Housing and Planning Bill (Eleventh sitting)

Stephen Hammond Excerpts

Tuesday 1st December 2015 Public Bill Committees

[Dr Blackman-Woods]

I beg to move amendment 155, in clause 59, page 25, line 8, at end insert—

“( ) A dwelling must not be sold under the Right to Buy without the Housing Association having the ability to—

(a) verify the source of funding for purchase,

(b) establish who is occupying the property,

(c) check that the person/s seeking to purchase the property under Right to Buy has no interest in another property,

(d) have sufficient time to carry out checks for fraudulent activity, and

(e) be able to prepare reports on (a) – (d) for the Housing Association Board of Trustees to consider.”

This amendment would ensure that housing associations are able to carry out proper checks before proceeding with the Right to Buy offer.

The amendment seeks to argue that a dwelling must not be sold under the right to buy unless the housing association has the ability to do a list of things. I will talk for a moment or two about why we think that amendment 155 is extremely important. I emphasise at the outset that it is based on a range of questions that have been asked by the housing associations, which have presumably signed up to the voluntary agreement. Given that a lot of people out there are seeking to operate the right-to-buy scheme, I hope that we can get a detailed response from the Minister to the points made in the amendment.

Several housing associations suggest that they would like provisions under the right to buy, as listed in the amendment, to help them ensure that properties are not bought and resold as a means of laundering money. It is a serious concern of theirs. They also want to ensure that measures are implemented to help them assess and tackle fraud.

PlaceShapers is also concerned to ensure that it fulfils its responsibilities to counter fraud and money laundering. PlaceShapers requests that the process of demonstrating eligibility for right to buy requires an obligation to evidence provide the source of money to purchase. Mandatory fraud checks should be part of the application process and sufficient time should be allowed for completion of investigations prior to an application being accepted.

Given how quickly the Government have moved to the pilots, one would assume that one of the things the pilots will do—presumably this is not already in place—is establish arrangements to enable them to check thoroughly who is applying for the right to buy and whether they are a bona fide tenant.

[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)]

I understand the hon. Lady’s point, but surely almost all she is asking for—or the housing associations are asking for—would be required for a mortgage, if that person was going to buy. They are tenants of the property, so most of this information is already there. On the particular point about money laundering, under the stringent new rules about getting mortgages, that fear would not be present.

[Dr Blackman-Woods]

The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point. However, PlaceShapers and other housing associations say that not all requests for a right to buy are accompanied by a mortgage application. They want to ensure that the source of money, if not through a mortgage, is from a bona fide source. That is a very real concern. We want to hear how the Minister thinks the right-to-buy scheme will address this particular set of concerns.