Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [HL]

Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Monday 24th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register. It is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, and I agree with many of the points she made, not least on the antiquated, archaic references to “peppercorn rents”. The Minister referenced how it was not expected that anybody would enforce the provision for payment of a peppercorn. Let us hope not, because if they did, the only people who would benefit would be the sellers of peppercorns, and goodness knows what shortage may be occasioned by everybody claiming and enforcing that provision. It is archaic and has no part in legislation in the 21st century.

I thank my noble friend for setting out the proposed legislation as clearly as he did; it was most helpful. Its purpose, in a nutshell, is clearly to abolish ground rents on long leases in future. I strongly welcome that and this legislation, although I think it could go further, as other noble Lords have indicated. I hope it ends the iniquitous practice, particularly of late, of claiming indefensible ground rents on property that is freehold in all but name and, in recent years, increasing—sometimes doubling—these charges from year to year. That is clearly indefensible. As referenced early on by the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, Liam Spender, in a valuable article on the subject, said that leaseholders are too often treated as “cash cows” by some disreputable freeholders. That practice must surely end.

I understand why the legislation is not retrospective on rights that are vested long ago. I clearly see dimensions related to the European Convention on Human Rights and so on. That is reasonable. However, I want to probe with my noble friend why the disreputable practice of late of imposing unjustified ground rents is to continue. Since the Government’s declared intention is to render it illegal, why should there be an indulgence, possibly for a further two years, towards those who are putting this in contracts now? I cannot see why that needs to be the case or that the human rights argument applies in relation to it.

Further to that, I have read that it is suggested that the provisions will not be brought into force until 2023, in about two years from now. Can my noble friend indicate why that is the case, if it is? In short, when do the Government intend the Secretary of State to bring the provisions into force, under Clause 25 of the Bill—assuming that it passes according to the programme set out by the Government?

The Bill is relatively short and straightforward, but I would like to tackle some other points with my noble friend and seek his views on the Government’s intention. First, he referred to rent not being defined, because it may lead to exploitation and loopholes being sought. I do not follow that argument; I cannot see why a definition would do that. There are definitions of rent under other provisions and no cross-reference to them in this legislation. I do not think there is a definition of rent or ground rent, except in the most general terms, in this legislation. I cannot see how that is helpful. It is not, for example, clear whether a freeholder making a provision to fix buildings insurance for the leaseholder is within the definition of rent. If it is not, it presents a loophole. As I say, this is not at all clear and I wonder whether my noble friend could provide more information about the thought given to that and the possible loopholes that may arise from there not being a definition, which I can clearly see may be the case. I hope that, on reflection, the Government bring forward an amendment to add a definition of rent to the legislation, because there are clearly practices that could be exploited by a disreputable freeholder, in much the same way as we had action on tenant fees legislation to list procedures that could be permitted. I ask the Government to give some more thought to that.

A second and related area is the permission fees sometimes imposed in such agreements—for example, for keeping a pet—when drawing up the relatively straightforward paperwork that may be needed when permission is needed under the agreement. Again, has any thought been given to restricting the exploitation of such a provision, in the same way as for the provisions that I have just mentioned? These necessary considerations could improve this legislation.

Lastly, I reference an overriding point that has been mentioned by others, including my noble friend in his introduction, on the enfranchisement of existing long leases. Clearly, if that legislation is long in coming, there is the possibility of a two-tier market in leaseholds, which—

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Garden of Frognal) (LD)]

We appear to have lost the noble Lord, Lord Bourne. I think he was coming to an end anyway, so we will go to the noble Baroness, Lady Bowles of Berkhamsted.

Business and Planning Bill

Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Report stage & Report stage (Hansard) & Report stage (Hansard): House of Lords
Monday 20th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Garden of Frognal)]

The noble Lord, Lord McConnell, has withdrawn from this group. I call the noble Lord, Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth.

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Con) [V]]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow my noble friend Lady McIntosh. Appropriate regulation to ensure proper provision for the blind, the partially sighted and the disabled in the allocation of pavement licences is absolutely right. In a civilised society, such measures should be a given. I therefore welcome the moves proposed by the Government in the amendments which the noble Earl, Lord Howe, is bringing forward.

It is important that we encourage economic activity. As my noble friend Lady McIntosh said, that must be done speedily if it is to make sense in this context. We should bear that in mind. The provisions brought forward by the Government in this group on access and protecting individuals are appropriate and to be welcomed. We should embrace the wider Bill, which seeks to promote the necessary economic activity I referred to. I will not delay the House further, as there is a long list of Peers who wish to speak. I give this part of the Bill my total support.

Electricity Capacity (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2015

Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Tuesday 24th November 2015 Grand Committee

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

Moved by

That the Grand Committee do consider the Electricity Capacity (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2015.

Relevant document: 1st Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Garden of Frognal) (LD)]

My Lords, if there is a Division in the House, the Committee will adjourn for 10 minutes.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change and Wales Office (Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth) (Con)]

My Lords, this draft instrument is an amending regulation to the main secondary legislation package for the capacity market scheme, part of the electricity market reform programme. The powers to make this implementing secondary legislation are found in the Energy Act 2013, which, following scrutiny in this House and the other place, received Royal Assent in December 2013 with cross-party support.

The two changes contained in the draft instrument are simplifications intended to make the process easier for applicants, and were overwhelmingly supported by respondents in the consultation, but before I explain them in more detail it may be helpful to the Committee if I say a few background words about the capacity market itself.

I remind noble Lords that the capacity market will address our medium-term electricity needs and ensure that there is sufficient electricity supply towards the end of the decade and beyond. In brief, the capacity market will achieve this by making a regular capacity payment to providers who are successful in capacity auctions. In return for this payment, providers must meet their obligations to provide capacity, or reduce demand, when the system is tight, ensuring that enough capacity is in place to maintain security of electricity supply.

Ensuring that families and businesses across the country have secure, affordable energy supplies that they can rely on is our top priority. That is why we already have firm mechanisms in place, working closely with National Grid and Ofgem, to maintain comfortable margins on the system over coming winters.

Beyond that, it is essential that generators have confidence that they will receive the revenues that they need to maintain, upgrade and refurbish their existing plant, and can finance and build new plant to come on stream as and when existing assets retire. Equally, we want to make sure that those who are able—without detriment to themselves and the wider economy—to shift demand for electricity away from periods of greatest scarcity are incentivised to do so.

That is why we have the capacity market. The first auction, held in December 2014, saw a good outcome for consumers, as fierce competition between providers meant that we obtained the capacity that we will need in 2018-19 at prices below the levels that many had expected. That translates into lower consumer bills.

This instrument makes two minor changes to improve the capacity market, based on feedback from stakeholders. First, this instrument substitutes a new definition of “relevant grant” in Regulation 17, and secondly it extends from five to 15 the number of days in Regulation 59(3) of the 2014 Electricity Capacity Regulations, to permit providers a longer period in which to submit credit cover after receiving a conditional pre-qualification notice.

The amendment to the definition of “relevant grant” will ensure that grants, the purpose of which is to support feasibility studies or research and development in relation to carbon capture and storage, will not preclude participation in the capacity market. The essential feature is that the CCS support should not have provided effective material support which has put a provider at an advantage compared to others which have not so benefited. This will not be the case for such early stage grants for CCS purposes: hence the amendment. The second amendment amends the number of days from five to 15 to allow applicants, after receiving a conditional pre-qualification notice, longer to submit credit cover.

My department consulted on the two changes in March 2015 and received 22 responses. The vast majority of stakeholders who responded were content with the changes proposed. I look forward to hearing what noble Lords have to say on these proposed changes. I beg to move.