Leasehold Reform

For far too many leaseholders, the reality of home ownership has fallen woefully short of the dream. I share the Government’s determination that by the end of this Parliament, we will have finally brought the feudal leasehold system to an end.

I am pleased that the Government acted swiftly in the early months of the Parliament to implement provisions in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. These specifically related to rent charge arrears, building safety legal costs and the work of professional insolvency practitioners. I remain steadfast in my commitment to ensuring that we provide leaseholders with greater rights, powers and protections over their homes. Alongside the extensive programme of detailed legislation being brought forward to implement the remaining provisions of the Act, the Government will further reform the existing leasehold system by removing the disproportionate and draconian threat of forfeiture; acting to protect leaseholders from abuse and poor service at the hands of unscrupulous managing agents; and enacting remaining Law Commission recommendations on enfranchisement and the Right to Manage.

Overcharging through service charges is completely unacceptable, and I am committed to ensuring that leaseholders are protected from them and other unfair practices. The Government is currently consulting on the measures in the Act designed to drive up the transparency of service charges and make it easier to challenge them if they are unreasonable.

The Government is equally committed to addressing unregulated and unaffordable ground rents and will legislate to do so. It has promised to set out further details on its plans for existing ground rents in due course, which I will follow closely.