Houses in Multiple Occupation Bill: Final Stage

Executive Committee Business – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 4:45 pm on 15 March 2016.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lord Maurice Morrow Lord Maurice Morrow DUP 4:45, 15 March 2016

I beg to move

That the Houses in Multiple Occupation Bill [NIA 60/11-16] do now pass.

I welcome this further opportunity to speak about my Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) Bill, which consists of 91 clauses and eight schedules and is significant and necessary legislation.

A new HMO definition and associated exceptions now provide clarification of what is or is not to be classed as an HMO. The provisions will enable better regulation of houses in multiple occupation and is designed to better protect tenants by ensuring that landlords and managing agents meet important obligations on the quality and safety of HMO accommodation. Before I move on to highlight briefly the Bill's elements, I thank the Chair and members of the Social Development Committee, who have taken considerable care in scrutinising its provisions, which has helped to strengthen and improve the Bill. I tabled a number of amendments that were passed at previous stages, and I am grateful to Members for supporting them.

Houses in multiple occupation are the only housing option for many people, so it is vital that they are properly regulated. The higher risks of living in an HMO mean that they are subjected to a higher level of regulation than other rented housing.

I wish briefly to mention some of the main provisions of the Bill. First, it will introduce a mandatory licensing scheme that will ensure higher physical and management standards for HMO accommodation. That means that landlords will be required to obtain a licence before an HMO can be operated. To obtain a licence, planning permission will have to be in place, which will address the future risks of HMO over-provision.

The introduction of a statutory fit-and-proper-person test requirement is an important step that will ensure that people who are unsuitable to hold a licence and operate an HMO are identified at the earliest opportunity and prevented from doing so.

I fully recognise the importance of linking HMO regulation with other critical government functions, such as planning, building control and environmental health, which is the reason why this new scheme will transfer responsibility for regulating HMOs to councils. I am determined to maximise all opportunities to improve the quality of the private rented sector, and, as council environmental health departments already lead on all other aspects of regulation of the private rented sector, the future operation of this new regulatory scheme by councils will sit neatly with those functions. The new regulatory approach includes a new power to open statutory information-sharing gateways with a number of government and non-government organisations and bodies. Those gateways will provide for relevant information to be sent from appropriate sources to assist in the identification and regulation of HMOs.

The greater and more comprehensive enforcement powers in the Bill will ensure that deviations from the licensing system are penalised in a timely and proportionate manner and give councils the power to take immediate actions against those who flout the law. The use of fixed penalty notices will avoid the need to proceed directly to court action for lesser offences, allowing councils to enforce speedily, appropriately and cost-effectively, with benefits for councils and occupiers.

I believe that my approach to the availability of information from the HMO register, which allows an extract to be provided following a genuine request for information, ensures that an appropriate balance is struck between the public interest and the safety and security of landlords and their families.

Members will be aware of the impending relocation of the University of Ulster campus at Jordanstown to Belfast, which is expected to lead to greater demand for HMO accommodation. It is therefore more important than ever to create safeguards so that HMOs are properly regulated. The new regulatory approach will ensure that landlords and managing agents renting out properties have a legal responsibility to the tenants to keep flats and houses safe and well maintained.

Guidance for landlords will include model tenancy agreements that specify and outline acceptable tenant behaviour and detail tenant activities or practices that a landlord would not consider tolerable. Landlords will be encouraged to ensure that tenants are aware of their responsibilities and any possible consequences should they breach the conditions. My Department will publish a code of practice and comprehensive guidance for the licensing scheme to help councils and landlords to meet the requirements of the regulations.

Numerous stakeholders were closely involved in the development of the Bill. I thank them all for their contributions. I believe that there is a need for this new Bill and the proposals that it provides, and I am confident that they will be well received by the relevant stakeholders. On that basis, I hope that all parties can give the Bill their full support. I commend the Bill to the Assembly.

