New reforms cut red tape for house builders and tenants
New reforms to reduce bureaucracy for house builders and measures to protect tenants introduced in the latest Statement of New Regulation.
Measures to reduce unnecessary and confusing red tape for house builders and reforms to help protect tenants have been announced by Communities Minister Lord Tariq Ahmad in the department’s latest 6 monthly Statement of new regulation.
The Statement published today details all regulations, including EU measures, which are expected to come into force between 1 January and 30 June 2015, as well as all regulations removed - including under the government’s one-in, two-out rule and the Red Tape Challenge.
Measures which will save business £100 million per year or implement better regulation on business include:
- the Review of Local Technical Housing Standards estimated to save developers and councils £96 million per year when fully implemented whilst ensuring that homes are still built to demanding quality, access and sustainability standards
- reforms to the neighbourhood planning process will make it much faster for communities to start the process
- there will be a reduction in the qualifying time for Right to Buy from 5 to 3 years, allowing social housing tenants to become homeowners in a far shorter period of time
- letting agents will now be required to display their fees at their premises and on their website, with a description of what each fee covers
- in addition the list must also include whether they are a member of a client money protection scheme and which redress scheme they are a member of - transparency for letting agents will enable landlords and tenants to shop around, encouraging competition between agents on fee levels - those agents with the best value services will prevail in the market
Communities Minister Lord Tariq Ahmad said:
I am delighted with the progress the department has made in slashing red tape and saving business money, especially the Housing Standards Review estimated to save business around £100 million per year.
It is important to recognise the achievements of not only deregulation but better regulation which will provide great benefits to businesses and individual citizens. My department will reduce the time to qualify for Right to Buy and enhance the transparency of letting agents’ fees. However, there is still more to be done and in 2015 DCLG will continue to deliver further reforms to cut red tape, save business money and promote economic growth.
Further information
The ninth statement of new regulation is a forward look of all regulations in scope of government’s ‘one-in, two-out’ system (including deregulatory measures) that are scheduled to come into force between 1 January and 30 June 2015.
The statement is published every 6 months to give business an indication of when regulations, which will impact upon them, will come into effect. It also provides an overview of the net costs and benefits to business and civil society organisations.
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