MPs Attack Plan To Give Housebuilders Freedom To Build Over ‘Growth’ Zones

A radical government plan to give housebuilders freedom to build over designated “growth” zones has been attacked by MPs who have told ministers the public must retain rights to object to planning applications. Boris Johnson included in last month’s Queen’s speech plans to bring forward the biggest overhaul of England’s planning system since the second world war. Its boldest idea was to remove the need for detailed planning applications for buildings in designated growth zones. It sparked a Tory backbench revolt amid concerns constituents would lose power over their local areas. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/10/mps-attack-plan-to-give-housebuilders-freedom-to-build-over-growth-zones 

Cross-Party Calls For Rogue Landlords To Lose Properties

MPs have called on the government to confiscate properties from the country’s worst landlords after a series of revelations about tenants being exploited by rogue sections of the private rented housing sector. The calls followed a hard-hitting select committee report in April, as well as a joint Guardian and ITV News investigation which last month revealed that convicted landlords ruled unfit to rent out their properties were continuing to operate by exploiting a gap in the law. MPs from across the Commons have urged the housing minister Heather Wheeler to introduce new powers to seize properties of the worst landlords. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/29/mps-call-for-rogue-landlords-to-lose-properties

MPs Blast Banks For Discriminating Against Tenants On Benefits

MPs have slammed banks for “discriminating” against tenants on housing benefit and suggested the government may need to ban them from operating “no DSS” policies. NatWest was criticised in October after it emerged that the bank prohibited many of its buy-to-let landlord borrowers from having tenants on housing benefit. The Commons work and pensions committee has intervened, saying the government must address the “housing blacklist” created by mortgage lenders’ “no DSS” policies. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/nov/20/mps-blast-banks-for-discriminating-against-tenants-on-benefits

MPs Back Legal Action Against Rogue Landlords

New rights for tenants to sue landlords if they do not properly maintain their properties have been approved by MPs. The Commons has passed a bill requiring homes in the private and social rented sector to be fit for human habitation and enabling tenants to take legal action if basic standards are not met. Housing minister Heather Wheeler said a "stubborn, hardcore minority" of rogue landlords were being put on notice. They should "improve their properties or leave the business", she said. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45990245

MPs Back Plan For Ombudsman To Resolve New Homes Disputes

The government is under pressure to set up an independent ombudsman with the power to order housebuilders to pay out up to £50,000 or even reverse a sale, following reports of new-home buyers lumbered with defective properties. A group of MPs and peers has called on the government to make it mandatory for housebuilders to belong to the proposed scheme, which would be free for consumers and offer a quick resolution to disputes. The scheme would be funded by a levy on housebuilders, with larger ones such as Berkeley Group, Persimmon, Barratt, Galliford Try, Redrow and Bovis Homes, paying more than small and medium-sized firms. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jun/30/mps-call-ombudsman-scheme-resolve-issues-new-homes-buyers

MPs Call For House-Builders’ Ombudsman

A cross-party group of MPs and peers is recommending the creation of a New Homes Ombudsman to help provide redress for disgruntled home buyers. A report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment calls on the government to make it compulsory for all house-builders to belong to an independent ombudsman scheme. The report, Better redress for homebuyers, says that a New Homes Ombudsman should be independent and free to consumers, providing a quick resolution to disputes.  The report also recommends that government, warranty providers, builders and consumer group’s work together to draw up a code of practice that would be used by the New Homes Ombudsman to adjudicate on disputes. Read more on the Construction Index website.

https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/mps-call-for-house-builders-ombudsman

MPs Urge Government To Release Cash For Removal Of Grenfell-Style Cladding

MPs have called on the government to urgently release cash to accelerate the removal of combustible Grenfell-style cladding which remains fully in place on 54 social housing blocks and dozens more private apartment towers across England. Legal disputes over who should pay to refit buildings which failed fire tests in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire are holding up works and 44 MPs have now told the housing secretary, James Brokenshire: “Our constituents … need you to act now.” Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/10/mps-urge-government-to-release-cash-for-removal-of-grenfell-style-cladding

90% Of MPs Back Converting Empty Spaces Above Shops Into Housing

Research by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) entitled ‘Homes on our high streets’, shows MPs believe converting empty spaces above shops could have a number of positive consequences. The findings show 94% of MPs believe this could reverse the housing shortage in their constituency, an issue that was felt on the doorstep in the election back in June. 89% of MPs say it could boost local growth in their area and 86% of MPs think it could have a positive impact on the vibrancy of their town centres. Read more on 24housing.

MPs: Scrap Housing Revenue Account Cap Where Housing Unaffordable

Borrowing caps on councils’ Housing Revenue Accounts (HRA) should be raised – and, in some cases, scrapped – to help boost housebuilding, MPs have recommended. A report by the Communities and Local Government Committee, Capacity in the Homebuilding Industry, suggests that HRA borrowing caps are limiting local authorities’ ability to build. The report notes that research found that 57% of 141 councils had not made use of the additional borrowing capacity since the introduction of self-financing in 2012. Download the report from the Parliament website.

Calls For New Home Building Quality To Be Improved In UK

Members of Parliament in the UK and construction experts are calling on the Government to set up a New Homes Ombudsman to mediate in disputes between home buyers and house builders. This is one of 10 recommendations setting out measures to improve the quality of workmanship in new homes and provide consumers with easier and cheaper forms of redress, to get problems fixed. According to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment (APPGEBE) house builders should be upping their game and putting consumers at the heart of their business model and the Government should use its influence to promote quality at every opportunity. Read more on the Property Wire website.

