On the 13th of December the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill passed Report Stage in the House of Commons.
The Government proposed more than 20 new clauses and amendments at the instigation of backbench MPs including North Devon MP, Selaine Saxby.
This series of measures will see an abandoning of damaging, centralised mandatory housing targets, the abolition of the five year land supply requirement where a local plan is in place and an end to ‘landbanking’ – the practice developers use to sit on land they have acquired permission for while it accrues in value.
Stronger regulation of the short-term holiday lets market that has been crippling many rural communities and creating a shortage of housing for people trying to find somewhere affordable to rent. The Bill will also enable a new registration scheme for holiday lets to start to help this problem, giving local authorities tools to limit the numbers. This new clause was co-sponsored by Ms Saxby in response to the significant housing issues seen here in the south west. It also contains a clause to consult on a change of use for properties from a home to a short term holiday let. This amendment has taken many months of work between Selaine and the ministerial team.
The Bill when it receives Royal Assent will also see the doubling of council tax on second home properties that are not being used and local authorities given greater powers to promote brownfield development.
Selaine Saxby said:
“Tackling the housing crisis in North Devon is fundamental to my work as a local MP, and I turned down a job in Government so I could work to secure amendments to this legislation to start tackling this issue.
A vital amendment was secured last night following numerous meetings with ministers and colleagues. Even opposition MPs acknowledged that this amendment was a step in the right direction.
There is more to do and I already have a paper the Treasury to tackle the taxation inequalities between long term and short term lets.
Last night’s Bill also contains plans for councils to charge double council tax on second homes, and many other steps to ensure local communities have greater say in the houses they build. We need our local authority to also do more, but the legislative framework is now in place to enable them to do this.”
Hansard statements by Selaine Saxby MP during the debate (5.30pm):
“I rise to speak to new clause 119. I thank the Minister immensely for her engagement on this issue. Although she is the sixth Housing Minister I have spoken to about short-term holiday lets and second homes in my constituency, she is the first to deliver real change.
The issue in North Devon, like in many coastal communities, is acute. When I was elected to this place, Croyde was 64% second homes and short-term holiday lets. In North Devon, since the pandemic, we have lost 67% of our long-term rentals, and seen a 30% increase in property prices and a tripling of section 21 notices as people flip their long-term rentals into short-term holiday lets.
In Devon, we have worked hard to better understand what is driving some of these changes. Whereas before the pandemic we might have highlighted second homes as a particularly big issue, short-term holiday lets are now a major factor. I welcome the Minister’s changes and the caution with which they are being approached, because the unintended consequences of tinkering in this market and getting it wrong are often great.
It is not only in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities that we need changes to legislation, as the changes to landlord tax relief introduced in 2016, which came into effect in 2020, have had a monumental impact on this market. Although my work here may be nearly done, I am now lobbying other Ministers for changes to make sure we properly tackle this issue, which is multifaceted and spans many different Departments.”
“My hon. Friend and I share many similar issues.
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Newton Abbot (Anne Marie Morris) for tabling the predecessor to new clauses 22 and 23. I am also one of the rebels who signed up to new clause 21. I take the opportunity to explain that I have no issue with building houses, but we have built ahead of target in my constituency, and what is the point when they are all empty and my local residents cannot move in? We need to build homes for local people so that they can live and work in the place they were born and brought up and where we have jobs for them. We have to end coastal ghost towns.
I thank the Minister again for her time. This is a big step forward.”
