Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation and Liability for Housing Standards) Bill

I thank my hon. Friend for promoting this private Member’s Bill. Morally, we know that we must ta...

My hon. Friend is a mind reader because I was coming to that very point. There is plenty of evide...

I congratulate the hon. Lady on introducing this Bill and I assure her of our support. She mentio...

I absolutely do. The vast majority of landlords act responsibly towards their tenants, and they h...

I welcome this Bill. Everyone should have the right to live in a home that is fit for habitation,...

My hon. Friend will not be surprised to know that, as chair of the all-party group on legal aid, ...

All of us, and our constituents, owe a debt of gratitude to my hon. Friend for promoting this Bil...

We expect that tenants whose conditions meet the criteria equivalent to disrepair would be able s...

Will the hon. Lady pay tribute to Citizens Advice for its role in assisting 144 families with hou...

I join the hon. Lady unequivocally in paying tribute to Citizens Advice. It supports the Bill and...

The hon. Lady is being generous in giving way. I strongly support the Bill. She made an important...

There are a number of issues in respect of supporting tenants that are outwith the scope of the B...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on her Bill. On the role of local authorities, does she welcome, as...

I do, although that issue is also outwith the scope of the Bill. The Bill proposes one important ...

I thank the hon. Lady for making a strong case on an issue about which she is very passionate. Is...

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. That is one of the purposes of the Bill. Social council tenant...

Many tenants who are in temporary accommodation with private landlords have been placed there by ...

My experience of temporary accommodation is that it includes some of the worst conditions that I ...

I welcome this important Bill and the hon. Lady’s tenacious work on the issue. When I was a priva...

How do I answer that? I thank the hon. Gentleman for his and the Government’s support.

May ...

I too would like to congratulate the hon. Member for Westminster North (Ms Buck) on introducing t...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful point. Does she agree that if these excellent new measures ar...

My hon. Friend is right. We must help to empower those vulnerable tenants, because legislation wi...

May I ask the hon. Lady a question that I asked the hon. Member for Westminster North (Ms Buck)? ...

Indeed. Much more can be done to persuade and encourage local authorities to enforce their role. ...

Is it not important for the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and ...

I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman, and I will explain why shortly.

Local authorities h...

I understand the point that the hon. Lady is making about local authorities’ powers. However, as ...

The hon. Gentleman is right: local authorities’ powers are not being enforced, and there is a rea...

The hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western) said that authorities needed more resou...

I am delighted to hear that Torbay is using these powers, and I urge my local authority, Telford ...

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for being so generous in giving way. May I gently say to her that ...

The hon. Lady is right. The objective of selective licensing is to bring in more funds. However, ...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I want to make one more point, but I may give way to the right hon. Gentleman later.

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No. The hon. Lady has already had her intervention.

More powers will come into effect in Ap...

Order. Has the hon. Lady completed her speech?

I have, Mr Speaker.

We are immensely grateful to the hon. Lady.

Is the hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr...

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Westminster North (Ms Buck). I know that she has lon...

It is important that the House understands that our predecessors have tried to act on this: this ...

Yes, there is a history; the history is that we have not got it right, and that is what we are tr...

I recently submitted a freedom of information request to local authorities in London to see how m...

This is a problem: we are certainly getting a lot of evidence to that effect, and we are having o...

I join others in wishing you, Mr Speaker, a very happy birthday and in thanking you for sitting i...

I want to draw the hon. Gentleman’s attention to the evidence that the Select Committee heard las...

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. When we look at the percentages of properties that ar...

My hon. Friend is making a really important point about where the onus of responsibility lies. Do...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. One of the concerns has to be that, when we empower ...

We see the accommodation that the hon. Gentleman describes in back gardens alongside the train li...

The hon. Gentleman reminds me of when I was at university in Liverpool. We all suffered appalling...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there are problems in local authority housing stock when local...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. Clearly, local authorities that choose to outso...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for being so generous in giving way again. In my local authority, I un...

We all recognise the clear pressures on local authority budgets, but the key issue is that it is ...

I commend my hon. Friend for introducing the 2017 Act, under which money has been made available ...

When I got my Act through, the Government were generous and produced some £83 million to support ...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the 2017 Act is still not being enforced in many cases? At Chr...

The hon. Gentleman and I would agree that we clearly need to ramp up activity and funding and giv...

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I just confirm something? We only have 23 minutes ...

There will be a statement at 11 o’clock, but the debate will not conclude then.

For the hon. Gentleman’s information, I am coming to the end of my speech. I am very supportive o...

It is a pleasure to follow my near north-west London neighbour in one direction, the hon. Member ...

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate and to follow some fantastic and informative contributio...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the fact tenants will be able to receive damages is a huge improve...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. This Bill not only gives the power to hold landlords to accou...

I wish to pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Westminster North (Ms Buck) for introducin...

I join colleagues from across the House in congratulating the hon. Member for Westminster North (...

The hon. Gentleman missed out one regulation from his list—the one on minimum energy efficiency s...

The right hon. Gentleman knows that he and I are fellow travellers in our enthusiasm for home ene...

That is extraordinarily considerate, and characteristically so of the hon. Gentleman, in time for...