Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the Government’s response to the consultation entitled ‘Modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases’ published on 9 November 2023.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to Question UIN 99005 on 5 January 2026.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, when he will bring forward secondary legislation to implement the core elements of the Act.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has already made significant progress when it comes to commencing provisions in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024:
The government recognises the considerable financial strain that rising service charges place on leaseholders and tenants. The level of service charge that leaseholders pay depends on many factors, including the terms of a lease and the age and condition of a building. By law, variable service charges must be reasonable. Overcharging through service charges is completely unacceptable. Should leaseholders wish to contest the reasonableness of their service charges they may make an application to the appropriate tribunal.
On 4 July 2025, the government published a consultation, jointly with the Welsh Government, on strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services. The consultation included proposals to increase transparency over service charges and enhance access to redress through the relevant provisions in the Act. It also proposed new reforms the section 20 ‘major works’ procedure. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here. It closed on 26 September 2025, and we are analysing responses with a view to bringing the relevant measures into force as quickly as possible.
On 18 December 2025, the government launched a consultation on proposals to implement the Act’s new consumer protections for homeowners living on freehold estates. These include ensuring that homeowners who pay an estate management charge have better access to information they need to understand what they are paying for, the right to challenge the reasonableness at the First-tier Tribunal (in England), and to go to the tribunal to appoint a substitute manager. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 12 March 2026. We will look to bring these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter.
The Act also sets the method for calculating the price of a statutory lease extension or freehold acquisition, known as the valuation process. It removes the requirement for marriage value to be paid, caps the treatment of ground rents in the valuation calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value, and allows government to prescribe the rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium. Valuation rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium will be set by the Secretary of State in secondary legislation. We will consult on valuation rates and commence the relevant provisions as soon as possible. As per my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), primary legislation will be required to rectify a small number of specific flaws in the 2024 Act before the Act’s enfranchisement provisions are commenced.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the National Leasehold Campaign.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG Ministers and officials engage regularly with a range of stakeholders in respect of leasehold and commonhold reform, including the National Leasehold Campaign.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to publish the draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill before the end of the 2024-26 parliamentary session.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to Question UIN 102833 on 12 January 2026.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether Plotland sites will be included within the draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to Question UIN 102833 on 12 January 2026.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many single occupancy households there are in (a) England and (b) Wyre Forest constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Data on the number of households receiving the single person council tax discount is collected by the Department as part of the annual Council Taxbase snapshot. The 2023 snapshot can be found here. Data is only available for local authority areas not parliamentary constituencies.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to publish a response to the consultation launched under the previous government on changes to various permitted development rights.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government will keep changes to permitted development rights under review.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her policy is on the single-person discounts on council tax for single (a) pension and (b) working households; and what the forecast discount is for the next five financial years.
Answered by Jim McMahon
For both pension-age and working-age households, where there is only one liable adult resident in a property, the council tax bill is reduced by 25%. The Government will carefully consider the impact on councils and taxpayers, before making any future decisions on council tax. The Government is committed to keeping taxes on working people as low as possible.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the limit for claims under the Disabled Facilities Grant from £30,000 to (a) £50,000 and (b) another amount.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Government is committed to helping older and disabled people to live independently and safely. Government funding for Disabled Facilities Grant has more than doubled, rising from £220 million in 2015-16 to £623 million for 2023-24.
Local areas already have discretion in how they manage the grant, for example, they can increase the cap on a case-by-case basis or in line with a locally published housing assistance policy. In 2022, Government published guidance for local authorities on the Disabled Facilities Grant, which includes information on using discretion in local delivery of the grant. The guidance can be found here.
As with all aspects of the Disabled Facilities Grant, the Government will continue to keep the upper limit under review.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his timeframe is for changing the annual index of park home pitch fees from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Price Index.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government remains committed to improving protections for park home residents and this includes changing the pitch fee review inflationary index from the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). We will introduce the required legislation when the parliamentary timetable allows.