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Written Question
Ground Rent
Monday 16th January 2023

Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to protect leaseholders who are subject to RPI ground rents and who have not been within the scope of the Competition and Markets Authority’s work on ground rents.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The department conducted an Impact Assessment for the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which reported data on the level of ground rent in England and Wales. The Impact Assessment is available on the UK Parliament website here.

The English Housing Survey reports data on leaseholder charges, including data on the level of service charges and ground rents. The report is available from the department's website here.

The 2021 report by Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research also examined leasehold charges. It is published here.

The Government has legislated via the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 to protect future leaseholders from ground rents and we are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament.

We understand the difficulties some existing leaseholders face with high and escalating ground rents. Unfair practices have no place in the housing market. This is why we asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector.

The CMA have secured commitments benefiting over 20,000 leaseholders, including commitments to return doubling ground rent terms to original rates. These settlements will help to free thousands more leaseholders from unreasonable ground rent increases. The CMA continue to engage with a number of firms and we urge other developers to follow suit.


Written Question
Ground Rent
Monday 16th January 2023

Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress his Department has made on amending provisions within the Housing Act 1988 on the treatment of long residential leases as rental tenancies when a leaseholder’s annual ground rent exceeds £1,000 in Greater London or £250 in the rest of England.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The government is committed to ensuring that where a leaseholder's ground rent exceeds £1,000 per year in Greater London or £250 per year outside London, they will not be subject to mandatory possession orders for arrears of ground rent in the future.

Whilst we cannot set out the precise details of legislation at this stage, we have been clear about our commitment to addressing this issue.


Written Question
Councillors: City of London
Monday 25th October 2021

Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)

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 make an assessment of the potential merits of repealing Section 618 of the Housing Act 1985 which imposes an additional restriction on a City of London resident councillor when no equivalent restriction applies to a resident councillor of other local authorities.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

The City of London has brought this matter to the Department's attention. The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL)'s review of Local Government Ethical Standards made a number of recommendations that relate to disclosable pecuniary interests. Ministers are considering the CSPL's report and recommendations and will issue the government response in due course.


Written Question
Audit: Coronavirus
Thursday 1st July 2021

Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will extend the deadline by which local authorities must publish audited accounts to 30 November 2021 following audit delays caused by the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

The Government extended the accounts publication deadline to 30 November for accounting year 2019/20 to deal with delays caused by the Covid-19 outbreak


In line with the recommendations of the Redmond review, regulations extending the deadline from 31 July to 30 September for accounting years 2020/21 and 2021/22 came into force on 31 March


There is a balance to be struck in providing extra time for accounts to be completed and enabling the accounts to be published in a timely manner.

The Government will review these arrangement after 2 years.


Written Question
Hospitality Industry: Licensing
Tuesday 13th April 2021

Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to introduce measures to simplify licensing applications for hospitality businesses, with particular reference to trading outdoors, in order to support the reopening of business as covid-19 restrictions are eased.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Last summer the Government introduced a series of measures to support hospitality businesses to open safely when lockdown restrictions were eased. The Secretary of State has made a statement in the House and written to local council leaders on planning and hospitality, setting out what these measures are, and confirming that they remain in place to support businesses as they reopen this year.

These measures include the temporary pavement licence provisions introduced in the Business and Planning Act 2020 which create a quicker and cheaper process for businesses to obtain a licence to place outdoor furniture, including tables, chairs and stalls outside their premise. The Government intends to extend the temporary pavement licence provisions for 12 months until September 2022, subject to Parliamentary approval.


Written Question
Planning: Greater London
Monday 29th March 2021

Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the White Paper, Planning for the Future, whether Metropolitan Open Land will be included in the protected category of land.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

Last year’s Planning for the Future White Paper proposed a new format of local plan where all land is put into one of three categories - areas for growth, for renewal or for protection. It proposed that protected areas would be those where recognised constraints exist, such as National Parks and the Green Belt, alongside open countryside.

Since publication, we have continued to engage with stakeholders to develop and refine the proposals as set out in the White Paper. We will publish a Government response setting out our decisions on the way forward.


Written Question
Homelessness: LGBT People
Monday 15th March 2021

Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s Rough Sleeping Strategy, published in 2018, what progress the Government has made on (a) improving understanding of LGBT homelessness and the experiences of LGBT homeless people and (b) improving interventions for LGBT homeless people.

Answered by Eddie Hughes

We are committed to tackling all forms of homelessness and recognise that LGBT people who find themselves homeless may have a different experience of homelessness due to their protected characteristics. We are working with the Government Equalities Office to undertake research into the nature of LGBT homelessness. This will be published in due course.

When delivering their homelessness duties and designing their services, local authorities must consider the needs of LGBT service users. The Government has worked with Stonewall Housing to provide training to staff working with LGBT individuals across various housing services about the issues they may face and how best to support LGBT people.


Written Question
Local Government: Meetings
Wednesday 10th March 2021

Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2021 to Questions 152648 and 152649, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending remote or hybrid meetings for local councils beyond 7 May 2021.

Answered by Eddie Hughes

The Government keeps all policy under review. To extend the facility for all local authorities to continue to meet remotely or in hybrid form after 7 May 2021 would require primary legislation. We have received representations from local authorities and sector representative organisations making the case for the continuation of remote meetings beyond 7 May 2021 and we are carefully considering next steps in this area.


Written Question
Local Government: Meetings
Wednesday 10th March 2021

Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2021 to Questions 152648 and 152649, when his Department plans to set out its approach to local authorities when current provisions for remote or hybrid meetings for local councils expire on 7 May 2021.

Answered by Eddie Hughes

The Government keeps all policy under review. To extend the facility for all local authorities to continue to meet remotely or in hybrid form after 7 May 2021 would require primary legislation. We have received representations from local authorities and sector representative organisations making the case for the continuation of remote meetings beyond 7 May 2021 and we are carefully considering next steps in this area.


Written Question
Local Government: Meetings
Wednesday 10th March 2021

Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2021 to Question 152648 and 152649, what plans his Department has to bring forward additional primary legislation to extend remote or hybrid meetings for local councils when current provisions expire on 7 May 2021.

Answered by Eddie Hughes

The Government keeps all policy under review. To extend the facility for all local authorities to continue to meet remotely or in hybrid form after 7 May 2021 would require primary legislation. We have received representations from local authorities and sector representative organisations making the case for the continuation of remote meetings beyond 7 May 2021 and we are carefully considering next steps in this area.