Photo of Alex Maskey Alex Maskey Sinn Féin

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. On behalf of the Committee for Social Development, I welcome the Final Stage of the Bill. I thank the Minister for bringing the Bill to this point. It was evident throughout the previous stages of the Bill that it has been welcomed by the entire House. That reflects the recognition that its provisions are seen as a good step forward to improve standards in HMOs and, ultimately, to protect and improve the health and safety of tenants in that type of accommodation. It is refreshing, as Chair of the Committee, to note the responsive approach taken by the Minister and his Department to suggestions made by the Committee and stakeholders to enhance the Bill. That shows what can be achieved in a relatively short period, even when a Bill is as long and complex as this one.

Of course, we cannot expect changes overnight, and, as noted in the Committee’s report, there are still matters to be worked out with stakeholders, particularly with councils, on how the Bill will be implemented. To that end, I am sure that the Committee for Communities will have a keen interest in any secondary legislation pertinent to the Bill, as well as the accompanying guidance produced by the new Department.

A Bill can make no difference unless it is properly enforced, and I welcome the Minister’s commitment at Consideration Stage to ensure that councils are sufficiently resourced to ensure that that happens. As the Minister is aware, the Committee for Social Development took a keen interest in housing issues throughout the mandate. Proposals emanating from the review and role of the private rented sector and, particularly, the social housing reform programme, have the potential to reshape housing. Similarly, the report from the housing supply forum made recommendations that will have to be considered in detail but which should inform how we meet housing need across all tenures and, in so doing, contribute to economic growth. In short, housing will be a key issue for the new Department and the new Committee in the next mandate.

In closing as Chairperson, I thank my Committee colleagues for their contribution to the scrutiny of the Bill and to departmental and Committee officials who worked collaboratively to ensure that we reached this stage. I thank those stakeholders, particularly residents' organisations and housing rights experts, who gave evidence to the Committee and helped to shape our thinking. I say to the House, without hesitation, that the Committee for Social Development supports the Bill at Final Stage. I will now make a few remarks as an MLA.

On behalf of Sinn Féin, I thank the Minister and his Department for bringing this legislation forward. As has been said, it is a lengthy and complex Bill, and there has been a great deal of deliberation on it. The Committee, my party colleagues Fra McCann, Phil Flanagan and myself were struck by the strength and passion of evidence given, particularly from residents of areas such as the Holylands, which have suffered a lot over the last few years from the non-regulation of the sector. The over-provision of HMOs in residential areas completely skewed the character of those areas and led to difficulties for residents that remain today. We welcome the Bill, as it considerably enhances the health and safety, well-being and overall management of HMOs; it will certainly bring much more accountability to landlords. Although many landlords have been very responsible, some have been much less so, and the Bill enables us to hold them to account. Hopefully, that will be done in a spirit of cooperation; we want to ensure that the sector is well regulated so that it provides much needed accommodation in a healthy environment.

On that note, on behalf of Sinn Féin, I thank the Minister and his Department. I want to make one final point to residents, many of whom may have thought that the Bill would be a vehicle for restricting the provision of HMOs in any given area. However, that is outside the scope of this legislation, and we look forward to planning how we would restrict the provision of HMOs in a residential area. While HMO accommodation will continue to play an important role, it cannot ruin residential areas, which can be completely undermined by the provision of too much of this type of accommodation.

Photo of Paula Bradley Paula Bradley DUP 5:00, 15 March 2016

I welcome the opportunity to take part in the Final Stage of the Houses in Multiple Occupation Bill. I do not intend to repeat what the Chair has so eloquently said about the Committee and our findings, and I intend to keep my comments brief, so I will just say that I agree with him on many points. I thank the Minister and the Department. The Committee raised various concerns during our deliberations on the Bill, and the Department and the Minister listened to those concerns and brought back amendments.

I agree with the Chair that it may not be perfection, but I believe that it will go some way in supporting people who live in HMOs.

I said before in the Chamber that HMOs are an important part of many of our communities. At one stage, they were very much city-focused, but, across the entirety of our country, we see more and more that HMOs are being used in many of our towns, cities and, indeed, villages. We have an ever-changing demographic in Northern Ireland. It is a good thing that we have those changing demographics, but there are people, many of whom are vulnerable, who require to live in houses of multiple occupation. It is hoped that the Bill will go some way to protecting not only the tenants and landlords but the communities. I remember from our Committee witness sessions the communities in which a lot of the HMOs are based. I know that, in Belfast, they seem to be based within certain areas. It has caused problems within communities, so, I hope that the Bill will go some way to supporting that.

