Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Department's workplan for a technical review of the fire safety guidance provided in Approved Document B, when he plans to publish an update on progress of the trigger heights and thresholds workstream.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Technical Review of Approved Document B was published on 6 June 2022. Research on the property protection workstream has been completed; research commissioned under the trigger heights and thresholds workstream is nearing completion. Government will consider findings and will publish the research and an update on the workstream in due course.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference his Department's workplan for a technical review of the fire safety guidance provided in Approved Document B, when he plans to publish an update on progress of the property protection workstream.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Technical Review of Approved Document B was published on 6 June 2022. Research on the property protection workstream has been completed; research commissioned under the trigger heights and thresholds workstream is nearing completion. Government will consider findings and will publish the research and an update on the workstream in due course.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether (a) National Development Management Plans, (b) local development plans and (c) the National Planning Policy Framework have planning primacy under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The proposals set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill mean that planning applications would in future be decided in accordance with policies contained in the development plan for the area, and any applicable National Development Management Policies, unless material considerations strongly indicate otherwise.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of adults aged under 25 in England who live in housing that is overcrowded.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The English Housing Survey provides our best estimates of the conditions, circumstances, and energy efficiency of the English housing stock. The report is available online here.
The department does not publish breakdowns of estimates of overcrowding by age of household reference person.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of adults aged under 25 in England who live in housing that is classified by his Department as a non-decent home.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The English Housing Survey provides our best estimates of the conditions, circumstances, and energy efficiency of the English housing stock. The report is available online here.
The department does not publish breakdowns of estimates of overcrowding by age of household reference person.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of adults aged under 25 in England who spend more than one third of their net income on housing costs.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The English Housing Survey provides our best estimates of the conditions, circumstances, and energy efficiency of the English housing stock. The report is available online here.
The department does not publish breakdowns of estimates of overcrowding by age of household reference person.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 offer additional funding to organisations supporting the homeless, in the context of the rising cost of living.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 84910, on 21 November 2022.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment his Department has made of the vulnerability of social housing stock to overheating; and what steps he is taking to ensure social housing is (a) designed and (b) retrofitted to enable passive cooling in high temperatures.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2021 the Government introduced a new overheating requirement in the Building Regulations to reduce the risk of overheating in all new residential buildings, including new social housing. These regulations came into force in June 2022 and will mean that all new residential buildings must be designed in such a way as to reduce overheating.
Social Housing providers have a responsibility to ensure that all social homes have a "reasonable degree of thermal comfort" through "efficient heating and effective insulation" as well as "adequate ventilation", as part of their requirement to meet the Decent Homes Standard.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he expects the second part of the Government’s leasehold reform legislation to be brought forward.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government remains committed to creating a fair and just housing system that works for everyone. We will be taking forward a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market.
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 will come into force on 30 June. The Act will make homeownership fairer and more transparent for thousands of future leaseholders, by preventing landlords under new residential long leases from requiring a leaseholder to pay a financial ground rent
This is the first part of seminal two-part legislation to implement leasehold and commonhold reforms in this Parliament. This is a long-term reform programme; it is complex with many interdependencies and will take time to get the detail right. Once it is enacted the effect will be felt for generations and so we are determined this work considers all the implications and impacts with care.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of amending the Party Wall Act 1996 to compel homeowners undertaking works subject to the Act to serve a party wall notice.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Anyone intending to carry out any of the works mentioned in section 2 of the Party Wall Act 1996, must inform all adjoining owners. The Act contains no enforcement procedures for failure to serve a notice. If work starts without a notice being given, an adjoining owner can seek to stop the work through a court injunction or seek other legal redress.
The Department has not carried out an assessment of the average legal costs of pursuing a civil court injunction to enforce compliance with the Act or the potential merits of amending the Act. The Act provides for surveyors to be paid the reasonable costs of drawing up an award. However, if the building owner or the adjoining owner feels that a surveyor’s costs are unreasonable, they may ask for a breakdown of costs, e.g. the hourly rate and number of hours of time being charged for.