Commonhold and Leasehold Reform

Clive Betts Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

It is clear that this draft Bill cannot do absolutely everything, and it is the Government’s considered opinion that we do not need provisions on service charges in this Bill—not least because, for the reasons I have set out, we do not intend to implement a service charge cap—and that the provisions in the 2024 Act will do the job. Help is on the way, though, and I want to ensure that those provisions are switched on at the earliest possible opportunity.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

First, I congratulate my hon. Friend the Minister on the magnificent job he has done with this legislation, as well as the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi), who has pushed him and bothered him all the way down the corridors for months on end!

It is now eight years since the previous Committee looked at this matter and recommended radical reform of leasehold. One of the challenges in my constituency—still—concerns individual householders who try to buy their freehold and find that the freeholders will not even respond to their requests, and then push them through complicated and expensive procedures before they can get their entitlements. Can the Minister give us an assurance that that procedure will now be simplified and cheapened?

[Matthew Pennycook]

I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words on my role in developing the draft Bill. I can say to him very plainly: yes. If he looks at the consultation on service charge protections that we released last summer, he will see proposals that specifically address non-litigation costs and other measures. However, as I said, it is our intention to ensure that in the enfranchisement process, it is not only cheaper but easier for leaseholders to make use of their new rights and protections if they intend to buy their freehold or extend their lease.