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1246503

registered interest
date	23/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Landlords
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant of the Answer of 21 October to Question 104199, when his Department plans to widen access to the database of rogue landlords and property agents introduced in April 2018; and what his timescale is for bringing forward legislative proposals on renters reform.
tabling member constituency	Poplar and Limehouse
tabling member printed	Apsana Begum
uin	108300
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/11/2020 answer text <p>The Renters’ Reform Bill, which will include measures on the database of rogue landlords and property agents, is a priority for the Department and will be brought forward in due course.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 02/11/2020 17:58:39 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4790 label Biography information for Apsana Begum

1246505

registered interest
date	23/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Westferry Printworks: Planning Permission
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with his (a) advisers and (b) Departmental officials on the Westferry Printworks development since June 2020.
tabling member constituency	Poplar and Limehouse
tabling member printed	Apsana Begum
uin	108301
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2020 answer text <p>As the Secretary of State has said, he will not be involved in deciding the redetermined planning appeal and has had no discussions or meetings on the redetermination of this case. No decision has yet been made as to which Minister will decide the appeal. My officials will be writing to the parties in due course setting out the arrangements for the redetermination of the appeal.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher grouped question UIN 108204 108302 question first answered 05/11/2020 17:19:29 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4790 label Biography information for Apsana Begum

1246507

registered interest
date	23/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Westferry Printworks: Planning Permission
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which role in his Department is leading the reconsideration of Westferry Printworks development planning proposal; and what progress has been made on that matter.
tabling member constituency	Poplar and Limehouse
tabling member printed	Apsana Begum
uin	108302
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2020 answer text <p>As the Secretary of State has said, he will not be involved in deciding the redetermined planning appeal and has had no discussions or meetings on the redetermination of this case. No decision has yet been made as to which Minister will decide the appeal. My officials will be writing to the parties in due course setting out the arrangements for the redetermination of the appeal.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher grouped question UIN 108204 108301 question first answered 05/11/2020 17:19:29 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4790 label Biography information for Apsana Begum

1246538

registered interest
date	23/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Evictions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on eviction for private rental tenants in (a) Tier 1, (b) Tier 2 and (c) Tier 3 local covid-19 alert areas.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	108215
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2020 answer text <p>Bailiffs have been asked not to enforce evictions across England whilst the new, toughened national restrictions apply from 5th November. The only exceptions to this will be the most egregious cases, including cases of illegal occupation, fraud, where tenants have demonstrated anti-social behaviour or are the perpetrator of domestic abuse in social housing and where a property is unoccupied following the death of a tenant. We also intend to introduce an exemption for extreme pre-Covid rent arrears and will provide more detail in due course.</p><p>Together with the pause on evictions starting in December, this means that evictions will not be enforced in England until the 11 January at the earliest, except in the most serious circumstances. We believe this strikes the right balance between prioritising public health and supporting the most vulnerable renters, whilst ensuring landlords can access and exercise their right to justice for the most serious cases.</p><p>To further protect renters over winter, we legislated in August to increase notice periods to 6 months in all but the most serious circumstances. This means that most tenants served notice now would not be asked to leave until at least May 2021.</p><p>We have worked closely with the judiciary on new court arrangements to ensure appropriate support to all parties as the courts restart possession proceedings. These arrangements include new court rules which require landlords to set out any information they are aware of in relation to how their tenant, or any dependent of their tenant, has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic when bringing a possession claim to court. Landlords are also required to notify the court and their tenant where they wish to continue pursuing a possession claim that was already in the system before 3 August. These new arrangements apply in all courts across all tiers.</p><p>The listing of the cases is a matter for the judiciary, but they will be prioritising the most serious cases, including anti-social behaviour, domestic abuse, and extreme rent arrears. Again, this will apply across all tiers of local COVID alert areas.</p><p>Prior to the introduction of national restrictions, the Government had announced additional surge funding to support areas moving into the second alert level as well as the third. Areas moving into the Tier 2 (alert level ‘high’) will receive £3 per person, with a further £5 per person (totalling £8 per person) provided for areas moving into Tier 3 (alert level ‘very high’).</p><p>In addition to this, on Thursday 22 October the Government announced details of the further £1 billion of financial support for local authorities to support their communities through this pandemic. This further support reaffirms the Government’s continued support to councils during this unprecedented time. Over £900 million will be provided in an un-ringfenced grant in line with previous tranches of funding, recognising local authorities are best placed to decide how to meet the major COVID-19 service pressures in their local area – including supporting renters.</p><p>This brings the total funding given directly to councils during the pandemic, so far, to £6.4 billion. This includes £4.6 billion in un-ringfenced funding, £1.1 billion from the Infection Control Fund, and £300 million to support Test and Trace, as well as funding allocated to councils from the new Local Alert Level system and a number of grants to support communities and vulnerable people.</p><p>These measures build on the Government’s major economic package of support to help renters continue to meet their housing costs. This includes the Chancellor’s recent announcement to extend the Job Retention Scheme to March 2021 and over £9 billion boost to the welfare system, including an extra £1 billion to increase Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates so that they cover the lowest 30 per cent of market rents.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 09/11/2020 17:36:20 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher previous answer version 58228 answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1246543

