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19 May 2009 : Column 1354W—continued
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what proportion of (a) local authorities and (b) registered social landlords participate in the (i) Social Homebuy, (ii) Right to Buy and (iii) Right to Acquire schemes; [274851]
(2) what proportion of (a) local authorities and (b) registered social landlords participated in the (i) Social Homebuy, (ii) Right to Buy and (iii) Right to Acquire schemes in each year since 1997. [274852]
Margaret Beckett: Landlords are not free to choose whether or not to participate in the Right to Buy or Right to Acquire schemes. If an eligible tenant applies to purchase under either scheme, and meets the scheme's criteria, the landlord is obliged to sell.
The Right to Buy is available to secure tenants of local authorities and registered social landlords and to those assured tenants of registered social landlords who held secure tenancies at the time their homes were transferred from a local authority to a registered social landlord as part of a large scale voluntary stock transfer.
The Right to Acquire is available to tenants of registered social landlords who live in a qualifying property.
For the position on Social Homebuy, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 6 May 2009, Official Report, column 241W.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties were purchased under the (a) Right to Buy, (b) Right to Acquire and (c) Social Homebuy schemes in each local authority area in each year since 1997. [274861]
Margaret Beckett: A table showing the number of local authority Right to Buy sales, Right to Acquire sales, and Social HomeBuy sales by local authority for each year from 1997-98 has been sent to the House Library.
Data source:
Homes and Communities Agency Investment Management System (IMS), and quarterly PIB returns from local authorities to CLG
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 5 May 2009, Official Report, column 133W, on housing: low incomes, what calculation is used to decide how much is paid back by an investment partner who is not a registered social landlord who is seeking to sell a property outside the affordable housing sector. [274883]
Margaret Beckett: The majority of non-registered social landlords developing affordable housing enter into an “Agreed Transfer” grant agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency whereby grant is paid on condition that the ownership of the completed units is transferred to a registered social landlord.
A small number of non-registered social landlord investment partners developing affordable housing enter into a “Retention Model” grant agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency whereby grant is paid on the condition that they retain the ownership of the developed units and manage these within the affordable
housing sector. The grant is secured by a rent charge registered against the freehold title of the affordable units and the non-registered social landlord partner would have to seek the Homes and Communities Agency's consent to sell the units.
If the non-registered social landlord investment partner sought to sell a unit outside of the affordable housing sector there would be an element of grant recovery. Where applicable, any increase in value would be recovered.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 5 May 2009, Official Report, column 133W, on housing: low incomes, how much has been recycled in grants as a result of registered social landlords gaining section 9 consent to dispose in each of the last three years. [274886]
Margaret Beckett: According to the annual returns received from registered social landlords the following amounts have been credited to the organisations’ Recycled Capital Grant Fund. Figures for 2008-09 are not yet available.
| Total (£ million) | |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many buyers participating in the (a) HomeBuy Direct, (b) OwnHome, (c) OpenMarket HomeBuy, (d) the First Time Buyers Initiative, (e) MyChoice HomeBuy, (f) New Build HomeBuy, (g) Social HomeBuy and (h) Rent to HomeBuy schemes have increased their shares in the home subsequent to their initial purchase. [275565]
Margaret Beckett: Only New Build HomeBuy, Social HomeBuy and Rent to HomeBuy involve the purchase of a property through shares. Information on the number of buyers who have purchased subsequent shares to the initial purchase is not collected centrally.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she expects to be able to publish data on HomeBuy Direct sales. [275566]
Margaret Beckett: We expect to publish completions data on the new supply of affordable housing, including low cost home ownership, in December. The data will include HomeBuy Direct.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what data her Department holds on HomeBuy Direct sales; and if she will make a statement. [275567]
Margaret Beckett: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not hold data on HomeBuy Direct sales. The Homes and Communities Agency collects data on HomeBuy Direct sales to enable them to manage the Affordable Housing investment programme.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many Rent to Homebuy providers there are in each region. [275574]
Margaret Beckett: The following table shows the current number of Rent to HomeBuy providers by region.
| Region | Number of providers |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many applications for support under the Rent to Homebuy scheme have been received in each year since the scheme was established. [275575]
Margaret Beckett: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 26 March 2009, Official Report, columns 719-720W.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how much funding will be available for the Rent to Homebuy scheme in each of the next three years; [275576]
(2) how much has been spent on Rent to Homebuy in each of the last three years. [275584]
Margaret Beckett: We have not allocated specific funds in 2009-10 and 2010-11 for homebuy products, including rent to homebuy so as to allow full flexibility within the National Affordable Housing programme operated by the Homes and Communities Agency. Future estimates levels of expenditure beyond 2010-11 will be dependent upon the next spending review.
Rent to homebuy was launched in July 2008, and the provisional figure from the Homes and Communities Agency for expenditure in 2008-09 is £88 million.
Housing: Regeneration
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what events have been held as part of the Homes and Communities Agency's Single Conversation. [275581]
Margaret Beckett: From September 2008 to November 2008, the HCA implementation team ran a series of seminars which included sessions on the Single Conversation. There were a total of 10 events (nine regional and one national) in this period.
Since 1 December HCA regional teams have continued to engage with local authorities on the Single Conversation but there have been no further HCA-led events with this specific aim.
As the Single Conversation is the HCA’s main business process, whenever HCA representatives speak at events and conferences organised by other bodies, they use the opportunity to communicate with stakeholders the HCA’s approach to and progress on implementing the Single Conversation.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what the budget of the Homes and Communities Agency's Single Conversation is in 2009-10; [275582]
(2) how many local authorities have taken part in the Home and Communities Agency's Single Conversation to date. [275583]
Margaret Beckett: There is no separate budget for the delivery of the Single Conversation.
The Single Conversation is being introduced via a phased approach. The target is a Single Conversation being initiated in half of the local authorities within each region by April 2010 and with all local authorities by April 2011. To date 141 local authorities have begun initial discussions.
Guidance on the Single Conversation has been published on the 12 May and is available from the HCA website and a copy will be placed in the House of Commons Library.
Housing: Sales
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average market value of a property owned by (a) a registered social landlord and (b) a local authority sold to a tenant was in each region in each of the last five years. [273416]
Margaret Beckett [holding answer 7 May 2009]: The following table shows the average market value of local authority properties purchased under the Right to Buy scheme in England from 2003-04 to 2007-08, by region.
| Average market value(£) | |||||
| Region | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
| Source: P1B returns from Local Authorities to Communities and Local Government (CLG). | |||||
For the average market value of Registered Social Landlord properties purchased through HomeBuy schemes, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today, (PQ 272226).
The market value figures are based on the total property price, not the amount paid by the purchaser, which could be to purchase a share of the equity in the property.
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