Oral Answers to Questions

Yuan Yang Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Highgate) (Lab)]

4. What steps he is taking to implement the provisions on leasehold reform in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.

[Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) (Lab)]

7. What steps he plans to take to reform the property management system.

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

10. What steps he plans to take to reform the leasehold system.

--- Later in debate ---

[Matthew Pennycook]

I appreciate fully that leaseholders with leases approaching 80 years remaining want clarity on when the enfranchisement provisions in the 2024 Act will be brought into force. To bring those provisions into force, we need to not only consult on valuation rates, but rectify through primary legislation the small number of serious flaws in the 2024 Act that the previous Government bequeathed to us. The latter is obviously a more challenging proposition than the former, but we intend to make the necessary fixes as soon as possible so that leaseholders can begin to benefit from the new valuation process. I am more than happy to speak to my hon. Friend in further detail about the way in which we plan to take these reforms forward.

[Yuan Yang]

I was glad to get involved in the Government’s recent consultation on property service fees. More than 700 of my constituents living in new builds in and around Reading have written to me about high fees and unfair behaviour from property management agents. One constituent, called Sunil, said to me:

“We are throwing our money down the drain to these crooks, and they know they can take advantage.”

Will the Housing Minister meet me and my fellow Labour MPs working on this issue to discuss what more can be done to crack down on such awful behaviour from rogue agents such as FirstPort?

[Matthew Pennycook]

The Government are determined to reduce the prevalence of private estate management arrangements and to provide those who currently live on freehold estates with greater rights and protections. To that end, we launched two comprehensive consultations before Christmas; I am very glad to hear that my hon. Friend has engaged with those consultations, and I encourage all hon. Members from across the House to do the same. I am more than happy to meet a group of Labour colleagues to discuss the consultations and our proposals in more detail.