British Property Federation response to Housing Secretary’s housing market plan

Ian Fletcher, a Director of the British Property Federation, responds to the announcement of the Housing Secretary’s housing market plan.

The Government has set out its plan to re-start the housing market: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/housing-secretary-sets-out-plan-to-re-start-housing-market

Ian Fletcher, Director of Real Estate Policy, British Property Federation, comments:

“Lettings are the lifeblood of the housing market – our build-to-rent members have seen a steady stream of interest during lockdown, but have been unable to facilitate moves. With over 33,000 new build-to-rent homes currently under construction it will come as a relief that these can now be occupied as they complete and the sector’s customers can think about settling into their new homes, providing moves fully respect social distancing.”

On construction working hours:

“Some construction work has managed to continue during lockdown but in ensuring social distancing guidelines are followed, the sector is experiencing far lower productivity than normal. Agreeing changes to working hours during extended daylight will help the sector cope better with increasing productivity and keeping employees safe, and this will protect more jobs. We hope the public will be understanding of the need to do this and that those managing construction sites will work with local councils to make responsible use of this flexibility.”

On Community Infrastructure Levy payment deferral:

“Businesses are struggling with cashflow as they pay for things, but are not bringing in income. We await further details on what the Government means by ‘smaller developers’ for the purposes of CIL payment deferral, but it’s positive to see builders receive this help to get back to building the homes that the country needs. CIL helps to pay for the critical infrastructure that makes places and development acceptable to communities, and this is not about escaping those payments, but a temporary deferment.”

On planning notices:

“This helps to provide clarity on one of the issues that helps oil the wheels of the planning system – giving notice to the local community that applications have been made. Over the past few weeks applicants and local councils have improvised, but that is not ideal and allowing the use of social media will give comfort to applicants and council staff that the right thing is being done.”

Kindly shared by British Property Federation (BPF)