Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the change to freeholder control of large residential blocks on fire and security risks.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government’s priority is to ensure that the fire and structural safety risks for all higher-risk buildings are managed effectively by those responsible for building safety. The Building Safety Act 2022 identifies and places legal obligations with regard to building safety on Accountable Persons, irrespective of tenure and ownership. This is to ensure that building safety will be managed on an on-going basis for all higher-risk buildings. Where Accountable Persons do change, provisions in the Act ensure that key information and duties pass to any new Accountable Person.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of leasehold reform on (a) levelling up and (b) the deliverability of Kings Cross-style regeneration projects.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to creating a fairer and more transparent housing system that works for everyone and to delivering the second phase of our major two-part leasehold reform within this Parliament. Leasehold and commonhold reform supports our mission to level up homeownership and promote true homeownership for all by addressing the power imbalance at the heart of the leasehold system and putting the power into the rightful hands of homeowners.
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 (which comes into force on 30 June 2022) is the first part of leasehold and commonhold reforms in this Parliament. The Act will make homeownership fairer and more transparent for thousands of future leaseholders, by preventing landlords under new residential long leases from requiring a leaseholder to pay a financial ground rent. The impact assessment for the Act was published on 12 May 2021 and can be accessed via the Parliamentary Bills website ( https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2864).
On 11 January 2022, the Government launched a consultation on a number of recommendations made by the Law Commission aimed at broadening the rights of leaseholders, and reinvigorating commonhold. We are currently analysing the feedback and we will provide a response in due course.
This is a long-term reform programme; it is complex with many interdependencies and will take time to get the detail right. Once it is enacted the effect will be felt for generations and so we are determined this work considers all the implications and impacts with care.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of leasehold reform on the UK insurance industry.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to creating a fairer and more transparent housing system that works for everyone and to delivering the second phase of our major two-part leasehold reform within this Parliament. Leasehold and commonhold reform supports our mission to level up homeownership and promote true homeownership for all by addressing the power imbalance at the heart of the leasehold system and putting the power into the rightful hands of homeowners.
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 (which comes into force on 30 June 2022) is the first part of leasehold and commonhold reforms in this Parliament. The Act will make homeownership fairer and more transparent for thousands of future leaseholders, by preventing landlords under new residential long leases from requiring a leaseholder to pay a financial ground rent. The impact assessment for the Act was published on 12 May 2021 and can be accessed via the Parliamentary Bills website ( https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2864).
On 11 January 2022, the Government launched a consultation on a number of recommendations made by the Law Commission aimed at broadening the rights of leaseholders, and reinvigorating commonhold. We are currently analysing the feedback and we will provide a response in due course.
This is a long-term reform programme; it is complex with many interdependencies and will take time to get the detail right. Once it is enacted the effect will be felt for generations and so we are determined this work considers all the implications and impacts with care.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of leasehold reform on investment in the UK economy.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to creating a fairer and more transparent housing system that works for everyone and to delivering the second phase of our major two-part leasehold reform within this Parliament. Leasehold and commonhold reform supports our mission to level up homeownership and promote true homeownership for all by addressing the power imbalance at the heart of the leasehold system and putting the power into the rightful hands of homeowners.
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 (which comes into force on 30 June 2022) is the first part of leasehold and commonhold reforms in this Parliament. The Act will make homeownership fairer and more transparent for thousands of future leaseholders, by preventing landlords under new residential long leases from requiring a leaseholder to pay a financial ground rent. The impact assessment for the Act was published on 12 May 2021 and can be accessed via the Parliamentary Bills website ( https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2864).
On 11 January 2022, the Government launched a consultation on a number of recommendations made by the Law Commission aimed at broadening the rights of leaseholders, and reinvigorating commonhold. We are currently analysing the feedback and we will provide a response in due course.
This is a long-term reform programme; it is complex with many interdependencies and will take time to get the detail right. Once it is enacted the effect will be felt for generations and so we are determined this work considers all the implications and impacts with care.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of leasehold reform on Britain’s high streets.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to creating a fairer and more transparent housing system that works for everyone and to delivering the second phase of our major two-part leasehold reform within this Parliament. Leasehold and commonhold reform supports our mission to level up homeownership and promote true homeownership for all by addressing the power imbalance at the heart of the leasehold system and putting the power into the rightful hands of homeowners.
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 (which comes into force on 30 June 2022) is the first part of leasehold and commonhold reforms in this Parliament. The Act will make homeownership fairer and more transparent for thousands of future leaseholders, by preventing landlords under new residential long leases from requiring a leaseholder to pay a financial ground rent. The impact assessment for the Act was published on 12 May 2021 and can be accessed via the Parliamentary Bills website ( https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2864).
On 11 January 2022, the Government launched a consultation on a number of recommendations made by the Law Commission aimed at broadening the rights of leaseholders, and reinvigorating commonhold. We are currently analysing the feedback and we will provide a response in due course.
This is a long-term reform programme; it is complex with many interdependencies and will take time to get the detail right. Once it is enacted the effect will be felt for generations and so we are determined this work considers all the implications and impacts with care.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to take steps to assist leaseholders who are enjoined by the terms of the lease not to store their bicycles in their properties, but whose landlord does not provide a secure bicycle store.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. We are therefore taking forward a wide-ranging programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market.
The exact terms of individual deeds or leases will vary. Where deeds of covenant or leases place restrictions on the use of a property, this is a matter for individual homeowners to raise with the party with whom they have agreed the lease. If a leaseholder wants to vary or remove a restrictive covenant from their lease, they should first try to reach an agreement with the relevant party. Where the relevant party will not agree to vary or remove a restrictive covenant, the leaseholder can apply to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) for it to be discharged or modified under section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925.