Dominic Raab is the new housing minister, moving over from the Ministry of Justice where he had been a junior minister since 2015. Only seven months after taking up the job as housing minister Alok Sharma takes up the role as minister for employment in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Raab has in the past voted with the Government on cutting housing benefit and has spoken on reform of the home buying process for conveyancers, mentioning the Government’s call for evidence – subsequently launched last October – during a debate last year. More interestingly, he voted against an Opposition day debate in June 2014 that had proposed introducing a ban on letting agent fees – a proposal which is now Government policy.
Commenting on the changes, David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark, and Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark, said: “We have been working closely with Alok Sharma in this role previously, alongside Sajid Javid as Communities Secretary, to make suggestions on plans to ultimately regulate the sector and make the process of buying, selling, renting or leasing a property better for consumers.
“If housing is genuinely a priority for the Government, then continuity and consistency with the new housing minister and Sajid Javid is absolutely key, and we look forward to working with them both over the coming months.”