Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to tackle high services charges for leaseholders in Battersea.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government has set out its position on leasehold reform as part of the progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to bring forward an amendment to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill to ban forfeiture.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government has set out its position on leasehold reform as part of the progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support his Department is providing to leaseholders in Battersea who are facing service charges increases.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government has set out its position on leasehold reform as part of the progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to introduce legislation to create a regulator for service charges.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government has set out its position on leasehold reform as part of the progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it remains his policy to introduce a cap on ground rents to a peppercorn value.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government recently consulted on a range of options to restrict ground rents for existing leases. Alongside the consultation we published a consultation impact assessment, assessing the expected costs and benefits of each of the policy options. This can be found here: Consultation impact assessment - modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases - GOV.UK.
We are carefully considering the responses we have received and will set out next steps due course.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the (a) challenges faced by disabled renters in the private rented sector and (b) potential impact of the Renters (Reform) Bill on tackling those challenges.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to helping disabled people to live independently and safely in their home. The Renters (Reform) Bill will help improve the quality of privately rented homes by introducing a Decent Homes Standard in the private rented sector for the first time. This will ensure tenants, including those with disabilities, benefit from homes that are safe and decent.
Through the abolition of Section 21 evictions, the Bill will give all tenants greater security in their home and will empower disabled tenants to challenge poor practice and request home adaptations where they are needed, without worrying about retaliatory eviction by their landlord. The Bill will also create a new PRS Landlord Ombudsman which tenants can complain to if they think their landlord unreasonably refused permission to make an adaptation to their home. The Bill will also make practices by landlords and/or those acting on their behalf which discriminate against those who receive benefits, including disability benefits, illegal.
We are working with a range of stakeholders to understand what information is important to tenants when using the property portal and will outline this in regulations.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of using the Property Portal to record accessibility information on private sector dwellings.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to helping disabled people to live independently and safely in their home. The Renters (Reform) Bill will help improve the quality of privately rented homes by introducing a Decent Homes Standard in the private rented sector for the first time. This will ensure tenants, including those with disabilities, benefit from homes that are safe and decent.
Through the abolition of Section 21 evictions, the Bill will give all tenants greater security in their home and will empower disabled tenants to challenge poor practice and request home adaptations where they are needed, without worrying about retaliatory eviction by their landlord. The Bill will also create a new PRS Landlord Ombudsman which tenants can complain to if they think their landlord unreasonably refused permission to make an adaptation to their home. The Bill will also make practices by landlords and/or those acting on their behalf which discriminate against those who receive benefits, including disability benefits, illegal.
We are working with a range of stakeholders to understand what information is important to tenants when using the property portal and will outline this in regulations.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will take steps to provide funding to registered charity Caius House in Battersea for the costs it incurred for a waking watch in a high rise building with fire safety defects that was found not to have been required.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 203403 on 23 October 2023.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department provides financial support for registered charities to cover (a) a waking watch and (b) other fire remediation costs.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Registered charities may submit an application to the Waking Watch Replacement Fund, the Building Safety Fund and/or the Cladding Safety Scheme if they are the responsible entity (usually the freeholder) of a building that meets the eligibility requirements of these funding schemes. This includes registered charities that provide of social housing if they are the responsible entity for the building.
Further information on the eligibility criteria is available through the Waking Watch Replacement Fund; the Building Safety Fund ; and the Cladding Safety Scheme.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when his Department plans to extend the Medium Rise Pilot Scheme to other eligible medium-rise buildings; and whether that date is dependent on the effectivness of the Pilot Scheme.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS) opened in full on 24 July and is available to all eligible medium-rise buildings between 11 and 18 metres across England, and applications for high-rise buildings over 18 metres outside of London. The Scheme will provide funding for the management of unsafe cladding in England, where a responsible developer cannot be identified, traced, or held responsible.
The CSS is one of a number of remediation schemes that is being funded by Government. Funding for the whole of the building safety programme will be met by a combination of the £5.1 billion already allocated by government, refunds from housing developers and revenue from the Building Safety Levy.
Further details on eligibility, the application process and further guidance can be found here.