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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a system for dispute resolution available to freeholders paying estate management fees.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes measures that extend access to redress schemes to freehold estate homeowners. It does this by requiring estate management companies who manage communal areas to join a redress scheme.

Bringing the provisions of the Act into force will require an extensive programme of secondary legislation.

As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the government will consult on implementing the Act’s new consumer protection provisions next year and to bring these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter.