Right To Buy ‘Devastating’ Social Housing Stock, New Figures Reveal

Council homes are being sold off almost three times faster than local authorities can replace them. Freedom of Information requests to 72 councils found more than 12,000 council houses have been sold off since 2014, to a cost of over £930m, while only 4,309 were built over the same time period. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron — whose party issued the FoI requests — said  ‘The Government talked a lot about replacing council housing one for one but this has been shown to be utter fantasy.’ A spokesman from the CLG denied the Government promised to replace every Right to Buy sale. They said it was ‘only additional sales’ above the original forecasted baseline that should be replaced one for one, adding it was up to councils to use the receipts from Right to Buy sales for new homes. Download the latest RTB figures from the Gov.UK website.

Housing Estates: Regeneration – Parliamentary Written Answer

Tim Farron:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 8 March 2016 to Question 29619, how much of the £140 million fund relating to the redevelopment of 100 sink estates has been allocated to date.

Gavin Barwell: The £140million Estate Regeneration Fund was launched on 8 December 2016 alongside the publication of the Estate Regeneration National Strategy. Following extensive engagement with over 120 schemes around the country, an additional £32m of enabling and capacity building grant was made available. Initial registrations for the £140m recoverable investment funding have already been received and funding allocations will be announced when the assessment process is completed. Allocations for the £32m grant funding will be made in the current financial year.

Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department remains committed to a target of delivering one million homes by 2020; and what recent projections his Department has made on whether this target will be met.

Gavin Barwell: The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear that we need to build more homes. We remain committed to delivering one million new homes, having doubled the housing budget to help us to so. Since the end of 2009, we have delivered 900,000 new homes, and in the year to March 2016 permissions were granted for 265,000 homes, up 8% on the previous year, thanks to the reformed planning system.

Housing Estates: Regeneration – Parliamentary Written Answer

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Prime Minister's announcement of 10 January 2016 on sink estates, with what bodies he discussed the redevelopment of 100 sink estates; and on what grounds the sum of £140 million for that redevelopment was arrived at.

Brandon Lewis: The Government has been in regular contact with a wide range of stakeholders to maximise opportunities to meet our ambition to deliver one million more homes. The new Estate Regeneration Advisory Panel, Chaired by , my Noble Friend, the rt. hon. Lord Heseltine, comprises a range of experts and will provide advice on how the £140 million loan fund can best be utilised, in addition to other private and public funding sources. The fund was allocated in the Spending Review assessment.

Lib Dem Peers Will Try To Block Tory 'Pay To Stay' Plan

Liberal Democrats say they will use the House of Lords to try to block a number of measures in the government's controversial Housing and Planning Bill, which will soon enter the House of Lords for its final stages before, if passed, coming into law. "The housing bill is riddled with holes and unfairness," Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said. "The government has clearly drafted a bill without consulting anyone who has lived in or experienced the realities of social housing. Social housing is a lifeline for thousands of people and the Conservatives seem driven by ideological dogma to sell off these homes. The prime minister used to be vocal in his support for social housing. His actions show now that he was merely paying lip service." Read more on the International Business Times website.

Farron Attempts To Curb Right To Rent Policy

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has tabled a motion to axe the Right to Rent plans that Farron has blasted as ‘dog whistle politics of the worst kind’. A trial of Right to Rent, introduced in the West Midlands in 2014, resulted in only one fine being issued to a landlord. The burden is enormous with England’s 1.8 million private landlords, 75% of whom only own one or two properties, being required to check prospective tenants’ immigration status from 1 February. Campaigners fear that, rather than carry out the checks, some landlords will simply select people on the grounds of their name or ethnicity. Read more on 24dash.

Farron Blasts Government Over Starting RTB Before Bill Leaves Commons

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has blasted Greg Clark for starting the Right to Buy extension before the bill has passed through Parliament. The government has said it will launch a pilot of the Right to Buy extension with five HAs - L&Q, Soverign, Riverside, Saffron Housing & Thames Valley. They have also started paying for advertising of the scheme. But the Housing and Planning Bill, which must be made law before the extension can happen, is only at Committee Stage in the House of Commons and still faces the possibility of being voted down in the House of Lords. Read more on 24dash.

Private Rented Housing: Codes of Practice – Parliamentary Written Answer

Tim Farron:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to publicise its How to Rent guide; and whether his Department evaluated its success in communicating with private tenants.

Brandon Lewis: [Holding answer 10 November 2014]: The How to Rent guide which was published on 10 June 2014, has been viewed on the gov.uk website over 30,000 times and is promoted by a large number of organisations (included Shelter and Citizens Advice) on their websites. We have also used social media to raise awareness of the guide and wrote to all MPs in England asking them to promote the guide amongst their constituents. We closely monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing strategy to make sure the information reaches as many tenants and potential tenants as possible and continue to promote it through working with tenants organisations, the tenancy deposit protection schemes, advice services, landlords, agents and property search websites.

