Controversial Housing Bill passed after parliamentary ping pong
The Housing and Planning Bill, which includes policies such as discounted "starter homes" for first-time buyers, has finally become law.
After struggling back and forth between the House of Lords and Commons for the past few months, as a result of peers trying to water down some of its key elements, the controversial Housing and Planning Bill has finally been passed.
The back and forth finally came to an end after crossbench peer Lord Kerslake decided to drop the final disputed amendment holding up the legislation. The bill is intended to help speed up housebuilding and homeownership.
As part of the bill, local councils will be obligated to sell off their highest-value vacant housing stock in order to help fund the construction of new affordable housing and the extension of Right-to-Buy to housing association tenants. It is promised that all houses will be replaced. Kerslake’s changes to the bill would’ve stipulated that the properties that replaced the ones sold off would be of similar proportions, in a like-for-like replacement, but this was rejected by Government.
Baroness Trafford, a minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said: “It does not say that there will be like-for-like replacement because that is not always what communities need. We want to ensure that new homes serve the needs of communities.”
Other measures included as part of the bill are the abolition of new lifetime tenancies for council tenants; so-called "Right-to-Rent", where landlords must conduct immigration checks on their prospective tenants; and allowing housing associations to voluntarily take part in the Right-to-Buy scheme.