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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to implement the recommendations made by the Law Commission in its report entitled Reinvigorating commonhold: the alternative to leasehold ownership, published 21 July 2020.

In 2017 the Government asked the Law Commission to recommend reforms to reinvigorate commonhold as a workable alternative to leasehold, for both existing and new homes.

On 7 January we announced that we will establish a new Commonhold Council as a partnership of industry, leaseholders and Government that will prepare homeowners and the market for the widespread take-up of commonhold. We will start this work immediately and will set out a plan for the transition to commonhold in new build housing over the course of this Parliament. This will include considering legislation. We know this will take time and close working with consumers and industry, and the Commonhold Council will be the critical first step of this.

We will respond to the Law Commission’s recommendations in due course.