Gideon Amos MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q You mentioned the planning system earlier. Do you see any risk, because of the perceived unattractiveness of the new system, that there will be an increase in short-term holiday letting? The Liberal Democrats want to see the use class brought forward for holiday lets. Would you support that in terms of controlling it in rural areas, so that councils and communities can control the amount of Airbnb-type short-term holiday lets in their areas? Judicaelle Hammond: We recognise that is an issue in some areas of the country that are honeypots. If the proposals that were consulted on are implemented effectively, we see a need for them. On your question about whether some properties would become holiday lets, I think if you had asked me a year ago, I might have said yes. There are other pressures on the holiday let market that make this increasingly unlikely. We hear from members that they are planning on selling full stop, which would probably be selling to people who want to be on the housing ladder rather than to people who want to take over their business of being private rented sector housing providers. That is a real issue and concern for us.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q I want to ask about service personnel housing, which I raised in the debate on Second Reading. I will go on to ask about the danger of more properties becoming short-term holiday lets—Airbnb-type things; I have a genuinely open mind on that, and I am interested in the Minister’s views on it. On service personnel housing, I think the Minister’s position from the debate on Second Reading was that the Ministry of Defence is looking at it and different circumstances may apply, which would mean that a different form of decent homes standard would be needed. If the decent homes standard is yet to be published, and could potentially be less onerous than the one for the social housing sector, could it not also be applied to MOD housing so that our serving personnel get decent housing? Matthew Pennycook: I do not think there is a huge amount I could add to what I said on Second Reading. We think there are particular characteristics of MOD accommodation that make it difficult to translate the approach we have in mind for driving up standards in the private rented sector and to align that with a wider push on the social housing sector. The MOD are taking forward that work. Yes, there are conversations between officials and Ministers about the crossover, how we might align standards and what the difference is, but I think it is for MOD to take that forward. We think there are good reasons to treat it slightly separately. I can address the short-term lets point, if you would like.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  I am putting to you that the MOD could have its own decent homes standards. Matthew Pennycook: The MOD is taking forward standards for its accommodation, and it will do that as the Department responsible for that accommodation. It sits outside this legislation, and we had the same debate on the previous Bill. It is an important issue, but it sits outside the scope of this legislation.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q We covered extending the grounds to more than three sharers in the previous evidence session, and I think everyone knows where I stand on that. If you are right that the biggest effect of the move away from fixed-term tenancies is on investment into the build-to-rent, or corporate, sector that you are talking about, and if the Bill were to allow fixed-term tenancies—perhaps the first tenancy of a build-to-rent new build—would that help the sector up from delivering 15,000 units to 30,000 more units? Timothy Douglas: I was actually saying that fixed terms should be retained regardless of landlords.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q I have raised this already, but you seem to be suggesting that to extend the exemption you would have a special student tenancy. Is that right? Could you clarify if you would like to see that in the Bill? If not, if the Government were not willing to create a new tenancy, how would you draw the line in terms of bringing in all student accommodation? Victoria Tolmie-Loverseed: I think there are alternative options. There was discussion on the previous Bill about creating an accreditation scheme or some sort of certification for landlords in the off-street sector. That is worth considering if a landlord is part of a quality mark and might be able to offer fixed-term tenancies similar to PBSA. There would certainly be some benefits to that, and you would offer students a quality product with landlords who are accountable to somebody but can have certainty in their business planning, which would be beneficial. I also think that ground 4A should be amended and extended to all student properties.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q We have the decent homes standard for social housing, and the Bill would introduce it for private housing. That seems to me to leave Ministry of Defence housing in the middle. Can you think of any other categories of housing that would not be covered by the decent homes standard? Liz Davies KC: Currently, Home Office accommodation for asylum seekers is not in the Bill. I am pretty sure, off the top of my head, that temporary accommodation under homelessness is, but if I am wrong about that—Justin and Giles are nodding, so it is. Temporary accommodation for asylum seekers should be there; we know that has problems with conditions. I am sorry—I am embarrassed about this—but I should have said right at the beginning that I have acted as a consultant for the Renters’ Reform Coalition. I am not here today in that capacity, but I need to put that on the record. Justin Bates KC: I would need to really check the detail, but housing provided by local social services authorities—Children Act 1989 accommodation rather than Housing Act accommodation—may not be covered. That might be another area of exemption. But the big one will be Crown properties: MOD, Home Office and so on. If you want to bring them in, you will need to expressly say so because, as I am sure you all know, the rule is that it does not bind the Crown unless you expressly say so.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Of what length? Melanie Leech: Ideally, we would want a year—perhaps six months. On the impact, to answer the Minister’s point, it is not that families cannot stay for as long as they want to. This is a high-quality product—I am talking particularly about the build-to-rent sector. The risk for build-to-rent providers is that people will treat build to rent more like an Airbnb-type product. That could transform what should be rental products for families to move into for the long term. That is what we want—we want people to stay somewhere to make it their home. But this proposal will inhibit the supply of those products to long-term tenants, because we are vulnerable to short-term tenancies flipping all the time. That is the concern. It is not that people cannot stay for long if they want to; it is that those products will be easier for people to treat more like a short let—an Airbnb-style product. Timothy Douglas: We need build to rent, but let us not forget that in build to rent, on average, the rents are a lot higher, because people are paying for a concierge and the other services, so it is not the ultimate answer for all parts of the sector. We are not going to support everyone. I do not think that there should be a timeframe on the fixed term, but we can make use of grounds that landlords cannot use as levers, and you could put break clauses in as well.