Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using long-term empty properties to provide affordable homes in the North West.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Local authorities already have powers and strong incentives to tackle empty homes. Through the New Homes Bonus, they receive the same level of reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the (a) Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme, (b) Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme and (c) Local Authority Housing Fund.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
DLUHC have just awarded a three-year contract to the Centre for Homelessness Impact to evaluate the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping system, including accommodation programmes such as the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme.
As of October 2023, our Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme had delivered over 5,300 homes for rough sleepers across England. We remain confident that the overall target of 6,000 homes will be achieved.
The £200 million Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme was announced in September 2022 aiming to deliver homes for adults experiencing severe multiple disadvantage and specialist accommodation for young people (under 25) who are at risk of, or already experiencing, rough sleeping in the areas of highest need.
Following the conclusion of the first two rounds of the Local Authority Housing Fund in 2024, DLUHC will conduct an evaluation of the fund.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to record the number of people unable to vote at polling places due to not having a valid ID.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As set out in Schedule 1 of the Elections Act 2022, such data will be collected at the upcoming scheduled local elections in May 2023, and the next two UK parliamentary general elections, in order to inform the reports the Government will publish on the impact of this policy after each of those elections.
I also refer the Hon. Member to the response to the UQ I gave on the floor of the House on 21 February 2023.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on reducing smoking rates in areas of high usage.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Ministers and officials from my department have regular discussions with counterparts in DHSC on a range of issues. As has been the case under successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of buy-to-let policy changes on the effectiveness of that sector since 2010.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Since 2010, there have been a number of policy changes affecting private landlords. These include tax changes for buy-to-let landlords, changes to the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), tightening lending criteria on buy-to-let mortgages and the growing role of the build-to-rent sector.
These changes were made as part of the Government's commitment to support first time buyers and wider efforts to make the housing market work for everyone. While it is right that people should be free to purchase a second house or invest in a buy-to-let property, the Government is aware that this can affect other people's ability to get on to the property ladder.
In April 2016, the Government introduced higher rates of SDLT for those purchasing additional properties. The higher rates are three percentage points above the standard SDLT rates and are part of the government's commitment to support first time buyers and ensure an efficient use of housing.
The tax relief on finance costs for landlords is restricted to the basic rate of income tax. This restriction was introduced in 2017 and phased in over four years. We estimate that only 1 in 10 landlords are affected by this change.
The Private Rented Sector remains an important part of the housing market, with 4.4 million households currently in the Private Rented Sector. According to the English Private Landlord Survey (2018) over half (55%) of landlords had a buy-to-let mortgage, representing 61% of tenancies, indicating that buy-to-let landlords continue to invest. Almost two thirds (63%) of those who had been a landlord for three years or less had used a mortgage to fund their first rental property and about half (49%) of those who had been a landlord for three years or less had a buy-to-let mortgage.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of the covid-19 outbreak on the buy-to-let sector.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Mortgage arrears continued to fall to near historic lows from July to September 2021, with government support for household incomes through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) remaining in place until the end of September as well as mortgage payment holidays. According to publicly available information from UK Finance, which represents over 300 firms across the banking and finance industry, there were a total of 5,670 buy-to-let mortgages in arrears of 2.5 per cent or more of the outstanding balance from July to September 2021. This is a decrease of six per cent compared with April to June of the same year. In terms of possessions, 320 buy-to-let mortgaged properties were taken into possession from July to September 2021, which is significantly down on the same period in 2019 prior to the pandemic when 800 mortgage possessions took place.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the average cost is of a buy-to-let property in each region of the UK.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The department does not hold data on the average cost of buy-to-let properties in each region of the UK.
The English Private Landlord Survey 2018 included data on the average market value per rental property. The mean average market value per rental property was £261,885.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many buy-to-let properties there are in the UK.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
55% of landlords in England have a Buy-to-Let mortgage, as detailed in the English Private Landlord Survey 2018. This data can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-private-landlord-survey-2018-main-report.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the average private let rents of buy-to-let properties are compared to the rents of social housing landlords, in each region of the UK.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department holds data from both the English Housing Survey and the Office of National Statistics on the average private and social sector rents by region. These data sets can all be found on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of the Affordable Homes Programme on the buy-to-let sector.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Since 2010, we have delivered over 542,400 new affordable homes, including over 382,300 affordable homes for rent, of which over 149,400 homes for social rent. New social housing is a key priority for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
As part of our drive to level up, we are keen to see affordable homes built right across the country, supporting all communities. Sixty-five per cent of the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 is due to go to regions of England outside of London, up from 55% in the 2016-23 Programme.
To ensure Social Rent homes are built where they are most needed, we have changed the rules for Social Rent making grant available for it right across the country and provided additional funding to deliver Social Rent homes in local authority areas where affordability pressures are highest.