Again, I thank the Minister and the Committee, and I thank the Chair for his support during the Bill's progress and for chairing the meetings in a very fair and amicable way.

Photo of Roy Beggs Roy Beggs UUP

I too indicate my continuing support for this Bill on governing houses in multiple occupation. It is clear that there is a higher risk associated with them. I declare an interest in that my son, who is a student, is in a house that, I believe, will be coming under this legislation at some point in the future.

We think of houses in multiple occupation as largely being student accommodation, but it can be wider than that. It is important that there is this regulation to safeguard those who are living in such houses and to ensure that basic requirements are met in fire safety, access and electrical safety, because, when there are many resident tenants in a building, there is a danger that no one will take the lead role in looking after issues of danger. So, it is important that landlords have a role in that and that the design of the property is appropriate from the outset. So, I think that the legislation is needed, with licensing and the fit and proper person requirement for those who are providing housing for tenants. I agree with that concept.

The regulation should also help to improve things and drive up standards. One of the benefits that I have gained through the evidence to the Committee is the clarity that was given by some of the estate agents on the clear difference between a letting agent and a managing agent. Tenants whom I have worked with in my constituency — those who have been seeking help with their landlord — and I had not picked up the distinction between the two. We all thought that some were responsible for the management of a property when, in fact, they had merely let it out for the first month and had not been given any subsequent role by the landlord. The legislation clarifies that the responsibility falls, still, with the landlord or, alternatively, with a managing agent, if someone is named as such. So, it becomes clearer who is responsible for bringing about improvements.

Photo of Kieran McCarthy Kieran McCarthy Alliance

I thank the Member for giving way. Does the Member agree that had my apartments Bill of 2011 gone through the Assembly, we would have been further on in relation to what we are talking about and what the Minister has brought to the Assembly this evening?

Photo of Roy Beggs Roy Beggs UUP

You may well be right. I have come across difficulties with regard to apartment buildings and the management of them. It may have assisted. I am pleased that this legislation is at its Final Stage. It should help tenants in the future.

I think that the legislation has ended up with a degree of balance. It is important that details of who the landlord or the managing agent is are available to tenants, but concerns were expressed in the evidence that was given to us about how that information could be used and abused. Clearly, appropriate information would be given to tenants so that they would know who their landlord or managing agent was. I think that, with the information given to the Committee, we have reached a reasonable balance between trying to protect the rights of the tenant as well as the rights of the landlord who looks after such buildings.

I think it is important to look at some of the powers that are coming in with this. Fixed penalty notices were mentioned. Again, that is a mechanism that I think is badly needed to try to bring about improvements because, with very little cost to bureaucracy or without any court time, it is possible for remedies to occur, failures to be highlighted and hopefully, at that point, for them to be quickly remedied without recourse to any other more expensive processes. When you look at some of the guidance in it, you see that there is the potential for hearings. There is also provision to apply notices that specify works so that, when essential improvements are needed, there is a power to specify that, and, hopefully, again it will be improved quickly.

All in all, I think the legislation is timely. It is needed, and it is badly needed. There has been constructive engagement between the Committee, stakeholders who presented evidence to us and the Department to produce legislation that will bring about betterment in our community. I continue to support the Bill.

Photo of Fra McCann Fra McCann Sinn Féin

Go raibh míle maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I will start by wishing you well, especially as this is your last event in the Assembly. I believe I have got to know you well over a number of years. At different times, you have given me some good advice on how to behave within the Chamber. I wish you well for the future.

This has been like a love-in all day. I thank the Minister for bringing this legislation to the House. It is an important piece of legislation. I believe that, in my time here dealing with legislation of this type, this has probably been one of the better pieces that has gone through the Committee, especially because of the way that the Department so readily worked with the Committee to take on board many of its concerns and those of the people who came in front of the Committee to make theirs known.

