Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether houses of multiple occupation that are housing asylum seekers will be exempt from local authority selective and additional licensing schemes following the approval of The Houses in Multiple Occupation (Asylum-Seeker Accommodation) (England) Regulations 2023.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Details of the proposed legislation are available here.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
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 average length of time that the First-tier tribunal will take to process an application for (a) a remediation order and (b) a remediation contribution order under the Building Safety Act 2022.
Answered by Paul Scully
Remediation orders and remediation contribution orders are measures introduced in the Building Safety Act 2022 to ensure that action can be taken against building owners and landlords who are not meeting their responsibilities for remediating historical safety defects in building above 11 metres or five storeys.
As well as those with an interest in the particular building, such as individual or groups of leaseholders, enforcement agencies may apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a remediation order to require a relevant landlord to remedy the relevant defect through a remediation order. They can also apply for a remediation contribution order to require the landlord, developer or associate to make payments to a specified person for the purpose of meeting costs which have been incurred or to be incurred in remedying relevant defects.
We are working closely with the Tribunal to understand how they are dealing with these orders. As only a small number of applications have been made, it is unclear how representative those applications are of the likely caseload as a whole. We are therefore unable to provide an estimate of the time required to process an application.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
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 (a) remediation orders (b) remediation contribution orders applications have been (i) made, and (ii) approved since the scheme opened in July.
Answered by Paul Scully
HMCTS has confirmed that, to date, they have received 2 applications for remediation orders and 2 applications for remediation contribution orders. None have yet reached decision.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his Department's policy is on leaseholders who need to re-mortgage to pay for fire safety remediation works but cannot secure an EWS1 form to do so.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act came into force on 28 June 2022. This means qualifying leaseholders in England can no longer be charged for cladding remediation. There are legal protections in place for non-cladding costs which are capped and spread over ten years.
Furthermore, qualifying leaseholders in properties valued at below £325,00 in Greater London and £175,000 elsewhere in England will be protected from all cladding and non-cladding costs.
We are working with lenders to ensure that a qualifying lease certificate will provide all necessary assurances for mortgage decisions.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
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 leaseholders that require an EWS1 form to (a) move or (b) re-mortgage.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The requirement for and use of EWS1 forms is determined by the lending policies of banks and building societies. Not all lenders ask for an EWS1 form, but when or whether they do remains a commercial decision. Data published by the department on 19 May 2022 demonstrates that lenders require EWS1 forms for fewer than 1 in 10 mortgage valuations for flats.
Major lenders confirmed in a statement on the 15 July, that the Building Safety Act means that they will lend on properties impacted by building safety issues on the basis of a qualifying lease certificate, subject to lenders’ individual lending policies.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
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 number of leaseholders who do not qualify for government protection from non-cladding costs because they are a buy to let landlord with more than (a) three, (b) five, (c) 10 and (d) 20 properties.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act apply to people living in their own homes or with up to three UK properties in total. The protections are designed to protect those living in their own homes from unaffordable remediation bills. In recognition of the circumstances of people with small numbers of additional properties, the protections also apply to leaseholders with up to three UK properties in total. The Department does not hold data on leaseholders with more than three properties.
There are still significant protections in place for leaseholders with more than three properties. Where more than three properties are owned, the principal home always qualifies for the protections. All leaseholders will be protected from all historical building safety remediation costs where their building owner or landlord is – or is connected to – the developer. Where developers have signed up to our developer pledge to fix their own buildings, this will benefit all leaseholders in the building. Leaseholders with more than three properties will also benefit from grant funding for the removal of unsafe cladding. Further, the leaseholder protections measures will drive enhanced proportionality, eliminating unnecessary work and bringing down remediation costs; this will also benefit all leaseholders.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his policy is on the protection for leaseholders from (a) cladding and (b) non-cladding remediation costs for leaseholders who live in a building managed by the residents and leaseholders themselves.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 apply equally to buildings which are managed by a right to manage (RTM) company or resident management company (RMC) as they do to buildings which are not. Buildings are only exempt from the leaseholder protections measures if the building is collectively owned by the residents, such as in a building where the residents have collectively enfranchised to purchase the freehold.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his policy is on the protection for leaseholders from (a) cladding and (b) non-cladding remediation costs for leaseholders who live in a building managed by a Right to Manage company.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 apply equally to buildings which are managed by a right to manage (RTM) company or resident management company (RMC) as they do to buildings which are not. Buildings are only exempt from the leaseholder protections measures if the building is collectively owned by the residents, such as in a building where the residents have collectively enfranchised to purchase the freehold.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it is his policy that protection for leaseholders from (a) cladding and (b) non-cladding remediation costs cover leaseholders who live in a building that is managed by a resident management company to which they pay a service charge.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 apply equally to buildings which are managed by a right to manage (RTM) company or resident management company (RMC) as they do to buildings which are not. Buildings are only exempt from the leaseholder protections measures if the building is collectively owned by the residents, such as in a building where the residents have collectively enfranchised to purchase the freehold.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
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 help ensure developers who have not yet signed the building safety pledge do so.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
45 of the largest developers have now signed the pledge. The Department is in discussions with further developers that we believe should sign the pledge, and this work will continue. The Secretary of State has made clear that he expects all companies to do the right thing, and that we will pursue those who fail to do so. We intend to establish a Responsible Actors Scheme that will make sure that any companies that fail to do the right thing face significant commercial and reputational consequences. The Department has established a recovery unit that will pursue irresponsible actors through the courts if necessary.