Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what metrics his Department plans to use to measure the (a) value for money and (b) service provision of Lenvi in administrating the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The contract with Lenvi was awarded following a rigorous procurement process. It is a concession contract, so the equity loan administrator's costs are met through fees charged to customers with an equity loan.
Homes England established a project team to manage the process, with a programme of testing before migration of customer data and the service launching on 19 June. Following the migration and launch, the service has been subject to high volumes of customer calls and emails, and this has led to delays for some customers. We are working to address this.
Several steps have been taken in response. This includes increasing staff working hours, ensuring urgent cases are prioritised and escalated, encouraging customers to use email instead of phoning wherever possible and targeted communications channels to keep customers informed.
The department receives daily updates and regularly monitors the service recovery plan and a number of actions have been taken to improve the service.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 has taken to manage the transfer of the service provision for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan Scheme from Target to Lenvi.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The contract with Lenvi was awarded following a rigorous procurement process. It is a concession contract, so the equity loan administrator's costs are met through fees charged to customers with an equity loan.
Homes England established a project team to manage the process, with a programme of testing before migration of customer data and the service launching on 19 June. Following the migration and launch, the service has been subject to high volumes of customer calls and emails, and this has led to delays for some customers. We are working to address this.
Several steps have been taken in response. This includes increasing staff working hours, ensuring urgent cases are prioritised and escalated, encouraging customers to use email instead of phoning wherever possible and targeted communications channels to keep customers informed.
The department receives daily updates and regularly monitors the service recovery plan and a number of actions have been taken to improve the service.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 reduce the time taken to remediate building safety faults on residential flats.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
As of 31 May 2023, a total of 15 residential buildings over 18 metres in height in the London Borough of Hounslow have been either identified as still having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding awaiting removal or deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund due to the presence of unsafe non-ACM cladding, but are yet to complete remediation. The Department does not hold data on the prevalence of external wall system life-safety fire risk in mid-rise residential buildings at local authority level.
Building safety faults can be wide ranging and varied in scope, and projects can vary considerably in the time taken to complete but we have now adapted the Building Safety Fund to make sure that works to address life safety fire risks are risk-driven, proportionate and progressed rapidly.
It is expected that the end-to-end process of remediating high-rise buildings will be faster in many cases. This is because interventions will be more tailored for individual projects, with resources focused on where they are needed, according to deliverability and risk to life.
The Department also launched a pilot scheme for affected medium-rise buildings in November, which alongside developer-led remediation will make sure there is a route to remediating all affected buildings in England over 11 metres.
The department has also provided over £8 million to support local authorities' enforcement action against building owners who are unacceptably delaying works to make their buildings safe.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the time taken to remediate building safety faults for buildings that have received bids under the building safety fund.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
As of 31 May 2023, a total of 15 residential buildings over 18 metres in height in the London Borough of Hounslow have been either identified as still having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding awaiting removal or deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund due to the presence of unsafe non-ACM cladding, but are yet to complete remediation. The Department does not hold data on the prevalence of external wall system life-safety fire risk in mid-rise residential buildings at local authority level.
Building safety faults can be wide ranging and varied in scope, and projects can vary considerably in the time taken to complete but we have now adapted the Building Safety Fund to make sure that works to address life safety fire risks are risk-driven, proportionate and progressed rapidly.
It is expected that the end-to-end process of remediating high-rise buildings will be faster in many cases. This is because interventions will be more tailored for individual projects, with resources focused on where they are needed, according to deliverability and risk to life.
The Department also launched a pilot scheme for affected medium-rise buildings in November, which alongside developer-led remediation will make sure there is a route to remediating all affected buildings in England over 11 metres.
The department has also provided over £8 million to support local authorities' enforcement action against building owners who are unacceptably delaying works to make their buildings safe.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 estimate of the average length of time taken to remediate building safety faults on residential properties in England.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
As of 31 May 2023, a total of 15 residential buildings over 18 metres in height in the London Borough of Hounslow have been either identified as still having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding awaiting removal or deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund due to the presence of unsafe non-ACM cladding, but are yet to complete remediation. The Department does not hold data on the prevalence of external wall system life-safety fire risk in mid-rise residential buildings at local authority level.
Building safety faults can be wide ranging and varied in scope, and projects can vary considerably in the time taken to complete but we have now adapted the Building Safety Fund to make sure that works to address life safety fire risks are risk-driven, proportionate and progressed rapidly.
It is expected that the end-to-end process of remediating high-rise buildings will be faster in many cases. This is because interventions will be more tailored for individual projects, with resources focused on where they are needed, according to deliverability and risk to life.
The Department also launched a pilot scheme for affected medium-rise buildings in November, which alongside developer-led remediation will make sure there is a route to remediating all affected buildings in England over 11 metres.
