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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with the professional building owner sector on proposals to abolish ground rents.

Leaseholders pay ground rent on top of their property purchase price and service charges, yet there's no clear service provided in return. The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill currently in Parliament will put an end to ground rents for new residential leasehold properties as part of the most significant changes to property law in a generation. The Bill's provisions will lead to fairer, more transparent homeownership for thousands of future leaseholders.

Following a consultation exercise, the Government announced its plans to restrict ground rents on new lease agreements in December 2017. The technical consultation Implementing Reforms to the Leasehold System in England ended on 26 November 2018 and we responded to it in June 2019. This received responses from a wide range of people, including professional building owners. On 7 January 2021, we announced that legislation would be brought forward in the upcoming session of Parliament, to set future ground rents to zero.

Since the announcement in 2017, ministers have met many professional owners and their representatives, as well as investors and developers. Details of Ministers' official meetings with external organisations are published and can be found on Gov.uk.