further tenancy in the same home.
Amendment 80ZB would ensure that where a tenant had to give up their lifetime tenancy as a result of domestic violence they would be granted a further lifetime tenancy in their new home. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, for raising this important point again and, of course, for her commitment to protecting victims of domestic abuse. The Bill already includes provisions to ensure that lifetime tenants can be granted a further lifetime tenancy in certain circumstances and we will specify that in regulations. I am happy to give a commitment now that we will ensure that the regulations include those who need to move or have fled their homes to escape domestic violence. We look forward to working with the noble Baroness on how we can do this most effectively.
Baroness Lister of Burtersett
May I seek clarification? I made an important distinction between having a permissive power and making it clear in the regulations that those affected by domestic violence will be exempted. Will the Minister clarify that this will be the latter and not simply a permissive power, because that is not going to be enough?
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
Yes, I can clarify that. I fear that I will have to find out what has happened on the equality statement and come back to the noble Baroness as soon as possible. I apologise—I know that she has raised it constantly. I fear I do not have any further news for her but I hope that what I have said previously makes up a bit for that.
Amendments 81 and 81A would undo the changes we are making to succession. It would mean that there would continue to be a distinction between the succession rights of tenancies granted before and after 1 April 2012. Family members of tenants granted their tenancy before that date would continue to have an automatic right to succeed to a social home, while family members of tenants granted their tenancy after that date would be entitled to succeed only at the landlord’s discretion. We believe that it does not make sense to retain this distinction simply on the basis of the date the tenancy was granted. That is why we are bringing the succession rights of secure tenancies granted before April 2012 in line with those granted after that date. These amendments would also mean that family members who might have no need for social housing were able to succeed to a lifetime tenancy. Again, we do not believe that this can be right when there are so many in need on council waiting lists, and when all new tenants in future will receive only a fixed-term tenancy.
The provisions will deliver a consistent approach across all council tenancies. They will put common-law partners on an equal footing with married couples and civil partners who will retain their entitlement to succeed to a lifetime tenancy, and will ensure that councils have the flexibility to provide additional succession rights not just to family members but to people such as those who have given up their own home to care for the tenant over a number of years. Where councils decide to grant additional succession rights, if the deceased had a lifetime tenancy, the successor will be given a five-year tenancy. In line with other tenants, there will then be a review at the end of the five years. However, as I also said, if circumstances have not changed, we anticipate the local authority extending the tenancy further.
The changes we are making to the succession rules strike the best balance between protection for tenants and their families, and flexibility for landlords to make the most efficient use of their stock for the whole community. Taken together, these amendments would seriously weaken the ability of local authorities effectively to manage their housing stock. I need to be clear that, should Clauses 113 and 114 and Schedules 7 and 8 not stand part, the other place will be certain to overturn this decision. With this in mind—and, I hope, with the commitment I have given in relation to Amendment 80ZB and the further discussion we will have on the next group of amendments—I ask that the amendment be withdrawn.
Lord Shipley
Will the Minister clarify what she said at the beginning of her reply—that local authorities would be enabled to issue 10-year tenancies in certain circumstances? Can she tell the House more about what circumstances will be explained at Third Reading—because the Government’s intention is to come back to this at Third Reading—in relation to adding 10-year tenancies to the Bill? Will the “certain circumstances” also be included in the Bill? In other words, will they be explained in detail at Third Reading, or is it the Government’s intention simply to add them to regulations? Will the affirmative or the negative procedure be used in relation to those regulations? This is an extremely important issue for many of us. The affirmative procedure should be used in respect of regulations. It would also help us to be told what the Government mean by “in certain circumstances”.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
We will discuss this issue in more detail on the next group of amendments. However, we have shown the direction of travel we intend to take. We intend to have further discussions and to provide more information at Third Reading.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark
We may need to carry this on outside the Chamber. That is not a taxpayer subsidy: the money is coming from local authorities.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
My Lords, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Bassam, Lord Beecham, Lord Kennedy, Lord Watson and Lord Kerslake, and my noble friend Lord Porter, for their amendments. Turning first to Amendment 80, it would ensure that new fixed-term tenancies may have a longer term of 10 years in all cases.
As I said, we listened carefully in Committee, and I have found this further discussion at Report useful. A household’s circumstances can change considerably in 10 years, which is why the Government remain convinced that a maximum of five years should be the norm for most fixed-term tenancies. Indeed, 70% of flexible tenancies currently given by local authorities are five years in length. However, we recognise that there may well be situations in which longer-term tenancies are appropriate for tenants who have particular needs—which is why, as I said, we will bring forward an amendment at Third Reading to enable local authorities to grant longer-term tenancies of up to 10 years in certain circumstances. In answer to the question of the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, in the previous debate, I can say that this will include people with disabilities. We will be looking at other categories, and they will be in regulations which will be subject to the affirmative procedure, so there will be an opportunity to discuss the matter further, and we will of course have ongoing discussions in the run-up to Third Reading.
Lord Beecham
I am grateful to the Minister. As she will know, we have the last day of Report on Monday and Third Reading is on Wednesday, which gives us very little time to consider amendments that the Government may table. They may be perfectly adequate —one lives in hope, if not expectation—but they may not, and we and other Members may want to table amendments for Third Reading, so we really need to know what the Government are doing by Monday at the latest, because no amendments can be tabled after Tuesday. If we can have an assurance about the timing, that will be very helpful.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
My Lords, we are acutely aware of the timing issues, so yes, I give that assurance. I fear that it may mean that we will be working more closely together over the coming days than we have been already.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark
We have had a wonderful time, have we not? I thank everyone who has spoken in this short debate. I am hopeful about what we will see from the Government in the next few days; we can all agree that next week, we get to Third Reading. With that, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.