Tag Archives: Housing Bill

Lord Monroe Palmer writes…The Government has back-pedalled and tenants have won

By Monroe Palmer | Fri 22nd April 2016 - 2:10 pm

This week the Housing Bill has continued in its long worn out path through the Lords. The Liberal Democrats have been battling to make changes to a Bill which will currently only worsen the housing crisis, reducing the availability of housing and moving the first rung of the housing ladder even further out of reach.

Across the past fortnight, facing the threat of multiple humiliating defeats at the hands of opposing peers, the Government have been forced to back pedal on a number of measures. This week they made a significant concession on protections for tenants at the hands of rogue letting agents. An amendment with my name on it had been put forward which ensured that money belonging to tenants for use as holding fees, deposits, rent, or service charges by letting agents, was protected.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged housing | Leave a comment

LGA finally agrees a common line on Housing Bill

By Chris White | Sun 24th January 2016 - 10:15 am

It’s never easy doing politics in the Local Government Association. Some commentators carelessly say that it is ‘Conservative-controlled’ because the Chairman, elected under carefully balanced internal horse-trading rules, is at the moment a Conservative.

But in reality it is a perpetual coalition, with each of the four political groups having a veto on the association’s public stance. This applies to any issue and to any press release.

So it is good to see that the LGA has now published a statement on the Housing and Planning Bill, even if the …