Details remain the key to the proposed changes laid out in last week’s King’s Speech.
Members of the UKPF Editorial Board gave their views on what the King had to say but most said details of each of the measures put forward by the new Government would be crucial to whether there is cause for optimism.
Brian Dowling, partner at Boyes Turner, said: “A lot of the focus has been on planning reforms, which are intended to kickstart growth and reduce one of the main drags on getting development done.
“There are also going to be two major property bills, the Renters Rights Bill, and the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill.
“Commonhold is the UK equivalent of ‘strata’ or ‘condo’ title, ie the way that most other countries organise their terraced housing estates, or multi-owned apartment buildings.
“The law was introduced in 2002 but had a number of flaws that were never fixed, so it has only been used about 20 times in 20 years. If reformed, it is seen by many leaseholders and leasehold campaigners as a means of fixing problems with the residential landlord/tenant relationship.”
Mr Dowling picked out the key points in each bill as:
In the Renters Rights Bill:
- Abolishing s21 – ending no fault evictions, but giving newer, expanded grounds for possession.
- A tenant right to challenge rent increases, and laws trying to stop rental bidding wars.
- A new right to request a pet.
- The introduction of the Decent Homes Standard, and ‘Awaab’s Law’ to the private rented sector.
In the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill:
- Introduction of Law Commission reforms designed to bolster lease extension, enfranchisement, and Right to Manage rights.
- Consultation to modernise commonhold and restrict the sale of new leasehold flats
- Regulation of existing ground rents – making sure these are not ‘unregulated and unaffordable.
- Consultation on new service charge restrictions for freehold housing estates, ending what campaigners refer to as ‘fleecehold’. This could be as simple as requiring freehold service charges to be fair and reasonable.
- Action to ‘fix’ forfeiture – at least for residential leaseholds. It is unclear if this will amount to a total ban or just a requirement to compensate affected leaseholders for the loss of their home if they are subjected to forfeiture. Landlords (including neighbours in co-owned blocks) will want to know that there is still an effective ultimate sanction for leaseholders who simply refuse to engage with their shared obligations.
Mr Dowling went on: “As ever, the devil is in the detail and much depends on what is introduced in the draft bills and subsequent secondary legislation.
“Hopefully there will be a decent consultation process on these changes, giving the industry and its customers a full right to comment and be heard.”
Philip Waddy, managing director of WWA Studios, is holding fire before detail emerges but he spelt out one reservation he has.
He said: “From our perspective the King’s Speech simply re-iterates Labour’s election promise to speed up planning and ‘Get Britain Building’. However, there is no detail as yet so we must await the draft legislation before commenting further.
“There does appear to be a dichotomy, however, between the desire to reform planning to build more homes and the stated ambition of giving more powers to local communities.”
Pete Collins, principal associate for Mills & Reeve, said: “Housing and infrastructure are at the heart of the new Government’s agenda. Some of the Bills in the King’s Speech have significant implications for the property sector.
“The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is intended to make critical infrastructure easier and cheaper to deliver.
“Other Bills are likely to be easy and effective political wins, such as the Renters’ Rights Bill banning no-fault evictions and the Draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill overhauling leasehold law.
“Over 20 years after its creation, perhaps the time has come for commonhold to play a meaningful part in Britain’s housing landscape. The potential combined effect of these Bills is cause for optimism, pending consultation outcomes for precise impact assessment.”
Tom Fraser, head of office at Savills Cambridge, said plans to hand greater powers to local communities could open up new opportunities as long as long-term ambitions were balanced with short term policy changes.
He said: “The devil is in the detail and we await further announcements on how Labour’s strategy to devolve power will play out in practice.
“But there is clear recognition of the role the development industry can play in achieving economic growth. To meet that ambition a joined-up approach to planning and development is absolutely crucial.
“Local leaders will need to work with major employers, universities, colleges, and industry bodies to produce plans that identify growth sectors and put in place the programmes and infrastructure they need.
“However, negotiating devolution settlements with local authorities and producing local growth plans takes time. In order to revolutionise the current system, the Government should also focus on short term wins through national policy amendments and trying to encourage positive decision-making when it comes to key economic, residential and infrastructure projects.
“These short-term changes to policy will hopefully become apparent by the end of July when revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework are expected to be published for consultation.”
Karen Jones, planning partner at Blandy & Blandy, said: “Reforms to the planning system were at the centre of the King’s Speech, as Labour seek to build 1.5 million new homes within five years.
“The release of some of the misnomer that is ‘Green Belt land’ must be one of the matters tackled to achieve this. Green Belt is a spatial protection not a visual or landscape designation, and areas of Green Belt land can be degraded and ripe for development without causing harm.
“The Government must be bold on this. There is no hint on how their so called ‘Grey Belt’ – where they say development will go ahead – is to be defined.
“A tension, therefore, already exists, between the release of ‘Grey Belt land’ (whatever they may be) and the proper purpose of the Green Belt to protect as a spatial designation.
“I hope that on planning reform the Government live up to expectations and do take real steps to deliver, but they must do so in a manner that allows confidence in the planning system to be improved. Green Belt reform may be a golden opportunity.”
Image: Wikimedia Commons (Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0).
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