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q On that point, how would you define “all student properties” in the Bill? Victoria Tolmie-Loverseed: We think that the definition of a student property in the Bill is fine; it is just the restriction to HMOs, which are three-bedroom properties. We think the definition of the type of property, or the size of the property, should be changed.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q So that would be the control? Victoria Tolmie-Loverseed: Yes.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q You said earlier that the first-tier tribunal is working better, but did you really answer the question of whether you feel the Bill will increase pressure on the tribunal and the courts, and whether they are ready for it? Have you seen any evidence of an increase in funding, given this impending legislation? Justin Bates KC: I want to be careful not to speak for the first-tier tribunal judges. Parliament has provided additional funding for the FTT in anticipation, not of this Bill, but of other areas. Those of you who worked on the Building Safety Act 2022 will know that you gave new powers to the FTT over unsafe buildings. Funding came along with that, because new building safety judges have been appointed. For obvious reasons, I am not privy to all the spending decisions, but as a regular attendee of the tribunal, I can see that money must have been provided. Whether you provide more money for this Bill is, frankly, miles above my pay grade. On the increased workload, it is very difficult to say. It is plausible that there may not be that much of an increase in workload, because people can still agree what the new rent will be. If they agree it, there is no need to go anywhere near the tribunal. If I were pushed, my informed guess would be that there will be an increase in the first few years, because there always is whenever the law changes, and that it will settle down after a while, but I cannot properly comment on the minutiae of how you fund the FTT.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q So would it be any property where one of the tenants was a full-time student? How would you define that? Victoria Tolmie-Loverseed: The way the Bill is drafted at the moment, they all have to be students for that to apply.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  With your permission, Sir Christopher, I want to come back on that point.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q I was interested to hear the rest of your points. One area that is not regulated in the Act is the regulation of letting agents. Is that something that Acorn would like to see happen? Feel free to expand on your points. Anny Cullum: We would like to see letting agents regulated. Especially with the issues around bidding wars and discrimination when you enter a new home or the private sector for the first time, in the majority of cases that will be about your experience with your letting agency. We as Acorn suggest mystery shopping, like when Trading Standards sends kids into shops to mystery shop and sees whether they will sell them alcohol. Maybe we should be sending people into letting agencies and seeing whether they are being discriminated against on the basis of any protected characteristic, but particularly on the basis of being benefit claimants. That part could be strengthened in the Bill.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q In response to the Minister, you did also mention the corporate sector—but it does not matter. My point is, can you comment on retaining that fixed-term option for the first tenancy in new build premises? Would that deliver some of the incentives that you want to see? Melanie Leech: A minimum tenancy would certainly help with investor confidence.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Renters' Rights Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q We seem to be talking about different decent homes standards. We have the social housing sector one, and we are talking about consulting on one for the private rented sector. Is it not the case that the MOD can have one suitable to its needs? Matthew Pennycook: If I have understood you correctly, you are putting to me: why is MOD accommodation not coming within the consultation on a new decent homes standard for both sectors?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman espouses the benefits of cross-party working in an interesting way. Whatever adjustments are made to the earnings limit, will he join those on the Liberal Democrat Benches in asking the Minister to allow a higher level of earnings? That is the crucial factor that prevents so many people who badly need carer’s allowance from getting it.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Access to Primary Healthcare · Hansard source

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  I mainly want to talk about dentistry, but first let me support the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke). GPs in my constituency are leaving at an alarming rate, which is a problem of great concern across Somerset. We have heard about the Sahara desert; if Norfolk is the eastern Sahara, Somerset and Devon are the western Sahara of dental deserts. More than half the children in Somerset did not have access to an NHS dentist last year, which puts Somerset in the worst-hit 5% of local authority areas in the country. The picture for adults is pretty similar. I set up a survey back in 2022 to draw attention to the lack of dentistry in Taunton and Wellington. Official NHS figures show that in 2015, the majority—56%—had access to an NHS dentist, but that has gone down to only 32% this year. As has been said, 99% of people who need an NHS dentist cannot get one. That is a totally unacceptable situation and a primary care time bomb because, as we have heard, the biggest cause of hospital admission for children under six is tooth decay. Also, oral cancers are on the rise year on year, and without early detection by dentists, that will only get worse. Just as the social contract under which people felt that they would get care is broken, so is the dental contract itself. I urge the Government to tell the House how soon they will repair the dental contract and when they will increase the units of dental activity payments so that the contract works. We need a timescale for addressing that. My constituent Kathryn had been with her NHS dentist for 20 years. Like so many others, she lost them when that dentist withdrew NHS treatment. But unlike many other people, Kathryn is undergoing treatment for secondary breast cancer, the side effects of which mean that her doctor has instructed her to have regular dental treatment. She is now using her hard-earned savings to pay for that dental treatment because it is not possible to get it on the NHS in Somerset. It is disgraceful and totally unacceptable that cancer sufferers are using their hard-earned savings to repair the damage of the legacy of appalling NHS dental services left by the last Government.

