King’s Speech

Lord Truscott Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Truscott (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I very much welcome the reference to housing in the gracious Speech, particularly the commitment to long-term investment in social housing and to reform the leasehold system, including the capping of ground rents. I declare an interest as a landlord, leaseholder, former renter and co-chair of the All-Party Group on Leasehold and Commonhold Reform.

Labour’s manifesto pledged to end the “injustice of fleecehold”, and in the 2024 King’s Speech, His Majesty’s Government said they would

“take steps to bring the feudal leasehold system to an end”.—[Official Report, 18/7/24; col. 129.].

HMG have my full support in that.

The noble Lord, Lord Gove, guided through the seminal Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act in the dying days of the last Government. He is to be commended for his tenacity. HMG’s commonhold and leasehold Bill aims to make commonhold the default tenure, a long-overdue reform. It will improve the current system for the 5 million existing leasehold properties, bolstering fundamental rights, including enfranchisement and the right to manage, capping ground rents at £250 and other measures.

Alongside that, the Social Housing Bill, aiming to boost the supply of social housing, protect existing stock, strengthen protections for tenants and reduce bureaucracy so providers can build more homes, is also extremely welcome. The last 47 years have been a disaster for social and particularly council housing, stimulated by the right-to-buy scheme, which, while hugely popular, sowed the seeds of today’s housing crisis.

The housing market for potential home owners and renters has never been worse in my lifetime. The calculation is a simple one: there is not enough affordable housing to buy or rent. Thus, while HMG’s housing efforts are to be applauded, it is necessary to have a reality check. Almost two years into this Government, very important aspects of the Leasehold and Reform Act 2024 have still not been implemented. The Act was meant to make it cheaper and easier for existing leaseholders in houses and flats to extend their lease or buy their freehold.

There has been a commitment to abolish marriage value, but to date we have witnessed interminable consultations and legal challenges. To an extent, I have sympathy with the Government. The modern way of governing seems designed to foster delay and challenge, to the point that it is very difficult to get anything much done. Consultations on every conceivable subject and the fear of judicial review stymie the will of Parliament at every turn—just ask the Tories over their ill-fated Rwanda policy. This must change if the Government are to make progress with their programme. I think back to the Labour Government of 1945-51. Those reforms, at that pace, would be impossible today.

There is much to do in the housing field alone. We still await a register for short lets to cover the hollowing-out of long-term rental properties in our towns and cities by platforms like Airbnb—although a register is not a substitute for proper regulation. As we heard from the noble Lord, Lord Best, earlier, we need proper regulation of property management companies, which are currently unregulated despite often managing millions of pounds. Some of these companies are appallingly managed, totally unqualified and rip off their clients.

HMG’s plan to build 1.5 million more homes and invest £39 billion over 10 years in social housing is to be admired, but there are serious doubts if it can be done as things stand. The 1.5 million target is already slipping and housing delivery is stalling. Our population has increased by 12 million people since the mid-1990s; housing supply is not keeping pace with demand. This is the real problem, not avaricious landlords facing escalating costs. The private rented sector has shrunk by 250,000 in 12 months. Where are the additional 1 million private rental homes which, according to Savills, are required by 2030, going to come from?

HMG need to incentivise councils, housing associations and developers to build private and social housing on brownfield sites, and encourage the PRS to grow, not shrink. For that to happen, the economy needs to flourish. The Bank of England and HMG should listen to what the IMF said this week. Instead of pandering to the banks to increase their profit margins, the BoE does not need to hike interest rates and may even need to cut them.

Finally, yes, the country wants change, but it wants good change, not bad change. What everyone really wants to see is improvement in their lives. That is the job of this Government.