Housing: Leasehold Properties Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Kennedy of Southwark
Main Page: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Kennedy of Southwark's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
(1 year, 10 months ago)
Lords ChamberTo ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to either abolish or reform leasehold as a housing tenure.
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and declare my interest as a leaseholder.
My Lords, home ownership provides people with greater control over their own homes and lives. We are committed to creating a housing system that works for everyone. This includes our programme of reform to improve leasehold. Following the introduction of the ground rent Act in June, we are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament, helping millions of households genuinely to own their own home.
My Lords, I have raised leasehold issues many times in the Chamber in recent years, and the response I receive is never unsympathetic to the problems of this tenure. The frustration is that, despite this, not a lot is happening. I ask the noble Baroness, who I warmly welcome to her new job as a Minister, what we are going to do to move things forward. I will come back month after month and take every opportunity I can until we finally get some real action on this and the change that the Minister has promised finally happens.
The noble Lord is right: I answered a Question from him not many weeks ago. I have spoken to myself a great deal since that time, as I promised. Noble Lords have to understand that these are very complex and technical issues. The reform will be felt for generations to come, so we need to take time and care. We have made very clear—it is in our manifesto—that we will bring further leasehold reforms in this Parliament. To move things on, I hope the noble Lord opposite will agree that we should meet and talk about what are the important parts of leasehold. I am happy to open that meeting to others in the House, because I know how important it is for noble Lords.