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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress she has made on leasehold reform.

The government outlined its approach to leasehold and commonhold reform in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244).

We took swift action in the early months of the Parliament to implement provisions in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 relating to rent charge arrears, building safety legal costs and the work of professional insolvency practitioners.

On 31 October 2024, the government commenced further building safety measures.

On 31 January 2025, provisions to remove the two-year qualifying rule in relation to enfranchisement and lease extensions came into force.

On 3 March 2025, the right to manage provisions (expanding access, reforming its costs, and voting rights) came into force and we published the Commonhold White Paper, which is a crucial first step in ensuring commonhold becomes the default tenure for flats.

An ambitious draft Leasehold and Commonhold reform Bill will be published later this year.