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The Queen’s Speech, what does it mean for housing?
Normally held every year, the Queen’s Speech is part of the State Opening of Parliament, which allows Parliament to begin a new session and start its business. Written by the Government and delivered by the sovereign, the speech announces the legislation that the Government intends introducing, plus “other measures” that it intends bringing forward, giving it flexibility to introduce other bills during the session. This year’s speech, explains Ginetta Vedrickas, contained several ideas to help the country recover from the pandemic by creating new homes and jobs, including legislation that could affect the property market for buyers and renters
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RIGHTS FOR RENTERS
The speech contained several initiatives that will impact upon the rentals market with implications for renters and landlords. Many organisations have campaigned for more rights for those renting in the private sector. Alicia Kennedy, Director of campaigning organisation Generation Rent, welcomed the intentions but called on the Government to do more, “While the Government’s intentions are positive, renters have already been waiting for tenancy reforms for two years. The Government rightly wants to learn the lessons of the pandemic but must use the months ahead to make sure that the private rental market is suitable for all who now depend on it.” In the speech, the Government announced its intention to publish a Renters Reform White Paper this autumn that will contain more detail, which it believes shows that ministers are prepared to engage with the industry.
EXTEND LANDLORD REGISTER TO ENGLAND
The Government also outlined its intention to bring in an initiative that Generation Rent has been campaigning for, a “landlord register”. Scotland and Wales already operate a similar system whereby renters can check online to see if their landlord is legitimate. Bringing in a similar system would, says the organisation, “help drive criminal landlords out of the market and give renters a way to complain about mistreatment”.
REFORM THE DEPOSITS SYSTEM
One of the biggest barriers to moving home when you are privately renting is finding the deposit for your next property while the landlord holds on to your current one. Timothy Douglas, Policy and Campaigns manager at Propertymark, calls upon the Government to give renters more help by introducing a system of lifetime deposits – transferable from one landlord to the next – as well as more penalties for poor landlords,
“The UK Government must look at ensuring that a system that would allow deposits to be passported can only take place if there is a bridging loan, with the Government as the guarantor, in order to ensure the remaining part of the deposit is covered should the tenant default.” Propertymark says that it intends working with the Government to ensure that it fully understands the consequences of any changes and it also intends to scrutinise the White Paper and the proposed legislation, to ensure the best possible outcome for its members.
MODERNISE AND SIMPLIFY THE PLANNING SYSTEM
Reforming the planning system so that more new homes can be built has been a contentious subject for many years. Last summer, the Government published its Planning White Paper, which contained wide-ranging reforms to the planning system. In her speech setting out a summary of the Government’s intended legislative programme, the Queen outlined that the Planning Bill intended to “modernise the planning system, so that more homes can be built”. The Government’s briefing document explained that its Bill would “create a simpler, faster and more modern planning system to replace the current one that dates back to 1947”. In line with last summer’s proposals, the Bill will include land categorisations – for growth, renewal or protection – and it also wants to digitise the planning system “to make it more visual and easier for local people to meaningfully engage with”.
Reactions to changes are mixed, but developers have been largely positive about the moves to change land categorisation to make it easier for them to get permission from local authorities to build new homes. Director of New Homes at Zoopla, Alex Rose, describes the Bill as “a positive development that should support many across the country to get on the housing ladder. Housebuilders play a crucial role in supporting the wider economy and introducing automatic planning approvals in growth areas will also make it easier and faster for housebuilders to build developments.” Santhosh Gowda, of construction company Strawberry Star, says that “a dynamic, flexible, digitalised system is an exciting prospect” but he believes that it will be a balancing act for the Government to boost housing supply “without compromising on design, community, and ecology”.
Reactions from councils were less positive. Planning spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA), David Renard, explains that councils want to work with Government to reform and strengthen the planning system, but they also want to make sure it is “locally led” so that communities can have their say on new developments in their neighbourhoods, and make sure that they are supported by the right infrastructure. The LGA backs measures to get the public more involved through a digitalised service, but Renard warns, “The evidence shows that planning is not the barrier to house building. Councils are granting permission for nine in 10 planning applications while over 1.1 million homes given planning permission in the past decade are yet to be built.” Renard wants councils to have more powers to incentivise developers to get building where houses are needed and ensure there is a mix of homes – to rent and buy – that are available and affordable.
HELP TO BUILD
The Government announced its Help to Build scheme, a £150m fund allowing for low-deposit mortgages through equity loans on self-build and custom-built homes. The Government thinks that this could create around 30,000-40,000 new homes a year. Further details will be announced later.
LEASEHOLD REFORM AND GROUND RENTS
Spiralling ground rent charges have become a hot political issue over the years, with many owners facing years of exorbitant charges. Under the Leasehold Reform, Ground Rent, Bill, ministers intend “ending the practice of ground rents” for new leasehold properties. Any freeholder found guilty of charging ground rent in contravention of the Bill could be fined up to £5,000. The Bill does allow for “selected exemptions” for ground rents, including for some parts of the community-led housing sector. Earlier this year, as part of the Government’s intended leasehold reforms, housing secretary Robert Jenrick announced that leaseholders would have the right to extend their lease by a maximum term of 990 years without paying any ground rent to their freeholder.
SAFETY LEGISLATION
Last summer the Government published its draft version of The Building Safety Bill
EXPERT COMMENT
A greater supply of homes will serve to correct the imbalance between supply and demand which has been intensifi ed by the Stamp Duty holiday. The Government has made a number of announcements in the past on simplifying the planning process, however this will only work if it really refl ects local needs and demands. We hope the Planning Bill encourages the development of housing in more affordable areas, as most of the development taking place is in areas that are unaffordable to fi rst time and lower income buyers.
Mark Hayward, Chief Policy Advisor, Propertymark propertymark. co.uk
EXPERT COMMENT
It is promising to see the Government seeks to radically simplify the planning process. It takes far too long for planning to get through the system, with it broadly working the same way for small developments as larger projects, which in turn is hugely disproportionate. We would hope to see the introduction of a simple rules-based approach rather than the decision of a committee, therefore resulting in a faster decision and appeal process.
Ben Dyer, CEO, Powered Now powerednow.com
for pre-legislative scrutiny. The Bill, the G overnment said, would ensure that “the lessons from the Grenfell Tower tragedy are learnt and that residents are safe and feel safe in their homes”. In the Queen’s Speech, the Government reiterated its intention to bring forward legislation to address building safety and stated that it would “establish in law” a new Building Safety Regulator to “ensure that the tragedies of the past are never repeated”.
