Queen’s Speech

Lord Thurlow Excerpts

Monday 17th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Thurlow (CB) [V]]

I welcome the noble Lords, Lord Coaker and Lord Morse, and congratulate them on their inspiring maiden speeches.

Today, I wish to concentrate on aspects of leasehold reform and planning. I first declare ownership of two rented flats, as stated in the register. In addition, like the noble Lord, Lord Stunell, I welcome a building safety Bill, particularly following the Grenfell tragedy, apparently accelerated by the French cladding. I read that when the French manufacturers became aware of the unacceptable fire risk of their product, they banned its sale in France for high-rise housing but, as I read to my disbelief, they continued selling the cladding in the UK. If this is true, it is a disgrace. Seventy-two people died, and the fact that some executives from the French company refused even to attend the inquiry speaks volumes. The Government should seek redress. The new Bill must have regard to the need for a building standards agency to test foreign-designed or manufactured materials with special care.

On leasehold reform, I welcome many of the proposed changes. The concept of lifetime deposits for lower-income renters is a blessing. There will be a difficult debate on how this will be policed without the unaffordable extra costs of professionals defending those tenants from spurious dilapidations claims. Another welcome feature is the opening up of the registers of rogue landlords and rogue agents to greater transparency. This was discussed and requested when the Bill was debated in this House not long ago, but I am afraid that layers of confidentiality, concealing the rogues, was counterproductive to the its wider objectives, so I commend the Government for admitting this and promising to make such registers of bad landlords and their agents more transparent.

However, I do not welcome the proposed abolition of no-fault evictions. Without repeating his comments, I echo the warnings from the noble Lord, Lord Howard of Rising, about the serious fallout that this policy could have on the supply of properties to rent, to say nothing of the impact of the value disruption.

Reform of the current leasehold ground rent system, on the other hand, is long overdue and I welcome reform. Unfortunately, it appears to have taken the unethical behaviour of some housebuilders and their recommended solicitors to bring this issue to the fore. I do not condemn leasehold tenure in principle at all, but the Law Society’s recommendations in its recent report on commonhold provides an opportunity to completely overhaul the structure of ownership where freehold is not practical. Providing lease renewals and new leases for terms of hundreds of years is something that I support if it can incorporate the practical necessity of redevelopment when required. It achieves the objective of preventing landlords from financially milking their tenants from time to time. Long leaseholders who need extensions to satisfy mortgage providers, and indeed to maintain a reasonably saleable unexpired term, will also welcome this measure.

I turn to the proposed planning reforms and the opportunity that they provide to utilise brownfield land—land that requires remedial treatment to remove contamination and render it safe. There is lots of it sitting in plum locations throughout England that would be ideal for new housing. CPRE research has found 21,000 registered contaminated sites covering more than 50,000 acres, with capacity for more than 1 million new homes. Last year’s planning White Paper expects these brownfield sites to be utilised fully before more edge-of-town development on greenfield is considered, but that was buried on page 32, which was not encouraging. The difficulty is that the cost of cleaning up these sites often exceeds their market value following remediation. However, we must not turn a blind eye and ignore these urban eyesores that blight our towns and cities.

I am in full agreement with the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, in my disappointment at finding no reference to reforming business rates. What a missed opportunity that the very recent debates on non-domestic rates have not followed through into the Queen’s Speech. We were told that a fundamental review is currently under way. This matter has become urgent as the health of hundreds if not thousands of SMEs is at stake. I ask the Government to please publish the review soon and follow it swiftly with a Bill. I look forward to the forthcoming debates on these subjects.