Housing: Noise – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether (a) local authorities and (b) housing providers are required to notify the occupant of property A before noise recording equipment is installed in property B in connection with suspected noise nuisance from property A.

Kit Malthouse: [Holding answer 11 February 2019]: There is no requirement under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to notify occupants that any recording apparatus has been installed by local authorities in any on-going statutory nuisance cases. There is also no similar requirement on housing providers.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2019-02-06/217476

Private Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to promote the take-up of the model agreement for a shorthold assured tenancy.

Brandon Lewis: [Holding answer 15 December 2014]: My Department is promoting both the model agreement and longer tenancies with bodies representing landlords, tenants and letting agents as well as mortgage lenders. We have also promoted and encouraged all local authorities to adopt the agreement.

Social Rented Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's announcement on 30 January 2014 of a review into how more social homes can be built, when he plans to publish that review.

Brandon Lewis: The report into the review of the role of local authorities in housing supply will be published in the New Year. A progress update was published in July:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-local-authorities-role-in-housingsupply-progress-update

Government Hides Risks Of Controversial Help to Buy Scheme

Ministers are refusing to publish the Government’s own risk assessment into its flagship housing policy, triggering suspicions that they are trying to cover up official warnings that the scheme will endanger the British economy.  A string of independent housing experts have publicly warned that Help to Buy will overheat the housing market and “detonate a bomb” under the British economy. Ministers have refused for months to say if any official risk assessment has taken place, insisting only that the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was responsible for housing forecasts. Yet in a Freedom of Information (FOI) response to the Shadow Local Government Secretary, Hilary Benn, officials have revealed that the Government does indeed hold details of a risk assessment into Help to Buy, but that publication has been blocked by ministerial veto. The risk assessment was carried out before the policy was announced in March, meaning that the Chancellor ignored any warnings in it.  Read more on the Independent website.

Newbuy Figures Nothing to Applaud, Suggest Labour

Mark Prisk has welcomed the latest NewBuy figures as a sign the housing market is “moving again”, but Labour’s Hilary Benn MP has slammed the scheme’s performance as a poor show.  Overall, some 25,000 households have been helped into home ownership through various Government-backed schemes. This includes the NewBuy scheme, which has helped 3,749 people to buy a newly-built home since it was launched in 2012.  Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme has seen over 3,000 sales and 10,000 reservations in its first four months and the former FirstBuy scheme has helped some 10,633 people into home ownership. These schemes are to be joined by the Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee when it comes into force in January.  Read more on Housing Excellence.

Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many new homes have been built as a result of the New Homes Bonus to date;

(2) by what date 400,000 additional homes will be built as a result of the New Homes Bonus.

Mr Prisk: To date, the New Homes Bonus has rewarded delivery of almost 470,000 net additions to the housing stock, including over 400,000 new homes and over 55,000 empty properties brought back into use.

Land: Public Sector – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many of the sites owned by the public sector and identified by Government Departments in their local land disposal plans have been sold to date; what the sale value was in each such case; and to whom such sales were made.

Mr Prisk: To free up more surplus land for new housing, the Government is committed to releasing formerly used land, owned by central Government, capable of delivering up to 100,000 homes by April 2015. We have identified surplus land for 100,000 homes and, to date, we have already sold land to support the building of an estimated 33,000 new homes.

Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many new homes are stalled due to site viability under section 106 in each local authority in England

(2) what the evidential basis is for his estimate of the number of new homes stalled due to site viability under section 106. 

Mr Prisk: According to the Glenigan database, there are approximately 75,000 housing units:

“currently stalled due to sites being commercially unviable.”

Section 106 agreements are locally negotiated and circumstances will vary greatly from site to site. Information on the impact of local, Section 106 requirements on individual site viability is therefore not centrally held. However, we expect our measures to create an incentive for developers to review schemes and bring forward those which would benefit from revised Section 106 provisions.

Labour Blames Tory Councils for Social Home Slump

Labour controlled councils are building five times as many social homes as their Conservative counterparts, the party has claimed.  Research carried out by the office of shadow communities secretary Hilary Benn shows on average 42 social homes will be built in Labour councils this year, compared with nine in Conservative councils. Liberal Democrat councils will build an average of 30. This pattern continues for the next two years, with Labour councils likely to see 28 social homes built in 2013/14 compared with seven in Conservative authorities, and 30 built in 2014/15 compared with just four in Conservative areas. Labour asked 324 councils for information on the number of social homes to be built in their area over the next three years, and received 246 responses.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Social Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the evidential basis is for his Department's finding that 34,000 households with incomes of over £60,000 are living in social housing; and if he will make a statement.

