Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department has issued on claiming single person discount on council tax when an elector (a) owns and (b) resides in more than one property.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
My department has published a ‘Plain English Guide to Council Tax’ setting out the discounts and support available in the council tax system. This guide is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/paying-the-right-level-of-council-tax-a-plain-english-guide-to-council-tax.
As set out in local government finance law, a full council tax bill is payable if there are two or more adults living in a dwelling. If there is only one adult (other than disregarded individuals – e.g. full-time students), and it is their sole or main residence, the individual can claim the single person discount of 25% on their council tax bill. A second or empty home would not be eligible for this discount.
Further guidance has been published given by the Valuation Tribunal Service’s ‘Council Tax Manual’, which is available at: https://valuationtribunal.gov.uk/guidance-booklets/.
The manual includes guidance on single person discount, and the tests of a sole or main residence. For example, the Manual cites the case law of Cox v London South West Valuation Tribunal HC (RVR 1994 171). They observe: “the taxpayer spent time at two dwellings. The High Court concluded that the sole or main residence was the home where the wife and family resided.”
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to review legislation that allows landowners to use their farmland for (a) motocross and (b) other non-agricultural activities.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Under nationally set permitted development rights, land may be used for any purpose and moveable structures be set up on the land for up to 28 days per calendar year, of which up to 14 days can be used for motor car and motorcycle racing.
Where it is considered necessary to protect the local amenity or wellbeing of an area the local planning authority can consult the local community on removing a permitted development right by making an Article 4 direction.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 assessment of the adequacy of legislation on the proximity of motocross events to residential areas.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Under nationally set permitted development rights, land may be used for any purpose and moveable structures be set up on the land for up to 28 days per calendar year, of which up to 14 days can be used for motor car and motorcycle racing.
Where it is considered necessary to protect the local amenity or wellbeing of an area the local planning authority can consult the local community on removing a permitted development right by making an Article 4 direction.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department or the predecessor Department has issued guidance to owners who (a) were former social tenants and (b) are renting out a Right to Buy property that they have purchased within the first five years of ownership.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government provides guidance on the Right to Buy scheme for tenants and local authorities in England. See for example Page 43 of the guidance for local authorities: Right to Buy: a guide for local authorities - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to reform the eligibility criteria for the Flood Recovery Framework to include more (a)households and (b) businesses that have experienced flooding.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
A review of the Flood Recovery Framework is currently under way with stakeholders.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral contribution of 26 March 2024 by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Building Safety, Official Report, column 1414, how many building owners his Department has identified in the reducing core of building owners who continue to hold up remediation; and how many buildings such owners own.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We track the progress of buildings and make this publicly available here: Building Safety Remediation: monthly data release - February 2024 - GOV.UK.
We have also made public the corporate entities responsible for the remaining buildings with the most dangerous cladding that have yet to start on site at: Aluminium composite material cladding - GOV.UK , and update this list periodically.
It is important that building owners fulfil their building safety responsibilities and where they do not that they are held to account. As I reiterated to the house on 26th March, and in a joint statement with building safety bodies, where building owners are stalling, they can expect to be subject to enforcement action by a local authority, fire and rescue service or the Building Safety Regulator.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the fail rate for the competency assessment for registration to be a class (a) two, (b) three and (c) four building inspector was in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
There are currently three independent schemes that provide validation assessments for building control inspectors, which are now needed to register with the Building Safety Regulator for classes 2 to 4. The validation schemes run by the Building Safety Competence Foundation opened in 2022, while the other two schemes (run by Total Training and CABE) have been operational since 2023. All of the three schemes are independent of Government, and as the requirement to register with the BSR and undertake validation assessments only commenced on 6 April 2024, the department does not hold data that allows for comparison of fail rates over the past three years.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
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 ensure holiday caravan owners have the same protections under the Mobile Homes Act 2013 as residential park home owners.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The protections under the Mobile Homes Act 1983 apply to park home owners living on caravan sites with planning permission for residential use.
The protections do not extend to owners of caravans on holiday caravan sites, because the planning permission granted permits the use of those sites for holiday and recreational purposes only.
Holiday caravan owners have protections under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department or the predecessor Department has issued on registration on the electoral roll when an elector (a) owns and (b) resides in more than one property.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Electoral Commission, as the independent electoral regulator, holds responsibility for issuance of guidance on electoral registration, voting and second homes.
This can be found at: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/who-can-vote/other-registration-options/voting-and-second-homes.
A person is entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a constituency - or in the case of local elections, as a local government elector for an electoral area - if on the date they submit their application they meet the criteria for registration.
Those criteria include a requirement (except, regarding Parliamentary elections, in respect of a British citizen living overseas) that the applicant is resident in the constituency or electoral area. It is for the Electoral Registration Officer to determine whether the applicant meets this residency requirement by reference to the factors set out in section 5 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (and in some cases sections 6 to 7C of that Act also). Ownership of a property is not sufficient on its own, the ERO must determine that an individual is resident. Case law suggests this will involve a degree of permanence.
This means that some citizens are entitled to register to vote in respect of more than one address in certain circumstances.
However, it may be noted that it is a criminal offence for a registered elector to vote more than once in the same constituency at a parliamentary election or in the same electoral division or ward at a local government election. It is also a criminal offence for a registered elector to vote in more than one constituency at a parliamentary general election, or in more than once electoral division or ward at an ordinary election of councillors for county, London Borough or district.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department has issued on claiming local council tax support when an elector (a) owns and (b) resides in more than one property.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Local authorities are required to put in place and administer council tax reduction schemes for low-income households. Support for working age people is designed by authorities and support for people of pension age must follow criterial prescribed in regulations by the Secretary of State in the Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2012.
In the case of pension-age local council tax reductions schemes, the Secretary of State has prescribed that a person must be resident in a property to claim support. In addition, the capital value of additional properties will be considered in determining eligibility, unless there are mitigating circumstances such as if the property is in the process of being sold. A pension age person with more than £16,000 of capital is not entitled to council tax reduction.
Eligibility for working age council tax reduction and the treatment of capital such as additional properties is decided by local authorities.