Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2024 to Question 4169 on Help to Buy Scheme, how many Help to Buy loan repayment applications are being processed; and how many and what proportion have been outstanding for more than (a) three and (b) six months.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The requested information is not held centrally. Publicly available information covers total annual redemptions (see response to written Question UIN 4169).
Homes England do hold information on redemptions initiated and redemptions concluded in any given month. In the 3 months to September, for Help to Buy and associated legacy schemes, an average of 2104 redemptions per month were initiated and an average of 2260 concluded. Please note that these numbers are not directly comparable.
In order to be able to redeem a Help to Buy loan, several steps need to be completed by the customer, their surveyor, their solicitor and by the Help to Buy Mortgage Administrator. Timescales are therefore dependent on each of the parties. Redemptions may also be initiated by customers who subsequently decide not to proceed.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many Help to Buy loan repayment applications are being processed; and how many and what proportion of these applications have been outstanding for more than (a) three and (b) six months.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Data is publicly available in the Homes England annual report on the total redemptions for each year:
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Government response to the call for evidence on the review of park homes legislation, published in October 2018, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to help tackle the use of complex and opaque company structures to (a) limit park home residents' security of tenure and (b) avoid liability for enforcement action; and if he will make an assessment of trends in the level of the use of such company structures since 2018.
Answered by Jacob Young
The Department has published two guidance documents relating to the fit and proper person test.
My Department continues to work closely with the four national residents’ associations to address their members’ concerns about rights and responsibilities in the sector.
We remain committed to improving the sector further and will introduce primary legislation when parliamentary time allows, to prevent the use of complex company structures, clarify the definition of a pitch fee and prevent the use of variable service charges in written agreements.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Government response to the call for evidence on the review of park homes legislation, published in October 2018, whether his Department has taken recent steps to (a) help raise awareness of the rights and responsibilities of park home residents and (b) issue guidance on best practice to local authorities.
Answered by Jacob Young
The Department has published two guidance documents relating to the fit and proper person test.
My Department continues to work closely with the four national residents’ associations to address their members’ concerns about rights and responsibilities in the sector.
We remain committed to improving the sector further and will introduce primary legislation when parliamentary time allows, to prevent the use of complex company structures, clarify the definition of a pitch fee and prevent the use of variable service charges in written agreements.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Government response to the call for evidence on the review of park homes legislation, published in October 2018, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to (a) amend and clarify the definition of a park home pitch fee and (b) prevent the use of variable service charges in written agreements.
Answered by Jacob Young
The Department has published two guidance documents relating to the fit and proper person test.
My Department continues to work closely with the four national residents’ associations to address their members’ concerns about rights and responsibilities in the sector.
We remain committed to improving the sector further and will introduce primary legislation when parliamentary time allows, to prevent the use of complex company structures, clarify the definition of a pitch fee and prevent the use of variable service charges in written agreements.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the legal rights to redress for park home residents that have been adversely impacted by (a) companies in the Royale Life Group being put into administration and (b) the bankruptcy of Robert Bull.
Answered by Jacob Young
My Department has provided the national park home residents’ associations with advice to share with their members, about the rights and protections in place for those affected by those companies that have gone to administration.
My Department has also written to the relevant local authorities to remind them of their site licensing duties and to ensure the administrators continue to meet their legal obligations.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to help support park home residents that have been adversely impacted by (a) companies in the Royale Life Group being put into administration and (b) the bankruptcy of Robert Bull.
Answered by Jacob Young
My Department has provided the national park home residents’ associations with advice to share with their members, about the rights and protections in place for those affected by those companies that have gone to administration.
My Department has also written to the relevant local authorities to remind them of their site licensing duties and to ensure the administrators continue to meet their legal obligations.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that new homes are built in areas subject to a ban on residential development solely due to a nearby river catchment having excess phosphates in the water; and if he will differentiate developments already the subject of planning applications approvals from proposals not yet submitted.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government was very disappointed with the decision of the House of Lords voting against proposals that would have unlocked over 100,000 homes.
Given that they have, the responsible approach is to look at alternative ways in which we can ensure that people still have the opportunity of home ownership and a roof over their heads, whilst still being good stewards of the environment (as, indeed, the legislation was previously trying to do). As a result, we are, for now, focusing on making progress within the existing legal framework, keeping us on track to meet our manifesto commitment to build one million homes over this Parliament. This includes making available £110 million through the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund and to help planning authorities in affected areas deliver tens of thousands more homes before the end of the decade.
Provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act mean that local planning authorities and developers will assume that wastewater treatment work upgrades will be completed by 2030 and should factor that assumption into any relevant decision-making for the purposes of an assessment under the Habitats Regulations. This will benefit both new applications and developments already approved.
Further details of the Government’s measures to address the challenge of nutrient neutrality can be found – www.gov.uk/guidance/nutrient-neutrality-update.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing a person who has a power of attorney on behalf of a park home resident to appeal against a site licence condition which has been imposed by a local council.
Answered by Jacob Young
It remains appropriate that site owners, not residents or their representatives, have the right to appeal against conditions imposed on them by local authorities. Site licences and any conditions attached to them, are issued to site owners by local authorities, to ensure sites and amenities on them are adequately maintained.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the (a) business and (b) social net present value is of the impact of the policies enacted through the Renters (Reform) Bill which do not require secondary legislation.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Impact Assessment for the Renters (Reform) Bill sets out the Net Present Social Value and impacts on business for all the policies in the Bill, including those which do not require secondary legislation. The full Impact Assessment can be found here.