Some of the housing measures in the Bill were substantially amended on Report with further amendments at Third Reading. Several non-Government amendments and new clauses were added, including:

a requirement that the 20% discount on Starter Homes be repaid over a period of 20 years (reduced by 1% for each year of occupation);

a provision to give local authorities the power to determine the proportion of Starter Homes to be built on any particular development;

provisions to require determinations (in respect of higher value vacant council housing) affecting more than one local authority to be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure, and also to make the definition of higher value housing subject to parliamentary approval;

provision to enable local authorities, where they can demonstrate a need, to retain receipts from council house sales to fund the provision of a property of similar type to the one sold;

provision to give local authorities discretion over the levels of rent they would want to charge tenants with high incomes;

provision to limit rent increases for higher income tenants to no more than 10p for each pound of income above the minimum income threshold (the Government is seeking to apply a taper rate of 20p in the pound);

and

provision to set the minimum income thresholds for ‘pay to stay’ at £50,000 in London and £40,000 outside of London (the Government is seeking to set the minimum thresholds at £31,000 and £40,000 respectively).
Government amendments included:

a provision putting on the face of the Bill a requirement to ensure that where the Government make an agreement with a local authority outside London about building new homes, at least one new affordable home is provided for each dwelling that is assumed to be sold;

provision to allow regulations to exempt households in receipt of Housing Benefit and Universal Credit from the ‘pay to stay’ policy;

and

provision to enable local authorities to grant longer-term tenancies of up to 10 years in certain circumstances with potential for longer tenancies for families with children.

In relation to the part of the Bill on planning in England, a number of non-Government amendments and new clauses were added. These related to:

a new clause providing for a neighbourhood right of appeal;

an amendment to restrict permission in principle to housing-led developments only;

provision to allow local authorities to require section 106 affordable housing contributions from certain small-scale developments;

and

a new clause to incentivise the use of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) by ending the automatic right to connect to conventional drainage.

At both Report stage and Third Reading a number of Government and Government-supported amendments were made on the planning provisions, which included:

provision to enable the Secretary of State to prepare a local plan for a local planning authority and to direct that it is brought into effect;

explicitly excluding fracking development from being capable of being granted permission in principle;

putting on the face of the Bill the qualifying documents capable of granting permission in principle and setting a duration for it;

enabling local planning authorities to revoke or to modify permission in principle granted;

a new clause to allow the Secretary of State to grant planning freedoms to local authorities to facilitate new housing;

making clearer on the face of the Bill the Government’s intentions in its pilot schemes for competition in the processing of planning applications.

A new non-Government clause was also added on Report introducing a “carbon compliance standard for new homes”. This would require the Government to put in place regulations for a carbon compliance standard for new homes built from 1 April 2018.”

Commons Briefing papers CBP-7562
Authors: Wendy Wilson; Louise Smith