Commonhold and Leasehold Reform

Lewis Cocking Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lewis Cocking (Broxbourne) (Con)]

As a leaseholder, I understand the issues that leaseholders face, and I look forward to carrying out pre-legislative scrutiny on the HCLG Committee. The conveyancing process also needs to be looked at, as I am not sure that solicitors and managing agents point out considerations such as historical service charges, whether the property has a sinking fund and how much service charges have gone up. Will the Minister assure me and my constituents that that part of the process of buying a leasehold property will also be looked at within this legislation?

[Matthew Pennycook]

I have a lot of respect for the hon. Gentleman and his service on the Select Committee. He has a lot of expertise in this area. I would say two things in response. First, we published two consultations on the home buying and selling process to try to modernise that process, and we are looking at some of those issues as part of that. Secondly, on service charges, one reason we had to hold quite a complicated and technical consultation on the implementation of the 2024 Act’s service charge provisions is precisely the complexity and the number of factors to deal with. We received incredibly useful feedback in response to that consultation, and that will shape how we take those measures forward. I want to be clear, though, that we are talking about how and not whether we take those measures forward; I want to see them brought forward at the earliest possible opportunity, because we absolutely know the impact that high and rising service charges are having on leaseholders across the country.