Housing secretary James Brokenshire has revealed more measures and updates to previously announced policies, adding to his speech last week at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s annual conference and defending his ministry’s house building record.

These include an update to his plans to reform Section 21 ‘no fault evictions’ and proposals for a new homes sales ombudsman and new money to build 19 new garden villages around the UK.

“Last year more homes were provided than in all but one of the last 31 years”, but many commentators say that the target of 300,00 a year has not yet been met and is unlikely to be met,” he says.

“The government will be providing £2.85 million to support the development of 19 new garden villages – from County Durham in the North to Truro with the potential to deliver 73,554 homes.”

Evictions update

Brokenshire also confirmed that he is to begin consulting on reform of evictions law, and once more reassured his criticis such as Landlord Action’s Paul Shamplina and the RLA that the Section 8 evictions process will amended to provide additional grounds for when landlords need to move into or sell their property.

“We also plan to reform the court process for housing cases to make it more efficient, ensuring landlords can swiftly regain their property where they have a legitimate reason to do so,” he says.

Brokenshire also launched a consultation on reform of the new homes sector including mandatory membership of an ombudsman scheme for builders and a code of practice to give new homes house buyers redress when things go wrong.