Commonhold and Leasehold Reform

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall and Camberwell Green) (Lab/Co-op)]

I pay tribute to the Minister for his hard work in getting us to this stage. There were a few occasions when he saw me and went the other way, because he knew what I was going to ask him, but we would not be here without his tireless work. I also highlight what the Minister said about this being a cross-party issue, and pay tribute to the former Member for Worthing West, Sir Peter Bottomley, for his work chairing the all-party parliamentary group on leasehold and commonhold reform.

For far too long, many leaseholders up and down the country have been caught up in this medieval system, leaving them with soaring rents and unreasonable fees—people who bought their homes in good faith and have seen a nightmare transpire. It is right that the Government are finally bringing in a change that will help millions of people up and down the country. The Minister has agreed to support the Committee’s inquiry with the necessary evidence. Can he also confirm that he will support us by providing the Government’s response to the 2023 ground rent consultation in the coming days, so that we can get a better understanding on how that underpins the Government’s decision to cap ground rents at £250?

There were some things that we were expecting to see in the draft Bill—yes, I have read it—that are not there, including the Law Commission’s unimplemented recommendations on enfranchisement and the right to manage, and Lord Best’s recommendations on managing agents. Lord Best has called for a regulator with teeth for proper enforcement; can the Minister clarify what work the Government are doing to ensure that this will be in the final version of the Bill, or if it will be addressed elsewhere? The Minister also outlined a rough timeline for implementation. Can we get more clarity on when we expect to see that, so that those leaseholders around the country who have been waiting for a long time will finally get the help that they desperately need?

[Matthew Pennycook]

I thank my hon. Friend, the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, for those fair and pertinent questions. I will answer each of them in turn. We published a whole series of documents at 7 am, including a copy of the draft Bill. That also included a policy document setting out our rationale for the £250 per year ground rent cap, but we will make available to the Committee other information, evidence and documentation as needed and at the earliest possible opportunity.

As for the other recommendations made in the three reports from the Law Commission, the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 implemented a significant number of the Law Commission’s enfranchisement recommendations, a small number of its right-to-manage recommendations, and none of its recommendations on commonhold. We cannot do everything in this Bill; hon. Members who have had a chance to look will have seen that is has a large number of clauses already. But we are committed to enacting those remaining recommendations relating to leasehold enfranchisement and other things over the course of the Parliament.

On implementation, different provisions will come into effect at different times. For example, we aim to switch on the rent charge provisions I described soon after Royal Assent. Other measures will require secondary legislation. We expect the ground rent cap to be in place in 2028. We will work with the Committee to ensure that it can do the fullest and most robust job possible when it comes to giving the Bill the enhanced scrutiny it deserves.