Grant Shapps [holding answer 28 June 2012]: The estimated number of social tenants with incomes over £60,000 is based on two surveys, the English Housing Survey (data for 2008-09 and 2009-10) and the Department for Work and Pensions' Family Resources Survey 2008-09. Almost 10,000 households living in the social rented sector were sampled in total. Incomes over £60,000 are relatively uncommon in the social sector so comparatively few respondents met these criteria. The range of households with incomes above this level, between 12,000 and 34,000, is therefore our best estimate of the actual number of high income tenants.  Datasets from both surveys are deposited at the UK Data Archive and are available to external users.

Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the average £150,000 cost of a self-build home by (a) land and (b) building cost.

Grant Shapps: According to the National Self Build Association the majority of self-builders spend between £100,000 and £150,000 building their own home. For example, Fairgrove Homes are currently selling plots in Nottinghamshire to self builders for £40,000 and will build a good sized three bed home for a further £90,000. At Ashley Vale in Bristol the community built their homes for less than £150,000 each, including land and all building costs.  It is not however possible to provide a breakdown of the average cost of a self-build home, including land, given the wide variation in cost across the country and the range of build routes which a self builder can follow to build their home. Further details of indicative building costs across the country, with and without land costs, are set out on the self build portal  www.selfbuildportal.org.uk which is run by the self-build industry and offers a range of advice to aspiring self-builders.

Housing Revenue Accounts: Debts – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential effect of further council house sales on the ability of local authorities to service housing revenue account debt.

Andrew Stunell: The Government have made clear that in reinvigorating the right to buy the viability of the housing revenue account must be maintained. We have laid regulations before Parliament that permit local authorities to retain from receipts obtained from additional right to buy sales a sum sufficient to cover the debt on those properties.

Right to Buy Scheme – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential effect on rent levels for local authority homes of the planned increase in right to buy discounts.
Grant Shapps: Increasing Right to Buy discounts and reversing the last Government's policy of making cuts to the Right to Buy will have no effect on the social rents of any local authority tenant.

Housing: Finance – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of the receipts from local authority housing sales he expects will go to local authorities to help them build new houses.
Andrew Stunell: The Government will consult shortly on how receipts arising from additional homes sold under the right to buy will be used to fund new affordable homes.

Housing Benefit – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what methodology he plans to use to calculate surplus bedrooms in respect of his planned changes to housing benefit eligibility; and how often he plans to make such an assessment.
Steve Webb: The level of under-occupation used to assess housing benefit for working-age claimants living in the social rented sector will be based on the local housing allowance size criteria used for assessing the level of housing benefit in the private rented sector. The number of bedrooms in properties in the social rented sector is designated by the landlord (registered provider or housing association) or local housing authority. This is intended to be used to determine the size of a property. As now, claimants will be expected to notify any changes in household composition so that the size criteria assessment can be reviewed as appropriate.

Housing Benefit: Foster Care – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential effects on foster carers of the loss of housing benefit from April 2013 for those in social housing who have surplus bedrooms.
Steve Webb: The Government estimates that there are less than 5,000 foster carers under the age of 60, living in the social rented sector and in receipt of housing benefit. Figures from a survey undertaken by the Fostering Network during 2010 suggested that there were around 2,000 foster carers living in the social rented sector. The extent to which the April 2013 changes will affect individual foster carers will depend on their response to how they meet any shortfall, which is not possible to predict. In some circumstances local authorities may decide to make discretionary housing payments to help meet any shortfalls

Secretary Of State Called On To Clarify Housing Benefit Cut for 'Under-Occupiers'

Hilary Benn MP, Shadow Leader of the House, has demanded that the Work and Pensions Secretary appear before the House of Commons to clarify the impact of Government’s plans to slash housing benefit for tenants deemed to be under-occupying. The Government has announced plans to reduce housing benefit for working-age tenants it considers are under-occupying social homes. Hilary Benn said: "Following Lord Freud’s comments this week that spare bedrooms for people in social housing are a luxury, can we have a statement from the Work and Pensions Secretary so that he can confirm that a widow who has lived in the same two-bedroom house all her life now faces having her housing benefit cut, and may therefore be forced to move? If that is the case, where will she be expected to move to? The NHF says that while 180,000 social tenants in England are “under-occupying” two-bedroom homes, only 68,000 one-bedroom social homes become available for letting each year." Read more on 24dash.