INDUSTRY NEWS 5
Planning overhaul to bewatered down
MichaelGove replaces Jenrick as Housing Secretary
The Government’s plans to overhaul planning laws are set to be drastically watered down to appease Conservative MPs and voters, according to a recent report. According to a report in The Times, the
plans, including a zonal system to help address the housing crisis, are likely to be largely abandoned, due to a backlash from Conservative MPs and the party’s southern voting base. The planned changes were controver-
sial when first announced by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick last year, with concerns widely expressed over the easing of the planning restrictions for new homes, and a reduction in residents’ powers to object to new developments. Some however deemed the changes a
step in the right direction, with the house- building sector currently falling behind on its 300,000 homes a year target. Concerns have also been expressed that the system is outdated, having been in use for over 75 years. The Ministry of Housing, Communities
and Local Government has refused to comment on what it called “speculation” in the Times report, saying that a response to its consultation on the plans is expected “in due course.” Colin Brown, head of planning and development at Carter Jonas commented: “If the latest reports are correct, it seems proposals that were supposed to be unlike anything we have seen since the Second WorldWar are to be forfeited to appease political dissent.” He added: “This cannot be what the
Government had in mind when it published its vision in its Planning for the Future report, only last August.”
Michael Gove, formerly Minister for the Cabinet Office, has been appointed Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, replacing Robert Jenrick in PM Boris Johnson’s Cabinet reshuffle. With a full brief including tackling the housing crisis, Gove has also been given additional responsibilities to oversee the Union in the face of calls for a new Scottish independence referendum, and the Government's wide-ranging ‘levelling up’ agenda. The move is being seen as a political
step down for the high-profile Gove however, a former Environment Secretary, candidate for the Conservative Party leadership, and head of Cabinet Office policy coordination. Like other Housing Secretaries before him, he has no specific experience of a role overseeing the housing or construction industries. Robert Jenrick has been demoted to
the backbenches, following his Department’s planning shakeup being heavily watered down after a revolt from Conservative MPs, and managing its introduction will now be one of Gove’s key challenges. His tenure as Housing Secretary also included controversies such as securing tax breaks for an east London development by media mogul and Tory party donor Richard Desmond, and overruling the local council.
UK’s leading housing developers – has voluntarily given formal commitments to the CMA to remove terms from leasehold contracts that cause ground rents to double in price. The effect of these increases, which kick in every 10 to 15 years, is that people often struggle to sell or mortgage their home and their property rights can be at risk, for example, if they fall behind on their rent. Countryside will also remove terms
which were originally doubling clauses but were converted so that the ground rent increased in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI). The Authority believes the original terms were potentially unfair and should therefore have been fully removed, instead of being replaced with another term that still increases the ground rent. The move comes after enforcement
action was launched against four housing developers in September 2020. These were Countryside and TaylorWimpey, for using possibly unfair contract terms, and Barratt Developments and Persimmon Homes over the possible mis-selling of leasehold homes. The CMA has already secured commitments from Persimmon and Aviva as part of this action, helping thousands of leaseholders. Due to the Authority’s action, affected Countryside leaseholders will now see their ground rents remain at the original amount – i.e. when the property was first sold – and this will not increase over time. Countryside also confirmed to the CMA that it has stopped selling leasehold properties with doubling ground rent clauses. Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the
CMA, said: “Leaseholders with Countryside can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing they will no longer be forced to pay these doubling ground rents. “No one should feel like a prisoner in
Leaseholders freed from costly contract terms
Following Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) action, leaseholders with Countryside Properties will no longer be subjected to ground rents that double every 10 or 15 years. Countryside Properties – one of the
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their home, trapped by terms that mean they can struggle to sell or mortgage their property,” she added. “We will continue to robustly tackle developers and investors – as we have done over the past two years – to make sure that people aren’t taken advantage of.”
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