Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reforming the non-qualifying leaseholder status for building remediation funding.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We understand that many leaseholders are frustrated by the limits of qualifying status set out in the Building Safety Act.
The principle of the leaseholder protection package is to protect leaseholders living in their own homes in unsafe buildings. They also seek to balance the rights of leaseholders who own additional properties with those freeholders (not connected with the developer) who, like the leaseholders, were innocent in the creation of the emerging defects.
To achieve this balance a threshold was set at ownership of up to three properties in total, to cover those individuals who had purchased properties primarily to live in. The inclusion of up to three properties was aimed at giving protection to, for example, those who had been unable to sell flats that they had been forced to move out of, e.g. because of a growing family.
The Government has committed to review how to better protect leaseholders from costs and take steps to accelerate the pace of remediation across the country.
In the meantime, there is a range of support for those leaseholders whose lease does not qualify for protection under Part 5 of the Building Safety Act 2022. This includes support with cladding remediation and protection for their principal residence on 14 February 2022 if it is in a relevant building above 11 metres or five storeys.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2023 to Question 194815 on Housing: Construction, what recent progress his Department has made on raising the minimum accessibility standard for new homes; and what his planned timetable is for the implementation of this standard.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN HL8422 on 26 June 2023.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the supply of affordable housing.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing. We are currently investing £11.5 billion through our Affordable Homes Programme which will deliver tens of thousands of homes for rent and sale right across the country.
Since 2010 we have delivered over 632,600 new affordable homes, including over 441,612 affordable homes for rent, of which over 162,800 homes have been for Social Rent.
The Mayor of London, through the London Plan and Housing Strategy, sets out where homes should be built and what level of affordable housing is required. They can also allocate funding from the Affordable Homes Programme to housing associations and local councils who build homes.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support leaseholders with service and administration charges in the context of increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by my hon. Friend at Oral Questions on 27 March 2023 (Official Report, HC, Volume 730, Column 644).
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress he has made on the cost variation request summitted in October 2022 in relation to Fitzgerald House and the associated cladding remediation quotation in Tooting constituency.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Fitzgerald House's application to the Building Safety Fund has been approved for full works and costs. The Applicant is working with their delivery partner (Greater London Authority) to provide the information required for the Fundings Approvals Board to confirm eligibility of the cost variation.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support people with rising rent costs.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Individuals who need help to make their rent payments may be eligible for a range of financial support through the welfare system. The Government has maintained the Local Housing Allowance at its increased rate for 2021/22 and 2022/23. For those most in need, Discretionary Housing Payments are available to help meet a shortfall in housing costs, and the Household Support Fund has been extended to help with the cost of essentials.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the press release by his Department entitled New over £650 million support package for Ukrainians sees increased thank you payments for longer-term hosts, published on 14 December 2022, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing similar financial support to people hosting Ukrainian refugees under the Ukraine Family Scheme.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Further to the answer given to Question UIN 59054 on the 13 October 2022, the Home Office is responsible for the operation of the Ukraine Family Scheme.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Minister for Housing's oral contribution of 20 April 2022, Official Report, columns 183-4, if he will consider Fleming House for funding under the Building Safety Fund on an exceptional basis, despite its being under 11 metres tall.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The owner of any residential building should make sure that their building is safe in line with legal requirements. Remediation or mitigation works should be appropriate and proportionate. Low-rise buildings like Fleming House are less likely than high-rise buildings to require costly remediation to make them safe and it follows that risk assessments based on PAS 9980 principles in low-rise buildings are more likely to find that lower-cost mitigation is more appropriate and proportionate than higher-cost remediation.
The Department is therefore examining cases that have been brought to our attention in which it is proposed to carry out costly remediation works in buildings which are under 11 metres in height, with a view to challenging those who insist on transferring those costs to leaseholders if appropriate. We are aware of the Fleming House case and others like it, and will take it into account in deciding how to proceed.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for which Fitzgerald House is yet to receive funding from the Building Safety Fund, despite the original registration having been submitted in July 2020.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Fitzgerald House has applied to the Building Safety Fund and has been awarded pre tender support funding to support the applicant to undertake the design, specification and tendering required to start the remediation of the unsafe cladding on the building. Fitzgerald House has applied to the Building Safety Fund and has been awarded pre tender support funding to support the applicant to undertake the design, specification and tendering required to start the remediation of the unsafe cladding on the building. The Department expects to award further funding for the project once the applicant submits a full application which meets fund requirements.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to increase the supply of (a) scaffolding and (b) scaffolders required to remediate buildings with dangerous cladding in London.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department is supporting industry in responding to the challenge of making sure buildings with unsafe cladding are remediated at pace including consideration of ways to address capacity issues across the sector. We are continually engaging with delivery partners and contractors to monitor constraint issues in the construction market, including scaffolding, and work to mitigate against the impact of market capacity issues on the remediation programmes.