Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Housing
Richard Best (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords all around the House for supporting Amendment 1 in my name. The noble Lord, Lord Shipley, proposed the alternative of the discount remaining at 20% in perpetuity. That admirable idea would moderate the generosity of the measure and ensure that the public benefit from this big discount lasted for very much longer—indeed, for ever. However, there are some technical difficulties with it. You would need to have a valuation each time anyone sold the property to see what the 20% represented a percentage of and you would need someone to police who is buying to determine whether they are a genuine first-time buyer and so on. These properties will be dotted around all over the place. A lot of complexity could be involved in that alternative, although in principle it is sensible The noble Lord, Lord Beecham, pointed out that housebuilders may sell their properties for rather more, knowing that buyers can pay rather more because they are getting a big discount. He raised a lot of interesting questions. I am afraid that starter homes are still a step into the unknown. This is the hazard that we face in debating them. The noble Lord, Lord Taylor of Goss Moor, applauded the Government’s ambitions to increase the number of homes being built and to help first-time buyers, as we all do. He liked the in-perpetuity arrangements but he was also very much in favour of Amendment 1 and felt that anything that discouraged short-term, speculative use of a discount would have a distorting effect on the market and should not be there I am grateful indeed for an economist supporting Amendment 1. The noble Lord, Lord Horam, welcomed the starter homes initiative in principle, as nearly all of us do, but felt that it could be improved. He greatly welcomed the idea of there being a payback over a period of years once people moved out and moved on. The noble Baroness, Lady Warwick, was equally supportive and the right reverend Prelate gave the House a very practical illustration of a family with five children. Even in the most affluent of households, finding the deposit for five children to buy would be a pretty uphill struggle. Starter homes, as a way of helping people who will not be able to get hold of a deposit, will be a useful addition, but the right reverend Prelate felt that securing the public benefit for as long as possible—which Amendment 1 achieves—would be useful. The noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Dillington, talked about the transience of an arrangement where, after five—or possibly eight—years, all the benefits are lost to the wider public. That is what the amendment seeks to avoid I am grateful to the Minister, who mentioned that she has been listening. She has, indeed, been an absolute model of courtesy, patience and helpfulness throughout Committee and I know there will be amendments to come. She already concedes that the initial proposition, which is that people who buy a starter home get nothing back in the first five years of occupation and after that time collect the whole of the average of £43,000—possibly over £100,000 in London—was not a very helpful way of doing things. Instead, the Government are likely to go for a taper so that one keeps a proportion each year. However, that taper would run out after eight years, whereas Amendment 1 proposes that the public benefit is retained for 20 years, with the occupier getting more and more of the benefit the longer they stay there The Minister hoped that I would not wish to test the opinion of the House on this. I am clearly reluctant to do so when she has been a listening Minister throughout this process. We have the assurance that secondary legislation, after further consultation, may produce regulations that take us further in the right direction, but this is only in prospect for the future. Only by putting things on the face of the Bill can we, ultimately, be sure that they will happen. So, with a slightly heavy heart, I would like to test the opinion of the House.