HC Deb 20 February 1989 vol 147 cc484-5W
Mr. Allan Roberts

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what are his Department's plans to monitor and to publish information on a regular basis concerning(a) the level of private sector capital investment: (i) through commercial landlords; and (ii) through social landlords (x) in building new dwellings for letting and (y) in rehabilitating or converting existing property for letting under the assured tenancy or assured shorthold tenancy provisions of the Housing Act 1988, part I and (b) the rate of return on capital provided by such investment;

(2) what are his Department's plans to monitor and to publish information on a regular basis concerning the number of empty dwellings brought into letting (a) under the assured tenancy provisions and (b) under the assured shorthold tenancy provisions of the Housing Act 1988, part I, on a commercial basis (i) by non-resident landlords and (ii) by resident landlords;

(3) what are his Department's plans to monitor and to publish regular information concerning the number of properties let (a) under the assured tenancy provisions and (b) under the assured shorthold tenancy provisions of the Housing Act 1988, part I (i) by commercial landlords and (ii) by social landlords (1) through new buildings, (2) through rehabilitation or conversion of existing property, (3) through re-letting of existing property and (4) through transfers of property from the public sector;

(4) what are his Department's plans to monitor and to publish regular information concerning (a) the number of complaints (i) of harassment and (ii) of illegal eviction reported to local authorities each month (1) by private tenants whose agreement commenced before 15 January and (2) by private tenants whose agreement commenced after 15 January, (b) the number of staff employed by local authorities whose job it is to respond to such complaints: (i) as tenancy relations officers and (ii) as other officers within the council and (c) the number of actions commenced by local authorities in response to such complaints against private landlords or their agents: (i) for harassment and (ii) for illegal eviction, under the provisions of the Protection from Eviction Act, as amended by the Housing Act 1988, part I;

(5) what are his Department's plans to monitor and to publish information regularly concerning the level of rents charged (a) by commercial landlords and (b) by social landlords (i) for property newly built for letting, (ii) for property newly rehabilitated or converted for letting, (iii) for property relet and (iv) for property transferred from the public sector for letting (1) under the assured tenancy provisions and (2) under the assured shorthold tenancy provisions of the Housing Act 1988, part I.

Mr. Trippier

The need for statistics data collection and research will continue to be kept under review by our Department and results will continue to be published as they become available.

Mr. Allan Roberts

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans his Department has to monitor and to evaluate the impact on the Government's policy of promoting care in the community of the changes in succession rights introduced by the Housing Act 1988, part I, for tenants of private landlords.

Mr. Trippier

The need for research into the effects of part I of the Housing Act 1988 will be considered in the usual way as part of the Department's research programme.

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