One of the things I would like to say is that there have been, in the past, a number of attempts to try to bring in legislation that would bring some controls over the sector. They have not added up to much. I believe we may have a piece of legislation here that will go along that way. Like Alex, I was concerned that we did not get into the nitty-gritty of looking at where the number of houses of multiple occupation could be controlled in streets and areas. We have seen in our own communities where not only HMOs but the private rented sector has tipped the balance in removing the residential nature of communities.

I hope that the legislation goes a long way to help that and that whoever comes back in the next mandate can review it and add to what can be a strengthened Bill to help people in the future. Again, I wish people well.

Photo of Lord Maurice Morrow Lord Maurice Morrow DUP

I thank all the Members for their contributions. What has been clear, not just today but throughout the passage of the Bill, are the supportive, positive remarks for the introduction of this important piece of housing legislation. I just want to say that it appears and has come across very clearly that the House is in general support. Some Members are more enthusiastic than others; nevertheless it has all been supportive. I regret that Kieran McCarthy found that he was not just as enthusiastic, but he comes at it from another angle.

I want to say a wee bit more about his departure in a moment or two because I do not think that it would be right to let him go without saying something to him.

In relation to this matter, I am pleased to introduce the new mandatory licensing scheme, which builds on good practice from other parts of the United Kingdom. Key stakeholders have been calling for the introduction of a statutory licensing scheme, and the Assembly is now delivering in that respect. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, the Bill will enable better, more robust regulation of HMOs, with the necessary powers for councils to help improve the standard of all HMOs, improve living conditions and respond to concerns raised by residents living near them.

With the passing of the Bill, district councils will, thereafter, need some time to complete the preparations necessary to administer the new scheme. Therefore, the main provisions of the Bill will come into operation on a date appointed in an order made by the Department following liaison and agreement with councils. A stakeholder group has been set up to take forward the transfer of the HMO regulatory scheme to councils. I want to reassure Members that my Department will provide the support and funding required for councils to operate the HMO function effectively.

To conclude, I express my appreciation to the Committee for Social Development and to Members for their positive contribution to the progress of this Bill and for the high level of consensus that the Bill has enjoyed. I commend the Bill to the House.

Before I sit down, as this will be my last opportunity to speak in this mandate, I wish all those who are leaving the Assembly voluntarily, or those who might leave through enforcement or whatever their exit strategy is, well. I thank them for their assistance and cooperation during my short term as Minister for Social Development. I wish Mr McCarthy well in particular because I think that he goes out slightly aggrieved in relation to the HMO Bill, in that he came forward with proposals at an earlier date, and he felt that those should have been adopted. I say to him that maybe something better is in place, but those who are coming back will not forget you, Kieran, in this Assembly.

To you, Deputy Speaker, this place will not seem the same without you, but since nothing stays the same forever and change must come and you go along with that change, I genuinely wish you a long, full, happy, contented retirement. I understand that you take a great interest in driving your Morris Minor. May that Morris Minor go long distances, and may the fuel keep low in cost to keep you travelling round. Enjoy your retirement.

I have to close on a sad note. It would be absolutely remiss of me if I did not come to the situation that we have just learned about today of the passing of Adrian Ismay, the prison officer who was, I call it, murdered. It is a sad reflection on society, and it is most unfortunate that, on the day that this Assembly shuts for its last call, we have to stand here and say it, but I want to extend my sincere and heartfelt sympathy to that family as they grieve tonight over the passing of someone who was so near and dear to them. My heart goes out to them today. I regret very much what has happened. It should not have happened, but I trust that those who carried it out will soon be brought before the courts of justice to answer for their dreadful deeds.

Photo of John Dallat John Dallat Social Democratic and Labour Party 5:15, 15 March 2016

Thank you for your kind words. I am sorry, Lord Morrow, that you have to end on that note, but I am sure that the whole House concurs with you and sends its love and affection to that family so horribly hurt in that dreadful murder.

Question put and agreed to. Resolved:

That the Houses in Multiple Occupation Bill [NIA 60/11-16] do now pass.