The latest 6 monthly statement on regulations due to come into force between January and June 2015 has been released by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), including details of measures related to housebuilding, home ownership and home rental.
DCLG writes:
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