The department has also provided over £8 million to support local authorities' enforcement action against building owners who are unacceptably delaying works to make their buildings safe.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 estimate of the number of buildings in Hounslow that are awaiting the completion of fire safety remediation work.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
As of 31 May 2023, a total of 15 residential buildings over 18 metres in height in the London Borough of Hounslow have been either identified as still having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding awaiting removal or deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund due to the presence of unsafe non-ACM cladding, but are yet to complete remediation. The Department does not hold data on the prevalence of external wall system life-safety fire risk in mid-rise residential buildings at local authority level.
Building safety faults can be wide ranging and varied in scope, and projects can vary considerably in the time taken to complete but we have now adapted the Building Safety Fund to make sure that works to address life safety fire risks are risk-driven, proportionate and progressed rapidly.
It is expected that the end-to-end process of remediating high-rise buildings will be faster in many cases. This is because interventions will be more tailored for individual projects, with resources focused on where they are needed, according to deliverability and risk to life.
The Department also launched a pilot scheme for affected medium-rise buildings in November, which alongside developer-led remediation will make sure there is a route to remediating all affected buildings in England over 11 metres.
The department has also provided over £8 million to support local authorities' enforcement action against building owners who are unacceptably delaying works to make their buildings safe.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the number of building insurers which mandate remediation work on residential buildings below 11 metres as a condition of cover; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon Mem to the answer given to UIN 190514 on 28 June 2023. Information on the number of buildings under 11m where insurers require remediation as a condition of issuing insurance is not held centrally.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reasons Lenvi were appointed as the equity loan administrator for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Following a competitive tender at the end of our previous contract with Target, the service provision was awarded to Equinity Gateway Services, who have since rebranded to Lenvi, and who are international specialists in payments and technology-led services. Lenvi have now taken up provision of all Help to Buy customer service functions and will deliver service improvements for Help to Buy customers over the coming months.
Help to Buy customers are required to pay off their equity loan if they wish to purchase another home, as they must not have interest in any other residential property whilst they have the equity loan. This is clearly set out in the homebuyers guide and Equity Mortgage Deed. If a customer would like to pay off their equity loan, they would first need to have their home professionally valued to ascertain its current market value.
We recognise that those whose properties have building safety issues, such as unsafe exterior cladding, can present additional challenges in valuing. The process to get a valuation and redeem an equity loan for properties affected by cladding can be found on Gov.uk. We are aware that some customers are having difficulties finding a valuer prepared to value their properties. We have been working with the Homes England and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to try to find ways to help customers.
On December 6, the RICS published new valuation guidance for buildings 11 metres and above with cladding here. This guidance reflects the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act which confirmed that those at fault, not blameless leaseholders, will be the ones to pay to fix unsafe cladding; and the solutions in place to fix buildings 11m+.
This new guidance will help to resolve difficulties in valuing properties where cladding is present.
Our focus continues to be on helping customers to find a solution as quickly as possible, however we recognise that this has been difficult for a number of customers.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his Departments policy is on individuals with a Help to Buy Equity Loan purchasing a second property if the first property requires remediation for building safety faults.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Following a competitive tender at the end of our previous contract with Target, the service provision was awarded to Equinity Gateway Services, who have since rebranded to Lenvi, and who are international specialists in payments and technology-led services. Lenvi have now taken up provision of all Help to Buy customer service functions and will deliver service improvements for Help to Buy customers over the coming months.
Help to Buy customers are required to pay off their equity loan if they wish to purchase another home, as they must not have interest in any other residential property whilst they have the equity loan. This is clearly set out in the homebuyers guide and Equity Mortgage Deed. If a customer would like to pay off their equity loan, they would first need to have their home professionally valued to ascertain its current market value.
We recognise that those whose properties have building safety issues, such as unsafe exterior cladding, can present additional challenges in valuing. The process to get a valuation and redeem an equity loan for properties affected by cladding can be found on Gov.uk. We are aware that some customers are having difficulties finding a valuer prepared to value their properties. We have been working with the Homes England and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to try to find ways to help customers.
On December 6, the RICS published new valuation guidance for buildings 11 metres and above with cladding here. This guidance reflects the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act which confirmed that those at fault, not blameless leaseholders, will be the ones to pay to fix unsafe cladding; and the solutions in place to fix buildings 11m+.
This new guidance will help to resolve difficulties in valuing properties where cladding is present.
Our focus continues to be on helping customers to find a solution as quickly as possible, however we recognise that this has been difficult for a number of customers.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment has he made of the adequacy of competition within the market for building insurance for residential buildings owned by (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) September 2022 report on insurance for multi-occupancy buildings confirmed that premiums have increased, on average, by 125% for the total population of multi-occupancy buildings from 2016-21.
The FCA review also found that the number of insurers prepared to underwrite buildings insurance for multi-occupancy buildings has fallen in recent years. The FCA highlighted that the remaining insurers may have limited competitive incentives, possibly resulting in higher prices for customers. Issues regarding competition in the insurance sector should be reported to the FCA and Competition and Markets Authority.
The Government is taking steps to ensure leaseholder insurance costs are fairer, and more transparent.
The insurance industry is working on a potential scheme to bring down the most extreme premium increases in buildings with identified fire safety issues later this summer, which the Government is monitoring closely.