Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to amend the Housing Act 2004 so that clauses in long leases which would cause the ground rent to exceed the statutory levels set out in that Act will be void for derogation of grant.

Where ground rents exceed £250 per year or £1,000 per year in London, a leaseholder is classed as an assured tenant. This has the effect of bringing some leaseholders within the ambit of Ground 8 of Part 1 to Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988. This means, for even small sums of arrears, leaseholders could be subject to a mandatory possession order if they were to default on payment of ground rent. This is a disproportionate remedy that was never intended for leaseholders. As part of our leasehold reform work we are committed to legislating for provisions which ensure that leaseholders will not be subject to Ground 8 mandatory possession orders for arrears of ground rent. We will bring forward the necessary legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.