• 15 Oct 2024 · Renewable Energy Projects: Community Benefits · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that community benefit and compensation for communities is important for not only the communities that experience these projects but the planning system? Take it from a former planning inspector: if we had a sensible and predictable level of community benefit, it would make granting planning permission smoother, with fewer objections.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Renters’ Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  I certainly agree with my hon. Friend. We need a lot more council and social rented homes. I will return to that issue. In the spirit of ensuring that a plentiful supply of rented housing comes forward, we urge the Government to retain the option for landlords and renters to agree between them fixed-term tenancies of three years, rather than periodic tenancies being the only product on the shelf, so to speak. We are worried that investors will be unlikely to invest ahead if they cannot see security of tenure coming from their investments. There could just be an increase in short-term holiday lets as a result, because there would be no difference between tenures. If both renters and landlords are to have any faith in the courts when it comes to resolving disputes over evictions, the courts must have the investment to do the job. Put simply, and as was said earlier, there are not enough judges or bailiffs and the system simply will not work until there are. In the same way, local authorities must be funded properly to take on the new responsibilities in the Bill. In Taunton and Wellington, the local Somerset council has more than 10,000 people on the council housing waiting list and was brought the brink of bankruptcy by the Conservative Government’s cuts to proposed funding for social care—a crisis across the country that the outgoing Conservative leader of Somerset called a “ticking timebomb”, which was handed to the new administration. In those circumstances, it is not surprising that Somerset and local authorities across the country are unable to enforce the standards of housing that we would want. The House of Commons Library found “evidence of low and inconsistent levels of enforcement” when it comes to addressing poor property standards. No amount of words in the Bill will make up for the need for resources; I was pleased to hear the Secretary of State mention funding for local authorities to discharge those duties. That is vital. The Bill also rightly makes separate provision for student housing, but it does not extend to one or more student renters renting together. If that does not happen, there could be a significant withdrawal of student housing from the market. We would be concerned to see that. I turn to other provisions in the Bill. We welcome the protections for renters on benefits, who of course should not be discriminated against. We will also be seeking an assurance that the 12-month prohibition on re-letting following an eviction will also apply to re-letting furnished holiday lets, such as on Airbnb. We are pleased to see that, following the work of my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) and of the Minister of Housing and Planning, who both worked on the Bill in the previous Session, no new, punitive definition of antisocial behaviour is being introduced. We thoroughly welcome that element of the Renters’ Rights Bill. To support our serving military personnel and help address the recruitment challenge in these uncertain times, I also support the bid of my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire, also in the last Session, to ensure that MOD housing is also subject to the decent homes standard proposed in the Bill. It is curious that the Government often like to legislate for others; I want reassurance that they will legislate for their own MOD housing at the same time. Service personnel deserve decent homes just as much as anyone else. That decent homes standard surely must extend to better insulation and energy efficiency—to EPC level C, as was mentioned earlier. I ask the Minister to meet the concerns of my constituents in Taunton and Wellington and across the country by agreeing guidance with landlords and the sector on what would constitute reasonable grounds for refusing permission to have a pet—a subject close to the heart of the Secretary of State, I know—and ensure that tenants are allowed to keep their pet once that has been agreed. Above all, the Bill is about bringing an end to the shameful delays of successive Conservative Governments when it comes to protecting renters from unfair evictions. I heard the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch) say that she wanted to help the Bill— but she has also tabled an amendment to kill it. If that is helping, I would hate to see her definition of attacking something. The change really cannot come soon enough. One of my constituents, Mike Godleman, came to me some time ago. He had been served with a section 21 eviction notice while recovering from major surgery. He had loved his home of over nine years. A couple of months ago, his councillor and I visited him to try to help him. We met a kind, gentle and creative man who taught sign language, loved dance and was a talented teacher and photographer. His charming sons Perez and Zakkai meant the absolute world to him, and he had become more of a friend to us than a constituent. His sons were a complete credit to