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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that social housing providers are covered in any plans for a housing court.

The Government plans to launch a call for evidence in the Autumn to gather views from the judiciary, landlords and tenants to better understand and improve the experience of people using courts and tribunal services in property cases, including considering the case for a specialist Housing Court.

We will gather evidence of the costs and speed of accessing justice and the types of cases to be considered. The Government will review responses to this call for evidence before making any policy decisions.

All property agents in England are required to belong to a Government approved redress scheme, allowing their landlords and tenants to access free and impartial dispute resolution. The Government has committed to requiring private landlords to belong to a redress scheme and is considering how to implement this following the consultation, Strengthening consumer redress in the housing sector, which closed in April.