The Government have no plans to ban rent increases during the COVID-19 outbreak as we have already announced extensive measures to protect renters affected by coronavirus. Through the Coronavirus Act 2020, we have introduced legislation to delay when landlords are able to evict tenants.\u202fThe legislation does this either by extending the notice period that a landlord is required to serve on a tenant to at least three months or, in some cases, creating a three months\u2019 notice requirement where a requirement to give notice does not currently exist.\u202f The Master of the Rolls, with the agreement of the Lord Chancellor, suspended all ongoing housing possession cases for 90 days from 27 March 2020.<\/p>
All tenants remain liable for their rent and those who can afford to should continue to pay it. At the end of this period, if arrears have built up, landlords and tenants will be expected to work together to establish an affordable repayment plan, taking into account the tenants\u2019 individual circumstances. For tenants in social housing, landlords will continue to work closely with residents to help them manage their rent and ensure they can access all benefits they are entitled to.<\/p>
Alongside this legislative protection, the Chancellor has put in place an unprecedented support package including support for business to pay staff salaries, as well as a strengthening of the welfare safety-net with a £7 billion boost to Universal Credit, income tax and VAT deferrals. And we\u2019ve increased Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates so that they are set at the 30th percentile of market rents in each area. These significant financial measures will help to support tenants to continue to pay their living costs, including rental payments. We have also extended the three month mortgage payment holiday to landlords with Buy to Let mortgages whose tenants are experiencing financial difficulties due to coronavirus.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4075", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Christopher Pincher"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Tamworth"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Christopher Pincher"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-04-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-04-21T13:17:31.23Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-03-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Rents: Coronavirus"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the feasibility of introducing a ban on rent increases for (a) social and (b) private rented housing for the duration of the covid-19 outbreak.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/411", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Huddersfield"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Barry Sheerman"} ], "uin" : "33423"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1179375", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1179375/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Government is committed to increasing the supply of social housing and has made £9 billion available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022 to deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes in a wide range of tenures, including shared ownership.<\/p>
Over\u202f82,000\u202fnew shared ownership homes have been delivered since 2010.<\/p>