Commonhold and Leasehold Reform

Jack Abbott Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

That is absolutely right. In this area and so many others, the cost of living and addressing the affordability crisis faced by so many families across the country is the Government’s driving mission. For leaseholders, the reforms in the draft Bill will be transformative, particularly on ground rents, and will also introduce other protections.

[Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the Minister for his genuinely groundbreaking statement. It feels like a little while ago that he visited Ipswich to talk to local people about the building safety crisis and leasehold. He was a shadow Minister and I was a parliamentary candidate at the time. Now we are capping ground rents, making it easier to move to commonhold, and scrapping leasehold for all new builds. Is this a case of a Labour Government keeping their promises and making a real change for many people up and down the country?

[Matthew Pennycook]

That is absolutely right, and I can assure my hon. Friend that we have given consideration to building safety remediation in the design of this legislation. I should make it clear that freeholders’ obligations to ensure that their buildings are safe are not related, for example, to the right to collect ground rents. Many buildings already operate a peppercorn ground rent, and they are subject to the same legal obligations as other buildings. We do not want to see the impact that some in the country may be concerned about.