Beckett backs greater protection for tenants

Margaret Beckett has agreed that four leading housing charities are right to ask for greater protection for tenants living in rented accommodation.

The housing minister told the BBC that the government was "taking steps" to ensure that tenants do not face homelessness if their landlord's property is repossessed.

Shelter, Citizens Advice, Crisis and the Chartered Institute of Housing have written to ministers calling on them to change the law so that courts can defer repossessions to allow tenants to find a new property.

The charities warn that the situation has become more of a problem in the recession, with increasing numbers of landlords defaulting on their mortgages despite tenants continuing to pay rent.

They estimate that over 8,000 buy-to-let properties could be repossessed this year, describing tenants are the "forgotten victims of the repossession crisis".

And Beckett vowed to take further action in the courts to ensure that people who rent are offered greater protection.

"We are really taking steps to make sure that there is greater protection," she said.

"[We] realised that this could be a problem in present circumstances.

"We've taken action through the courts to say that they shouldn't be given notice immediately."

Under government agreements with the courts, tenants should be granted at least seven to eight weeks to find a new home.

Beckett added: "But also, indirectly they benefit from the agreement we have reached with the courts, which is that magistrates and so on will look very carefully at what the lender has done and whether they have taken all the steps necessary to make sure that everything has been done to stave off a repossession if possible."

But Beckett admitted that she would have to check how tenants would be notified about repossession under the current agreement.

"Care will be taken to make sure that the tenants are notified. I think that through the court process they would be notified but no one has ever asked me that and I will have to check," she said.

The housing minister also spoke out about the controversy caused last month when she suggested the housing market was beginning to show signs of recovery.

She explained: "I got into a spot of bother for quoting the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors when I was asked for my opinion.

"I thought I was in safe territory but I should have known better.

"What is happening now is that estate agents, surveyors and so on are giving reports then things were perhaps a year ago. But no one is saying we are at the bottom of the market."

Beckett has also announced plans to allocate £170m of funding for 29 transport projects which will support the development of new housing.

The projects, paid for from the Community Infrastructure Fund, will deliver a range of new vital transport projects.

The money also aims to support 40,000 new homes to be built over the next decade.

"This funding will help to deliver new homes that we desperately need to meet long-term demand from first time buyers and families on waiting lists," said Beckett.

"We know that good transport links are vital to successful communities and these projects will unlock the potential for new housing where it is needed."