Crisis Steps Up Prevention Duty Pressure

A charity is pushing backbench MPs to table a bill imposing a homelessness prevention duty on councils, after the measure was left out of the Queen’s Speech. Homelessness charity Crisis has opened talks with MPs who will be best placed to table a Private Members’ Bill (PMB) this parliamentary term to introduce the legislation. PMBs rarely make it into law, but the charity believes the move would put pressure on the government to reveal publicly where it stands on introducing the duty, which would overhaul the way single homeless people are treated in England. Read more on Inside Housing.

MPs Must Seize 'Historic Opportunity' To Tackle Homelessness

MPs have been urged to grasp an 'historic opportunity' to make the most significant change to the law on homelessness in nearly 40 years. Crisis is urging the MPs selected in a Private Members’ Bill ballot to champion a change in the law that will ensure homeless people in England can no longer be turned away to sleep rough by their council. The proposed Bill, put forward by an expert panel of council representatives, lawyers and housing experts, would see a reformed law introduced requiring all councils in England to take action to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. Read more on the Crisis website.

MPs Back Change In Law So All Homeless People Can Get Help

MPs from across the political spectrum are to pledge their support for a new law aimed at making sure all homeless people can get the help they need.  The proposed law to prevent and tackle homelessness early draws on the recommendations of a panel of leading experts and has already received the backing of MPs, councils and the homelessness sector. If passed, such a law would help to end the longstanding injustice which means single homeless people can be turned away when they ask their council for help.  Read more on 24dash.

Call For MPs To Back New Homelessness Law

Homelessness charity Crisis is urging MPs of all parties to back a new law intended to make sure all homeless people can get the help they need. The proposed law to prevent and tackle homelessness early draws on the recommendations of a panel of leading experts and has already received the backing of MPs, councils and the homelessness sector. If passed, such a law would help to end the “longstanding injustice” which means single homeless people can be turned away when they ask their council for help, Crisis said. Academics have estimated that such a law is likely to require an additional £43.9 million for preventing and tackling homelessness early, although this would be offset by a £46.8 million reduction in spending on people who are already homeless. Read more on Housing Excellence.

Responsible Landlords To Get Protection From Immigration Bill

Members of parliament have approved measures that will give greater protection to responsible landlords wanting to evict illegal immigrants. Changes to the Immigration Bill, proposed by the government and approved on 25th April, will provide protection for landlords who take reasonable steps in an appropriate time frame to terminate tenancies of tenants in the country illegally. Previously under the Bill, landlords would face immediate criminal sanctions upon discovery that they failed to ensure their tenants had the right to rent property before having the chance to evict them. Read more on 24dash.

Number Of MP Landlords Has Risen By A Quarter Since Last Parliament

The number of MPs supplementing their incomes by acting as landlords has risen by a quarter since the last parliament, with David Cameron and George Osborne among those earning extra money by renting out properties. Almost a third of MPs are now letting out their houses or flats, with 196 declaring rental income on the official register of interests this year. The majority of those are earning more than £10,000 a year from the property, topping up their basic MP’s annual salary of £67,060. The Conservative party has the highest number of landlord MPs at 128, meaning 39% of Tory MPs are landlords, compared with 26% of Scottish National party MPs and 22% from Labour. Read more on the Guardian website.

MPs Reject Move To Help First Time Buyers

MPs have rejected an attempt to restrict a proportion of newly built homes to first time buyers in the Housing and Planning Bill. The Labour amendment, which would have allowed councils to impose planning obligations requiring a proportion of new housing for sale to be marketed to first time buyers, was rejected by 277 to 72. Another Labour amendment, which would have required the 20% Starter Home discount to remain permanently, instead of people being able to sell the property for the full market value after five years, also fell – by 301 to 194. The Labour amendments were rejected in the House of Commons, as the Housing and Planning Bill was debated at report stage. Read more on Inside Housing.

Is Your MP A Landlord? There's A 1 In 5 Chance

The first Register of MPs' Interests of the new parliament was published last week. A comb through the data reveals that there are 126 residential landlords in Parliament. Landlords make up only 3% of the population but they are represented by 19% of the House of Commons (the same proportion of the UK population who rent privately). This is actually down from 153 at the end of the last Parliament, though the Guardian reported that was up on the 2010 figure. The register also reveals that another 10 MPs let out commercial land and property, and indicate that a further 88 own a second home that they don't let out (at least at a rent above the £10,000/year threshold). Read more on the Generation Rent website.

Number of MPs Who Earn From Renting Out Property Rises by A Third

The number of MPs earning income by renting out properties increased by nearly a third during the last parliament, an analysis of data by the Guardian has found. David Cameron, George Osborne and housing minister Brandon Lewis are among 153 members who declared an income from property in 2015 – an increase of 36 since 2010. The figures show that nearly one in four MPs earn income as a landlord or landlady from at least one property. A majority of those are Tories, including nine Conservative ministers who attend cabinet, the figures show. The data has been seized upon by housing campaigners who claim it shows that Britain’s political class has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo instead of strengthening the rights of tenants. Read more on the Guardian website.

Incoming MPs Fear Young Will Rent For Life

Just before the General Election, a new poll of future MPs has revealed that nine in 10 (89%) are worried that most under-30s in their constituency will not be able to afford to buy a home in a decade’s time. This echoes young people’s concerns that they will be renting for life. The ComRes poll of sitting MPs and parliamentary candidates most likely to win their seats also found that almost seven in 10 (68%) future MPs would like the leader of their own party to do more to tackle the county’s housing challenges. Renting for life is an increasingly realistic prospect for many young people as the average deposit required soars to almost 10 times the deposit required in the 1980s (adjusted for inflation). Over the last two decades, the private rented sector has almost doubled; one in five households (18%) is rented from a private landlord. Read more on the NHF website.