Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to end rental bidding wars by landlords and letting agents (a) nationally and (b) in Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Renters’ Rights Bill will prohibit rental bidding practices.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
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 take steps to introduce regulatory reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework to help deliver affordable homes in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 11383 on 31 October 2024.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to work with Community Land Trusts in providing affordable housing as part of the Government’s Affordable Homes Programme.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Community Land Trusts can apply to our delivery partners Homes England and the Greater London Authority for funding through the Affordable Housing Programme. If the development includes low cost rented tenures, they will also need to be a registered provider of social housing to receive funding or work in partnership with a registered provider.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to deliver affordable housing through the Affordable Homes Programme in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 11383 on 31 October 2024.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to tackle unaffordable and unfair ground rents in Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government are committed to tackling unregulated and unaffordable existing ground rents. We will set out further details on this in due course.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support the residents of buildings with unsafe cladding.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 8547 on 28 October 2024.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to identify buildings with dangerous cladding.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has been clear that more must be done to accelerate the pace of remediation of unsafe buildings across the country.
After the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Government prioritised identifying and providing funding for the highest risk buildings with unsafe cladding. Fire and rescue services and local authorities conducted a risk review of high-rise buildings over 18 metres in height, and building owners were required to register high-rise buildings with the department and apply for government funding to remove dangerous cladding.
The Building Safety Act 2022 establishes a new regulatory regime for high-rise buildings, which requires all residential buildings above 18 metres or seven storeys to be registered with the Building Safety Regulator by October 2023. The regulator has powers to pursue any building owner who fails to comply, including prosecuting for non-compliance.
In 2022, the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS) was launched, to meet the cost of addressing life safety fire risks associated with cladding in buildings over 11 metres. Eligible building owners can apply for this scheme, and leaseholders can utilise the ‘Tell us tool’ to self-refer their building: Tell us about life-safety fire risks on the external wall system of your building - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The department is working at pace to identify buildings eligible for funding that are not coming forward. We are utilising specialist data sources and knowledge from local regulators to identify buildings eligible for funding.
The Deputy Prime Minister wrote to mayoral authorities on the 13 September to support and empower them to deliver plans, which use their convening powers, relationships and local knowledge to accelerate where buildings are not remediating quickly. The identification of buildings with unsafe cladding falls within the remit of this initiative. The Deputy Prime Minister will set out further steps to increase the pace of remediation this Autumn.