The Queen made her speech on 11th May, 2021 regarding the different rules and measures that will be decided on later in the year, this was the Queens first speech since the passing of Prince Philip. The changes are:
LIFETIME DEPOSIT:
Before you move into a rented property you will need to pay a deposit to be held by the DPS scheme usually the DPS will give this back to you once you move out the property after six weeks. With the new lifetime deposit scheme if you wanted it will not be given back to you but transferred onto your new rental property without any hassle of you having to save up for a new deposit while waiting to get your deposit back from the DPS.
HOUSING:
A new long waited planning bill will introduce changes to the Planning System in England, including a controversial zoning system. New homes, schools and hospitals should be developed more quickly and efficiently under government plans. The Planning Bill is designed to create a simpler, faster and more modern planning system to replace the current one dating back to the post-Second World War era of 1947.
A new system for regulating the safety of high-rise buildings, and inspecting construction sited, will be set out in the Building Safety Bill. The Building Safety Bill will ensure that the Grenfell tragedies of the past are never repeated.
Grenfell United said: “We have been deeply let down by the government excluding the Social Housing White Paper from the Queens speech. Ministers have missed a massive opportunity to help right some wrongs for social housing tenants across the country. We have waited long enough for change, we are just a month away from the fourth anniversary of Grenfell fire. Ministers must remember how neglect of tenants had contributed to the catastrophe that killed 72 of our loved ones and neighbours, and commit to doing the right thing.”
EDUCATION:
A Skills and Post-16 Education Bill will introduce a new “flexible loan” system designed to promote wider particapation in further education in England.
A Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill will place new legal duties on students unions and universities in England to ensure free speech on campus.
SECTION 21:
Landlords can issue a Section 21 notice to their tenants without a valid reason outside of rental contracts, giving them just eight weeks notice to find a deposit and move out, but the government could ban these after a consultation in 2019. A decision of the Section 21 ban will be made later this year.
ENVIRONMENT AND ANIMAL WELFARE:
The Environment Bill whose passage through Parliament has repeatedly been delayed, will introduce new Post-Brexit rules on protecting nature.
A trio of bills on animal welfare will ban the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter, and bring in mandatory microchipping for cats.
REFORM GROUND RENT:
People in residential long leases will pay no ground rent, other than a fixed ‘peppercorn’ amount which would protect homeowners from escalating fees. It will ban ground rent for leasehold flat owners making them pay just a ‘peppercorn’ each year and ban it from rising above the ‘peppercorn ‘amount. Under new rules also being proposed, millions of leaseholders in England will be given the right to extend their lease by up to 990 years at zero ground rent, in a government bid to make leasehold home ownership fairer and more secure also all new retirement properties will be sold without a ground rent.
The Queen said in her speech: “My Government will help more people to own their own home whilst enhancing the rights of those who rent. Laws to modernise the planning system, so that more homes can be built, will be brought forward, along with measures to end the practice of ground rents for new leasehold properties. My minsters will establish in law a new building safety regulator to ensure that the tragedies of the past are never repeated.”
