Minister Says Building Safety Bill ‘Cannot Resolve’ Leaseholder Costs Issue

The newly published Building Safety Bill “cannot resolve” the issue of leaseholders facing huge costs for historic fire safety defects, a minister has said, directly contradicting previous government promises on the matter. Speaking at the Local Government Association annual conference, building safety minister Lord Greenhalgh said that while leaseholders are facing “very big bills” for “seriously shoddy work”, the Building Safety Bill is not the right mechanism to address it in full. The comments will infuriate leaseholders and campaigners who have previously been told by Lord Greenhalgh and colleagues that the new bill would be an opportunity to fix some of the issues. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/minister-says-building-safety-bill-cannot-resolve-leaseholder-costs-issue-despite-previous-government-promises-71482 

Freud: Bedroom Tax Will Ease Overcrowding

The coalition government’s bedroom tax will ease overcrowding and help tackle the shortage of social housing, Lord David Freud has said.  Speaking at a Local Government Association conference, the welfare reform minister defended the controversial policy, which will see social housing tenants of working age docked benefit for having a spare room. The policy is estimated to affect 660,000 households, who will lose £14 a week on average.  Lord Freud said: ‘Nearly a third of working-age social housing tenants on housing benefit are living in accommodation which is too big for their needs, in spite of the fact of severe overcrowding. We are stopping the practice of the state paying for rooms beyond claimant needs, and that should go in some way to help tackle the social housing shortage that has been blighting too many lives.’  Read more on Inside Housing.

Councils Unhappy Over Right to Buy

Councils have attacked the government’s reinvigorated right to buy policy, saying limitations on how replacement homes can be funded will ‘hold back development’.  A Local Government Association spokesperson said: "Council leaders continue to have reservations about the right-to-buy model which the Government has now decided upon.  Right-to-buy can help some tenants buy their home but doubts remain about the viability of every area replacing one house sold under right-to-buy with another, given that councils will be unable to decide the right-to-buy cap locally.  The LGA had pressed for councils to be given more time to spend the receipts from sales, so this change is a positive step."However, by preventing councils from including their own land as part of their share of the cost of new homes, this will prevent them building as many replacement properties. Furthermore, limitations on the ability of town halls to borrow money will also hold back development. Council chiefs will continue to press the Government for a review of the right-to-buy policy after one year and for greater flexibility over borrowing to allow them to build enough homes in their local areas."  

LGA Response to Select Committee Housing Report

Responding to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee report on housing finance, Cllr Clyde Loakes, Vice Chair of the LGA's Environment and Housing Board, said: "This cross party group of MPs are right to identify problems with the right-to-buy model which the Government is pursuing. Allowing councils to decide the right-to-buy cap locally, based upon local demand and cost, would offer the best chance of building enough new homes.  Doubts have been raised about the viability of every area replacing one house sold under right-to-buy with another, and this cross party report adds weight to that argument. The LGA will continue to press the Government for a review of the right-to-buy policy after one year. Councils also support the cross party groups' proposals on allowing councils to decide themselves whether to re-open s.106 agreements. If centrally imposed targets were introduced this could impact upon vital new housing in local areas.  The report concludes that local government has many "restraints placed upon it by central government" which may limit their ability to build new homes. Council bosses are urging the Government to give them more freedom to deliver the new housing which is so desperately needed."  Read more on the LGA website.

Councils Urge Huhne to Rethink Solar Tariff Cut

The Local Government Association (LGA) has written to energy secretary Chris Huhne urging him to delay plans to halve to the rate of feed-in tariffs (FITs). The organisation warned that by reducing the subsidy earlier than planned, the government will force councils to pull the plug on thousands of solar panel installations, potentially costing them hundreds of millions of pounds. It is calling on the government to extend the deadline for the existing rate of subsidy until March 2012, the end of the financial year. At least four local authorities have already put solar power projects on hold, saying the funding cut renders them financially unviable. Read more on the LGA website.