Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on its proposals for leasehold reform for people currently living in leasehold properties.

The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for leaseholders.

On 21 December 2017, the Government set out a package of measures to tackle abuses and unfair practices in the leasehold market. This includes introducing legislation to prohibit the development of new build leasehold houses, other than in exceptional circumstances; restricting ground rents in newly established leases of houses and flats to a peppercorn (zero financial value), and working with the Law Commission to support existing leaseholders which includes making buying a freehold or extending a lease easier, faster, fairer and cheaper.

A number of developers have introduced schemes to compensate existing leaseholders affected by onerous ground rents, but these must go further and faster. The Government wants to see this support extended to all those with onerous ground rents, including second hand buyers, and for customers to be proactively contacted. The then Housing Minister wrote to developers on 21 December 2017 to set out this position. We will be keeping a close eye on progress and will consider measures that could be pursued to take action if necessary.