Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on how many and what proportion of complaints to the Property Ombudsman have been outstanding for three months or more.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
While the Property Ombudsman (TPO) is independent of Government, we are committed to ensuring that the agent redress schemes work well for consumers. My department receives regular data from TPO and meets with them regularly to discuss policy and performance. These arrangements provide an opportunity for discussion of emerging concerns and measures TPO are taking - and plan to take - to improve their service. From the point at which a complaint has been accepted for review and allocated, it can take between 16-18 weeks for a review to be completed. The time taken to reach a decision is generally dependent on the complexity of the complaint.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will hold discussions with the Property Ombudsman on potential measures to enable the Ombudsman to respond more quickly to complaints.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
While the Property Ombudsman (TPO) is independent of Government, we are committed to ensuring that the agent redress schemes work well for consumers. My department receives regular data from TPO and meets with them regularly to discuss policy and performance. These arrangements provide an opportunity for discussion of emerging concerns and measures TPO are taking - and plan to take - to improve their service. From the point at which a complaint has been accepted for review and allocated, it can take between 16-18 weeks for a review to be completed. The time taken to reach a decision is generally dependent on the complexity of the complaint.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the average time taken by the Property Ombudsman to reach a decision on complaints.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
While the Property Ombudsman (TPO) is independent of Government, we are committed to ensuring that the agent redress schemes work well for consumers. My department receives regular data from TPO and meets with them regularly to discuss policy and performance. These arrangements provide an opportunity for discussion of emerging concerns and measures TPO are taking - and plan to take - to improve their service. From the point at which a complaint has been accepted for review and allocated, it can take between 16-18 weeks for a review to be completed. The time taken to reach a decision is generally dependent on the complexity of the complaint.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she is taking steps to (a) simplify the process and (b) reduce the costs of extending the lease period for existing leaseholders.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government intends to act quickly to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. The Act will introduce an amended valuation scheme that leaseholders must follow to calculate how much they should pay to enfranchise. The method set by the Act for the valuation process removes the requirement for marriage value to be paid, caps the treatment of ground rents in the valuation calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value and allows Government to prescribe the rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium. Rates will be set by the Secretary of State in secondary legislation.
The Act also includes a new statutory right to a 990-year lease extension for leaseholders of both houses and flats and makes extending a lease cheaper for leaseholders by requiring each side to pay their own process costs, such as valuation and solicitor's fees.
The implementation of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will require an extensive programme of secondary legislation and we will set out the details in due course.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will amend the Future Homes and Buildings Standards to ensure that all newbuild homes include solar photovoltaic panels.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Future standards next year will set our new homes and buildings on a path that moves away from relying on volatile fossil fuels and ensures they are fit for a net zero future. This will support our ambition that the 1.5 million homes we will build over the course of this parliament will be high quality, well designed and sustainable. We are clear that rooftop solar should play an important role, where appropriate, as part of the future standards for homes and buildings.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Building Safety Fund will cover the cost for thermal performance improvements associated with fire safety measures for the external cladding of buildings, where those improvements are (a) required to meet building regulation energy efficiency standards or (b) go over and above building regulation energy efficiency standards.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Fund (BSF) was established to address life safety fire risks associated with cladding on high rise residential buildings. Remediation works must meet Building Regulations requirements, including minimum standards for energy efficiency. BSF applicants may choose to self-fund further energy efficiency measures.