him when we met them. Sadly, some 10 days ago Mike was found in his flat. He had passed away as a result of a pulmonary embolism—clearly not caused by his eviction notice, but surely people in Mike’s position should not have to suffer being made homeless as a result of a notice that inherently, and on the face of it, shows that there was no fault on his part. Conservative Administrations since 1988 have ushered in a system in which the tenure that has grown most is the one that gives the least assurance to tenants; assured shorthold tenancies are now the most common form of tenancy. Their approach seemed designed to maximise disadvantage to renters—40% of renters now say that, as a result, their last home move was forced on them, adding turmoil to insecurity of tenure. In fact by repeatedly announcing that they would legislate but then failing to deliver on that legislation, the last Government prompted a massive 30% growth in Airbnb short-term lets, taking away more security of tenure from other tenants. It is hardly surprising that Ministry of Justice reports show that standard procedure claims for possession and eviction massively increased under the last Conservative Government, while accelerated procedure claims doubled from 4,000 to 8,000. The Conservatives’ inaction was a shocking abandonment of thousands of tenants to increasing eviction rates, as landlords sought to pre-empt the often promised, but never delivered, end to no-fault evictions.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Renters’ Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  Does that mean there will be more funding for the courts?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Renters’ Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  I agree with the hon. Member. We must make sure that the courts are properly resourced so that the grounds that are in the Bill to provide for eviction, where it is justified, can work effectively. That is surely the way forward, rather than some back-door approach in which no-fault evictions are used for a multitude of reasons, many of them not justified. While it is right to legislate to end no-fault evictions—measures that Liberal MPs such as the former Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, Simon Hughes, vehemently opposed from these Benches back in 1988 —we surely cannot think that the private sector alone is the answer to solving our nation’s housing crisis. The Government must be more ambitious, immediately banning no-fault evictions, building 150,000 council and social rent homes per year, a comprehensive programme to insulate all housing, a planning use class to control second homes and allowing councils to halt the right to buy, so that when we build council houses we are not trying to fill the bath with the plug taken out. Those are the priorities that the Liberal Democrats will be campaigning for and working to see on the face of this Bill. I urge the Minister and the Government to take on as many of our suggestions as they possibly can.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Renters’ Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  I have congratulated the Secretary of State on her position, but I also congratulate her colleague, the Minister for Housing and Planning, on his. He follows a long line of Ministers—the first, arguably, being Christopher Addison, the great Liberal and Labour Minister, who delivered not only the great Housing and Town Planning Act 1919, but more than half a million council houses. I am sure that the Minister will be delivering just as many over the next two or three years. As the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich, the Minister also follows former Housing Minister Nick Raynsford, with whom I had the pleasure of working. I was going to say that something in the water of Greenwich and Woolwich produces great Housing Ministers, but unfortunately, following the legacy of the last Government, there is far too much in the water—and we really do not want to dwell on that. Seriously, the Minister is taking on an important portfolio, as is the Secretary of State, of course. Housing and planning have the power to touch every single person in the country and make up one of the most important roles in Government. My own experience is limited to being a tenant and landlord—only ever a landlord of registered social housing; I am happy to declare that interest today. The Government face huge challenges, but we must not shrink from the overall objective of ending homelessness, which was enshrined in both the Liberal Democrat and Labour manifestos. The Government will have the full support of my colleagues on the Liberal Democrat Benches of the measures that they bring forward to that end. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey) has made clear and demonstrated, when opposition is needed it will be constructive and positive. In that spirit, I am pleased to generally welcome the Bill, which will give tenants the security that all other residents already have and that tenants surely deserve, and put right the scandalous delay in bringing an end to no-fault evictions. We must encourage the majority of landlords out there, who are responsible, as are the majority of tenants. When those interests go together, we can deliver the thousands of private rented homes that we need in this country—we cannot do without them. It is right also to dwell on elements of the Bill that can support the supply of private rented housing.