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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Help to Buy scheme by a further six months.

The Government recognises that there have been delays caused by COVID-19. Following the initial effects of COVID-19 with the hiatus to construction during the first national lockdown, on 31 July we announced changes to the scheme’s contractual deadlines which provided developers using Help to Buy an extra two months build time. Since then Homes England announced on 15 January that it will not enforce the practical completion deadline of 28 February 2021 for the current scheme, so maximising the remaining time available time for developers to build out.

Further to this, reservations agreed before 30 June 2020, have been granted additional flexibility allowing such reservations to practically complete by 30 April and legally complete by 31 May 2021.

Moreover, working in line with sector guidance, the construction industry has been allowed to continue during the subsequent covid-19 restrictions. Reservations for the current scheme were closed on 15 December providing builders sufficient time to complete their orders.

These measures provide relief for developers to build out homes delayed by COVID-19. We nevertheless continue to monitor the situation closely.