The recent Queen’s Speech provided us with a strong indication of the importance of the housing market to the current government and how it will be a cornerstone for the UK’s planned economic recovery.
Three bills were featured which significantly impact housing and they were – Planning, Building Safety and Leasehold reform.
So let’s briefly assess some of the key points.
Building Safety Bill
Building safety concerns and the knock-on issues surrounding current legislation and processes still dominate headlines and so the purpose of this Bill is to make substantial reforms to the UK’s building safety regime.
It is also to implement the recommendations made in the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, led by Dame Judith Hackitt, which was commissioned following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017.
The main elements include establishing the Building Safety Regulator and updating existing building safety regulation, including a new stringent regime for buildings 18 metres or more, or seven storeys or more.
It also aims to introduce a system of Accountable Persons and Dutyholders – who will be responsible for making and keeping a building safe.
The Planning Bill
The current planning system dates back to 1947 and so the purpose of this Bill is to create a simpler, faster and more modern one to replace it and ensure we are no longer tied to procedures designed for over 70 years ago.
In addition, it aims to allow more active public engagement in the development of their local area, plus transform our planning system from a slow document-based one to a more efficient and easier to use digital and map-based service.
Providing more certainty for communities and developers, particularly smaller developers, about what is permitted where, through clear land allocations in local plans and stronger rules on design will be the main benefits.
In addition there will be simpler, faster procedures for producing local development plans, approving major schemes, assessing environmental impacts and negotiating affordable housing and infrastructure contributions from development.
Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill
The purpose of this Bill is to tackle the inconsistency and ambiguity of ground rents for future leaseholders.
The government is legislating to require that – for the first time – ground rents in residential long leases will have no financial demand. These will be set in law as a ‘peppercorn rent’ level (the legal term), meaning that nothing more than a literal peppercorn can be sought from leaseholders.
The main benefits include ensuing that leaseholders of new, long residential leases cannot be charged a financial ground rent for no tangible service, making leasehold a more transparent and fairer system for homeowners.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that these bills are seeking to address significant issues that affect today’s housing market, but as ever, how they may work in practice and what actual benefits they provide homeowners, existing and prospective, will not be clear for some time.
What is clear though is that the UK property market for this government will be key to lead us out of a dark economic period and will be at the forefront of their plans to restore our nation’s economic health.
Visionary Finance is an independent, fee-free mortgage broker. Based out of Milton Keynes and London, we work across the UK and be contacted at 01908 465100 or at https://visionaryfinance.co.uk/.
Hiten Ganatra is managing director of Visionary Finance
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