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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what impact assessments the Government has undertaken on capping ground rents for existing leaseholders, and what cap values were used in those assessments.

The Government understands the difficulties and frustrations of some existing leaseholders who are unhappy about the amount of ground rent they are required to pay and feel their leases should be changed.

There are many implications to be considered in relation to legislation which would interfere with individual contracts, for instance taking account of Article 1 Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the principle of legal certainty.

There are no current plans to legislate in this area, and so no impact assessment has been done.