Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of local authority staff in England available to enforce the Renters’ Rights Act.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
My Department is undertaking an assessment of the new burdens falling on local authorities as a result of their additional enforcement responsibilities under the Renters’ Rights Act. We are committed to funding the net additional costs arising. We anticipate that additional costs will principally be additional staff costs.
In relation to the number of staff currently in Iocal authority private rented sector enforcement teams, I refer the noble Baroness to my answer given to Question UN HL13226 on 14 January 2026
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many civil penalties were issued to private landlords in each of the past three years; and what the total value of these fines were.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
My Department does not currently hold the requested information.
We are in the process of implementing a new mandatory collection of private rented sector enforcement data from local housing authorities, which will include the number of civil penalties issued and the total amount of income received from civil penalties.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of civil penalties issued by local authorities to private landlords over each of the past three years were uncollected.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
My Department does not currently hold the requested information.
We are in the process of implementing a new mandatory collection of private rented sector enforcement data from local housing authorities, which will include the number of civil penalties issued and the total amount of income received from civil penalties.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) landlords, and (2) letting agents are currently listed on the database of rogue landlords and property agents.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Database of Rogue Landlords and Property Agents has 51 active entries. The database does not distinguish between landlord and property agent entries.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish a response to the ground rent consultation held in 2023.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We will publish a response to the 2023 consultation in due course.
The government published a policy statement alongside the draft Bill setting out the existing evidence and considerations of different policy options.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of not including the remaining Law Commission recommendations on enfranchisement and right to manage in the Draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill on leaseholders' ability to control service charges and management of their buildings.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
On 27 January 2026, the government published the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. The government is committed to enacting remaining Law Commission recommendations relating to leasehold enfranchisement and right to manage over the course of this Parliament.
The government has already made significant progress when it comes to commencing provisions in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. On 3 March 2025, the Right to Manage provisions (expanding access, reforming its costs, and voting rights) came into force.
On 4 July 2025, the government published a consultation, jointly with the Welsh Government, on strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services. The consultation included proposals to increase transparency over service charges and enhance access to redress through the relevant provisions in the Act. It also proposed new reforms the section 20 'major works' procedure. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here (attached). It closed on 26 September 2025, and we are analysing responses with a view to bringing the relevant measures into force as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to bring forward reforms to the Building Safety Act 2022 to allow the First Tier Tribunal to confer accountable person responsibilities to a section 24 building manager; and whether they plan to introduce those reforms as part of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
When parliamentary time allows, we are looking to introduce a Remediation Bill to ensure all residents have a route to remediation, including in circumstances when a court has appointed a section 24 manager to take on the duties of the landlord.
We propose to amend the Building Safety Act to include section 24 managers within the definition of Accountable Persons to make clear that this manager can also be responsible for building safety duties.
This will ensure that remediation funds can be provided to a court appointed manager, and they are able to progress remediation.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of reducing deferment and capitalisation rates on the premium payable for a lease extension; and whether they plan to ensure that those rates are not reduced.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer given to Question UIN HL12535 (attached) on 10 December 2025 and to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 January 2026 (HLWS1278) (attached).
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Ministerial Statement by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 27 January (HLWS1278), when they intend to commence Part 1 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 on the ban on the grant or assignment of certain long residential leases of houses.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This government is committed to ending the feudal leasehold system. We will reinvigorate the commonhold legal framework and ban the use of leasehold for new flats so commonhold can become the default tenure for the ownership of new flats, and we will implement measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 to ban new leasehold houses.
Following consideration of responses to the ‘Moving to Commonhold’ consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, we will confirm commencement plans.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Ministerial Statement by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 27 January (HLWS1278), which specific flaws in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 are referred to as requiring rectification through primary legislation.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the Noble Baroness to the response given to UIN HL14534 (attached) on 25 February 2026.