Will political turmoil derail housing reform?

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The Conservative Government had set-out its agenda on housing reform, but that’s now under threat or delay because of a political vacuum in Westminster.

The housing minister Stuart Andrew MP, a landlord himself, was only appointed in February this year after Chris Pincher’s departure after just two years in the job. Now Andrew has left having resigned alongside 60 MPs, all members of Boris Johnson’s government – the housing minister’s exit went past most of us almost unnoticed.

A sign of the disarray that threatens housing and planning policy in England & Wales, two other housing department ministers have also left, followed closely by the sacking by Boris Johnson of their overall boss, and architect of a possible solution to the cladding scandal – Michael Gove.

Greg Clark was quickly appointment as Gove’s successor, making him the fifth housing secretary in 5 years, and the latest housing minister, Marcus Jones, represents housing minister number 12 in thirteen years.

What does all this say about the priority being given to housing?

A housing sector in crisis according to many, and indeed with that falls the Government’s flagship levelling up initiative? How can we expect any sort of continuity for the myriad of policy changes, many crucial ongoing issues facing housing, landlords and tenants, leaseholders and builders, when so many have such short tenures or jump ship?

There’s much legislation under preparation including the Building Safety Act, the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, the Renters Reform Bill, a Social Housing Regulation Bill and promised leasehold reforms, all of which are likely to receive scant attention while the Government navigates the summer without a fill-time leader.

It’s unlikely any important decisions will be made until a new leader in the Conservative party, a new PM, gets his or her feet under the Downing Street table. It’s even more likely that last minute changes of emphasis will come about as the government deals with more pressing short-term affordability issues.

A matter of priorities

With a Government now faced with post Brexit economic challenges, a wall of debt following Covid borrowing, NHS, illegal immigration, education and defence issues, how far down the list of priorities will some of the thorny problems affecting housing come?

How much does the Government really care about housing policy: landlords, tenants, first-time buyers, and those long suffering tower block leaseholders with massive service charge debts round their neck as a result of faulty cladding and building defects?

Under its new labyrinthine title, “The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities,” designed to covey and bolster the Government’s flagship election policy, of which housing must be a key element, the many years of short staff tenures in the department does not bode well, the pattern appears to be embedded.

Apparently, there’s only one junior minister remained in DLUHC following the spate of resignations, resulting in the Government recently having to postpone a key debate in the Common on the levelling-up bill.

Until the department is re-staffed and back up to full speed, and that looks like being well after the new Prime Minister is in post after September, further delays to these planned and important legislative changes are inevitable.

Bills could be lost

The result could even be that some of the bills will be lost altogether, though it’s unlikely the Government under a new leader would want too many U-turns. More likely that there could be changes, or aspects of the legislation that are quietly dropped, something that no doubt many landlords would be happy to see. But it brings painful uncertainty for many leaseholders.

It is thought that the Renters Reform Bill, currently just a white paper, is unlikely to get knocked back given the political high profile it engenders, particularly the proposed abolition of the section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions process, though without more determined direction in the department, bringing it to fruition could be a torturous path.

Once the party leadership is decided, there will likely be a major reshuffle, which could set things in motion again pretty quickly, but reform of the private rented sector (PRS) is not something the private landlord is looking forward to with relish.

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