registered interest
date	23/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Evictions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring landlords to register eviction notices at the point of delivery, so that his Department would obtain accurate records of all evictions including those which do not proceed to court.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	108216
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/11/2020 answer text <p>There are no plans to require landlords to record eviction notices at the point of delivery; this information is not collected centrally by the government and we have made no assessment of the merits of increasing data collection in this way. <br> <br>To further protect renters, the measures in the Coronavirus Act 2020 mean that landlords must now give 6 months’ notice except in the most serious cases. <br> <br>To gather data, we work closely with the Ministry of Justice and HM Courts and Tribunal Service to monitor possession proceedings. The Ministry of Justice publishes national statistics on possession actions in county courts by private and social landlords. This includes statistics on claims, orders, warrants and possessions.</p><p>The Department also conducts regular surveys such as the annual English Housing Survey and the English Private Landlord Survey to gather data. These include questions regarding ending a tenancy and the reasons for it, and both the English Housing Survey and English Private Landlord survey will be published next year.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 02/11/2020 17:57:09 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1246588

registered interest
date	23/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Westferry Printworks: Planning Permission
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the timescale is for his Department's re-consideration of the Westferry Printworks planning application by North and Shell.
tabling member constituency	Poplar and Limehouse
tabling member printed	Apsana Begum
uin	108204
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2020 answer text <p>As the Secretary of State has said, he will not be involved in deciding the redetermined planning appeal and has had no discussions or meetings on the redetermination of this case. No decision has yet been made as to which Minister will decide the appeal. My officials will be writing to the parties in due course setting out the arrangements for the redetermination of the appeal.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher grouped question UIN 108301 108302 question first answered 05/11/2020 17:19:29 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4790 label Biography information for Apsana Begum

1246605

registered interest
date	23/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Help to Buy Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the help to buy scheme in its current format will be extended until April 2022.
tabling member constituency	South Northamptonshire
tabling member printed	Andrea Leadsom
uin	108225
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/11/2020 answer text <p>The Government recognises that there have been delays caused by Covid-19. That is why on 31 July a two-month extension was announced to the building completion deadline from 31 December 2020 to 28 February 2021. The legal completion deadline for the purchase remains 31 March 2021.</p><p>The Government also announced an extra measure to protect existing customers who have experienced severe delays as a result of coronavirus. Homes England, who administer Help to Buy, will work with those who had a reservation in place before 30 June to assess their situation and look to provide an extension where necessary. In which case, they will have until 31 May 2021 to legally complete. More information can be found at <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fnews%2Fhelp-to-buy-scheme-extended&amp;data=04%7C01%7CIan.HSmith%40communities.gov.uk%7C010f19d29ad84b4ec6dd08d87a62e8c3%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C637393912509276318%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=jAYSiatC%2Fu8OMk5Wttgela3vR%2Fpk4cMIag%2B961G3w%2FU%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/help-to-buy-scheme-extended</a>.</p><p>We believe these measures provide sufficient time for developers to build out homes delayed by COVID 19 and protect customers whose purchases have been significantly delayed. There are no plans to extend the current scheme further.</p><p>Meanwhile the Government’s new Help to Buy scheme, which will replace the current scheme and is for first time buyers only, will commence on 1 April 2021 and run until March 2023. More information can be found at: <a href="https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/equity-loan/help-to-buy-equity-loan-2021-2023/" target="_blank">https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/equity-loan/help-to-buy-equity-loan-2021-2023/</a>.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 02/11/2020 17:56:29 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom

