After much deliberation and clashing between the House of Commons and House of Lords, the Housing and Planning Act received Royal Assent on Thursday 12 May. The date also marked the formal end of this year’s parliamentary session, meaning the Bill was made an Act of Parliament at the last available opportunity of the 2015-2016 session. Had the Bill not been passed it would have been subject to further debate in the 2016-2017 parliamentary session (beginning Wednesday 18 May), a scenario which would have caused somewhat of a headache to the Government and jeopardised its ability to stick to manifesto commitments.