Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Lewis Excerpts
Tuesday 22nd June 2021

(2 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Julian Lewis Portrait Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
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What steps his Department is taking to encourage home ownership.

Jack Lopresti Portrait Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)
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What steps his Department is taking to encourage home ownership.

John Glen Portrait The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Glen)
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The Government are committed to helping people own their own home. Our new mortgage guarantee scheme is increasing the availability of mortgages for credit-worthy households who only have a 5% deposit, helping them realise their dream of home ownership. The lifetime ISA provides a bonus to those under 40 saving towards a home, worth up to £450,000.

Julian Lewis Portrait Dr Lewis
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I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Last week, The Sunday Times detailed the colossal sums imposed on ordinary people by rapacious freeholders and reckless developers. Why should anyone risk purchasing a lease on a residential flat if we fail as a Government to protect innocent leaseholders from bearing the costs of defective extra storeys or defective extra cladding forced on them by those who are actually responsible for such terrible defects?

John Glen Portrait John Glen
- Parliament Live - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I thank my right hon. Friend for his question. The Government are investing more than £5 billion in building safety, including an additional £3.5 billion announced this year for the remediation of unsafe cladding for all leaseholders living in high-rise residential buildings. We are also introducing a new tax on the UK residential property development sector and a new levy on developers of certain high-rise buildings to help pay for cladding remediation costs.