Lib Dems Call for Councils to Be Able To Suspend Right to Buy

The president of the Liberal Democrats has called on the housing minister to give councils the power to suspend the right to buy policy. Fresh on the heels of fellow Lib Dem MP Andrew George's successful private member's bill to amend the bedroom tax, Tim Farron said "in the true spirit of localism" Brandon Lewis should give local authorities the power to protect their existing stock. Figures from the CLG showed that 2,845 social homes were sold off under the right to buy scheme during April to June this year (2014-15's Quarter 1). The figure represents a 31% increase in sales compared with the same period in 2013-14's Q1, when 2,171 state-owned homes were sold off to private buyers. Read more on 24dash.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing (1) - Parliamentary Written Answer

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make an estimate of (a) the amount of savings accruing to the public purse through penalties incurred on housing benefit arising from the under occupancy penalty to date and (b) the amount paid in discretionary housing payments in that time. 

Esther McVey: The information is as follows.

(a) The Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy is estimated to save around £500 million per year in 2013/14 and 2014/15.

(b) In 2013/14 total discretionary housing payment expenditure by local authorities across Great Britain was £176,393,889. This figure includes amounts spent by Local Authorities over and above their government contribution in DHP funding. At the end of the financial year, 240 out of 380 LAs across Great Britain under-spent by £13,285,430 against the available Government contribution. This was in addition to the £7,111,693 unallocated from the £20 million reserve fund. Detailed information about discretionary housing payment expenditure was published in June 2014 and can be found at

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/322455/use-of-discretionary-housing-payments-june-2014.pdf

Housing Revenue Accounts – Parliamentary Written Answer

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to assist local authorities in acquiring necessary skills, partnerships and capacity to utilise the increased borrowing allowed against the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). 

Kris Hopkins: This Government has made available £300 million of extra HRA borrowing to help stock-holding local authorities build new affordable homes. The first allocations of £60 million across 15 local authorities was announced on 7 July alongside a second round of bidding to ensure councils make full use of this opportunity. Each scheme was assessed individually against a range of criteria including value for money and deliverability as well as the track record of the local authority to ensure they had the technical capacity to deliver the schemes or with a partner organisation. We have also encouraged councils to work closely with their local enterprise partnership in support of local growth strategies, to increase the supply of housing locally. (Extract)

MP Welcomes Move to Force Letting Agents to Publish Fees

Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron has welcomed the government's decision to force letting agents to publish full tariffs of their fees. The South Lakes MP, who has lobbied for a fairer deal for tenants in the private rented sector, claims that the move is a "step in the right direction". Under the new rules, letting agents will be required to publish a full tariff of their fees on their websites and prominently in their offices. Those who fail to comply will face a fine – a much stricter penalty than currently exists. Read more on 24dash.

Housing: Complaints – Parliamentary Written Answer

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many complaints have been received by the Housing Ombudsman service in the latest year for which figures are available?

Kris Hopkins: In 2012-13, the Independent Housing Ombudsman received 3,657 inquiries and 6,391 formal complaints. In that year, 543 complaints resulted in a determination decision following a formal intervention. I would note that, as of March 2013, the Ombudsman's remit covered 2,123 landlords, representing 2.9 million housing units. Source: Independent Housing Ombudsman Ltd Annual report and Financial Statements 2012-13.

Labour Mocks Lib Dems As Its Peers Vote To Keep Bedroom Tax

Liberal Democrat travails over the bedroom tax were mocked by Labour after its peers voted to keep the tax despite a call by the party president, Tim Farron, to oppose it. Farron is largely working to influence the party manifesto, but Labour challenged why only two Liberal Democrat peers had voted against the tax during a Lords debate. Peers voted by 188 to 173, government majority 15, against a Labour motion strongly criticising regulations closing a loophole in the policy. The shadow welfare minister, Baroness Sherlock, told peers: "I was delighted to read the reports from Tim Farron that the Liberal Democrats were going to withdraw their support from the bedroom tax." But Lord German, who speaks for the Lib Dems on social security in the Lords, told Sherlock: "I asked Tim Farron if that is what he said and he did not say that." Read more on the Guardian website.

Lib Dem President Withdraws Party's Support for Bedroom Tax

The Liberal Democrat president, Tim Farron, has withdrawn his party's support for the bedroom tax, saying it has caused "huge social problems". In a speech that distanced the Lib Dems from the controversial tax, Farron condemned what he describes as attacks on the poorer members of society. "The onslaught of divisive rhetoric that demonises the poor can never help us to create a fairer society," he told the Centre for Social Justice. "The bedroom tax causes huge social problems and distorts the market – we as a party cannot support this." In the autumn the Liberal Democrat conference agreed to review the bedroom tax, and the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, has said that he would look at giving councils greater flexibility in providing discretionary support for specific hardship cases.  Farron's pledge to oppose the bedroom tax consciously goes beyond existing Liberal Democrat and coalition policy. Read more on the Guardian website.