Mr Kevin Parry, who was appointed to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) board in July 2014, will hold the reins from 1 January 2016 while the Department for Communities and Local Government begins the recruitment process for a permanent chairman.

Mr Parry is a senior independent director of Intermediate Capital Group Plc and a non-executive director of Daily Mail. He holds a number of other non-executive roles including audit committee chairman at Standard Life Plc. He has also served as finance director of Schroders Plc and as a managing partner of KPMG.