Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the number of EWS1 certificates being required by mortgage lenders for buildings which either do not have cladding or are primarily finished in brick; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The EWS1 process is not a Government form or regulatory requirement, and the Department does not hold data on its use. However, following the Government announcement in November 2020, leaseholders living in blocks with no cladding should not be asked to produce an EWS1 form to sell or re-mortgage their flat.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many section 20 notices have been issued to leaseholders in each of the last 12 months for remediation works identified as part of the EWS1 process or to address other fire safety defects; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department does not hold this data.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many people have commenced training as building surveyors since November 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
To speed up valuations where EWS1 forms are justified, the Government is providing nearly £700,000 funding to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to train up to 2,000 more assessors in 2021. This training commenced in January and there are currently 453 candidates on the course.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of available testing capacity for samples removed from buildings as part of fire safety assessments; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department continues to support building owners by providing free screening tests for the identification of Aluminium Composite Materials.
The Government announced on 19 January that it will shortly commission an independent review to examine in detail the deficiencies in testing and conformity assessment regime for construction products.
The review will report later this year.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors about the EWS1 process; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department has regular discussions with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and awaits the results of the RICS consultation, which will help to make clearer the circumstances when EWS1 valuations are, and are not, to be requested.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the EWS1 process on the sale of flats in 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department is aware that the EWS1 process has been used more broadly than intended, which has affected the sale of some flats. The Government is working with industry to support a more proportionate approach to EWS1 use, and awaits the results of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors consultation which will help to make clearer the circumstances when EWS1 valuations are, and are not, to be requested.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to (a) cap increases to (i) service charges and (ii) management agent fees payable by owners of leasehold properties and (b) to prevent freeholders of shared ownership properties from using funds from leasehold service charges to pay legal fees for defending action taken by leaseholders; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government believes very strongly that any fees and charges should be justifiable, transparent and communicated effectively, and that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong.??
The law is clear that service charges, administration and permission fees must be reasonable and, where costs relate to work or services, the work or services must be of a reasonable standard. Leaseholders may make an application to the First-tier Tribunal to make a determination on the reasonableness of their service charges or fees. A summary of leaseholders’ rights and responsibilities must also be provided with the demand for charges.
We are also considering under what circumstances administration and permission fees are justified and if they should be capped or banned. We established a working group, chaired by Lord Best, who looked at this alongside the regulation of property agents and reported back to Government last summer. We are currently considering their recommendations.
Leaseholders may be liable to pay the legal costs of their landlord regardless of the outcome of a legal challenge - even if they win the case. This depends on the terms set out in their lease. This can lead to leaseholders facing bills that are higher than the charges they were seeking to challenge in the first place. It can also deter leaseholders from taking their concerns to a tribunal.
The Government believes leaseholders should not be subject to unjustified legal costs and will close the legal loopholes that allow this to happen. We will bring forward legislation to do this when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to require his Department and its agencies to provide a payroll deduction service to allow staff to save more easily with a credit union; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Department is aware that there are a number of credit union schemes on offer and that some departments have chosen to offer this facility through payroll. For a number of reasons, not least the administrative issue when employees leave the Civil Service or move between departments, this department and its executive agencies have decided not to pursue this benefit. We do however encourage our employees to make use of other Civil Service wide opportunities such as the Charity for Civil Servants ‘Money Matters’ service and the Department’s Employee Assistance provider who are available to aid in financial management and provide advice where required.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of homes (a) owned by and (b) being built by housing associations registered as industrial and provident societies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Organisations that were previously registered as industrial and provident societies are now classified as registered societies, following the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. However, not all registered societies were previously industrial and provident societies, given new entrants to the sector since 2014.
There are 789 private registered providers of social housing that are classified as registered societies. These providers own approximately 2.5 million of the 2.8 million homes owned by private registered providers.
In total, private registered providers as a whole were responsible for delivering 47,040 affordable homes in 2018/2019, of which 44,918 were new build. We are unable to disaggregate between former industrial and provident societies, current registered societies, and private registered providers more generally.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of housing associations who are registered as Industrial and Provident Societies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Organisations that were previously registered as industrial and provident societies are now classified as registered societies, following the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. However, not all registered societies were previously industrial and provident societies, given new entrants to the sector since 2014.
There are 789 private registered providers of social housing that are classified as registered societies. These providers own approximately 2.5 million of the 2.8 million homes owned by private registered providers.
In total, private registered providers as a whole were responsible for delivering 47,040 affordable homes in 2018/2019, of which 44,918 were new build. We are unable to disaggregate between former industrial and provident societies, current registered societies, and private registered providers more generally.