1246217

registered interest
date	22/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Permitted Development Rights: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2020 to Question 104771, on The Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development and Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020: what assessment he has made of the merits of extending the scope of those measures to include those (a) pubs and (b) hospitality businesses that are listed buildings, and cannot erect temporary outside structures within their curtilage due to the constraints of listed building consents.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	107743
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/11/2020 answer text <p>As set out in my answer to Question UIN 104771 on 21 October 2020, we will continue to keep the rights under review, as is the case for all Covid-19 related measures.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 02/11/2020 17:56:44 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1246305

registered interest
date	22/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Evictions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government has taken to support small landlords in disputes with tenants who had refused to pay rent before the covid-19 outbreak and who are now unable to evict those tenants as a result of measures put in place to support renters in genuine need during the outbreak.
tabling member constituency	North Cornwall
tabling member printed	Scott Mann
uin	107684
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/11/2020 answer text <p>The best way to support landlords is by helping tenants to pay their rent. The Government has brought forward a significant economic response, including support for business to pay staff salaries through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Job Support Scheme. We have also introduced over £9 billion of measures in 2020/21 that benefit those facing financial disruption due to the current situation. These measures include increasing Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by £1,040 a year for the next 12 months, and a significant investment in the Local Housing Allowance of nearly £1 billion, lifting rates to the 30<sup>th</sup> percentile from April this year. Discretionary Housing Payments can also be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in their housing costs.</p><p>Where landlords have found themselves in coronavirus-related hardship, mortgage lenders have agreed to offer payment holidays of up to three months, including for buy-to-let mortgages. On 2 June, the Financial Conduct Authority confirmed that borrowers can apply for an extension to any holiday already taken while extending the window for new applications to 31 October.</p><p>As we move forward, we have taken steps to ensure that landlords can recover their properties in the most serious circumstances whilst still protecting tenants.</p><p>Courts restarted possession proceedings on Monday 21 September 2020. The listing of the cases is a matter for the judiciary but they will be prioritising the most serious cases, including extreme rent arrears.</p><p>The Coronavirus Act 2020 means landlords must now provide six months’ notice of their intention to seek possession. However, for the most serious cases notice periods have been lowered to give landlords the ability to regain possession more quickly. This includes only requiring 4 weeks’ notice when arrears are equivalent to at least six months’ rent. This supports landlords with tenants in pre-COVID arrears to pursue repossession more quickly.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 02/11/2020 17:58:24 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4496 label Biography information for Scott Mann

1245386

registered interest
date	21/10/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Rented Housing: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent steps his Department has taken to support renters; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a (a) compulsory and (b) permanent ban on rental increases in (i) private, (ii) public and (iii) shared ownership housing after the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	North Norfolk
tabling member printed	Duncan Baker
uin	107115
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2020 answer text <p>The Government has no plans to ban rent increases and we have put in place an unprecedented package of support to protect renters during this period.</p><p>We have legislated to increase notice periods to 6 months in all but the most serious circumstances and bailiffs have been asked not to enforce evictions across England whilst the new, toughened national restrictions apply from 5 November. The only exceptions to this will be the most egregious cases, including cases of illegal occupation, fraud, where tenants have demonstrated anti-social behaviour or are the perpetrator of domestic abuse in social housing and where a property is unoccupied following the death of a tenant. We also intend to introduce an exemption for extreme pre-Covid rent arrears and will provide more detail in due course.</p><p>Together with the pause on evictions starting in December, this means that evictions will not be enforced in England until 11 January at the earliest, except in the most serious circumstances.</p><p>These measures build on the Government’s major economic package of support to help renters continue to meet their housing costs, including the Chancellor’s recent announcement to extend the Job Retention Scheme to March 2021 .</p><p>We have also strengthened the welfare safety-net with an over £9 billion boost to the welfare system, which includes an extra £1 billion to increase Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates so that they cover the lowest 30 per cent of market rents. For renters who require additional support, there is also an existing £180 million of Government funding for Discretionary Housing Payments made available this year, an increase of £40 million from last year, which is for councils to distribute to support renters needing additional help.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 09/11/2020 17:36:54 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher previous answer version 58222 answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4784 label Biography information for Duncan Baker