§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list by district council area the location of Woolaway type homes eligible for refurbishment under the Housing Defects Act.
§ Mr. Mark RobinsonAccording to information provided by district councils, there are Woolaway houses in the private sector, which originated in the public sector, in the following districts: Cardiff; Cynon Valley; Islwyn; Ogwr; Rhymney Valley; Taff Ely; and Vale of Glamorgan.
§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what information he has as to why no Woolaway homes in the private sector have been refurbished;
(2) what information he has as to the costs likely to be incurred by Woolaway home owners for the refurbishment of their homes; and if he will make a statement;
703W(3) what steps he is taking to determine whether the cost limit available under the Housing Defects Act for the refurbishment of Woolaway type homes is adequate.
§ Mr. Mark RobinsonOne of the conditions for owners receiving assistance by way of reinstatement grant under the Housing Defects Act 1984 is that after reinstatement the dwelling should be likely to be mortgageable. No repair system for Woolaway homes which would be generally acceptable to lending institutions has up to now been available. I understand that PRC Homes Ltd. is likely to license such a system very shortly and has received a further four systems for consideration.
Once approved systems become available we will be monitoring the costs or reinstatement to see if the eligible expense limit is appropriate as it applies to Woolaway houses.
§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Wales what provison exists for owner-occupiers who have bought Woolaway type homes from local authorities to resell to that authority if they are unable to achieve refurbishment within the cost limits allowed; and what financial provision is made to those local authorities for such repurchase.
§ Mr. Mark RobinsonWe are prepaed to prescribe a higher eligible expense limit should it prove necessary. Should it not prove practicable to repair Woolaway houses at reasonable cost, owner-occupiers will automatically become entitled to assistance by way of repurchase under section 3(2) of the Housing Defects Act; however I expect practicable repair methods to be available soon. We have made special allocations to housing authorities in Wales to meet in full their reasonable estimates of their commitments under the Housing Defects Act in 1986–87.
§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Wales whether the PRC homes standard, applicable to all other property types specified in the Housing defects Act, will apply to the refurbishment of Woolaway type homes.
§ Mr. Mark RobinsonYes. One of the conditions for owners receiving assistance by way of reinstatment grant under the Housing Defects Act 1984 is that after reinstatement the dwelling should be likely to be mortgageable. Building socieities so far have been generally unwilling to lend on any dwelling designated under the Housing Defects Act 1984 unless it is reinstated by means of a scheme licensed by PRC Homes Ltd.
§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Wales pursuant to the answer of 19 February, Official Report, column 167, if he will place in the Library copies of the representations he has received concerning Woolaway homes.
§ Mr. Mark RobinsonNo. All the representations were unsolicited letters from private individuals and it would be inappropriate to make them available without permission from the individuals concerned.