Starter homes provisions agreed with few changes, as minister admits draft regulations may be some way off

Peers had put forward 53 amendments to the starter homes provisions. However, six of the seven starter homes clauses in the draft legislation were agreed with no changes in two sessions of the committee last week.

The clause of the Bill that defines 'starter homes' was slightly amended to provide potential flexibility on the requirement for buyers to be under 40; and to require the secretary of state to consult local planning authorities (LPAs) and the mayor of London before changing price caps or allowing different price caps in different areas.

Amendments that were withdrawn or were not moved would have linked the price of starter homes to median local income; prevented them from being sold to buy-to-let investors; restricted them to under-used or unviable brownfield sites; or added a local-connection test.

Also not moved was an amendment that would have provided an exception to the new duty to promote the supply of starter homes where a LPA thought they would prevent other forms of affordable housing being built.

A recent poll published in the Guardian newspaper and conducted by the Town and Country Planning Association showed that nearly 80% of LPAs thought starter homes should not be classified as affordable housing and only 7%of LPAs thought starter homes would address the need for affordable housing in their areas.

A proposed power for the communities secretary to prevent LPAs from granting planning permission for certain types of residential development if they do not meet the starter homes requirement was also agreed without changes.

Much of the finer detail of how starter homes will be delivered will be governed by regulations. Peers have repeatedly asked for draft regulations to be produced before the Bill reaches report stage, but parliamentary undersecretary for the Department for Communities and Local Government, Baroness Williams of Trafford, said she could not undertake that regulations will be provided by that point.

Baroness Williams told the committee, however, that the government would be consulting “shortly” on certain elements of the regulations, including “resale letting restrictions”.

Planning expert Abigail Webb of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "On the one hand, it is good to see that progress has been made in the House of Lords to agree the majority of starter homes provisions contained in the Bill, but on the other, disappointing that we are still unsure when we will receive the draft regulations which will provide the detail on how starter homes will actually be provided."

"More disappointing to many will be the number of amendments that were not accepted at the Committee stage - in particular, the amendment that would remove the requirement to provide starter homes where this would prevent other forms of affordable housing coming forward," said Webb. "This is of particular concern given the results of the poll published in the Guardian newspaper that the majority of councils who took part did not think that starter homes should be classified as “affordable”. It is acknowledged from all areas of the housing industry that a variety of affordable housing tenure is required for those in need of such housing provision and many feel that starter homes do not deliver what is required."

"It will be interesting to see what will be decided by the Committee on 8 March when further amendments will be discussed, and of course we will await the draft regulations to provide the long awaited detail of starter home policy," Webb said.