Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 27th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I have a number of interests to declare. I am a non-executive director of MHS Homes, chair of the Heart of Medway Housing Association, a vice-president of the Local Government Association and a leaseholder.

I welcome the Bill, but there is a big “but”. It represents limited progress. The next Parliament will have to return to the issue of leasehold reform to liberate leaseholders, deliver on commitments made and deliver justice for them.

I pay tribute to the campaigners outside Parliament, who have never given up. They include the National Leasehold Campaign, led by Councillor Katie Kendrick, Jo Darbyshire and Cath Williams; and the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, led by Sebastian O’Kelly, Martin Boyd and my good friend, the campaigner Liam Spender. They will deliver justice for leaseholders.

The noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, talked about the Lloyd George Budget of 1909. The noble Lord, Lord Bailey, talked about 1966. There is a fantastic play called “Fleecehold”, by Michele Sheldon. If it is on, I urge noble Lords to go and see it. In one scene, in 1884, Henry Broadhurst, a Liberal, and then Labour Member of Parliament for various Midlands constituencies, discusses leases on the Floor of the House of Commons. This has been a long-term problem, which we have still not sorted out. Many Members of Parliament have also stood up for leaseholders. I pay tribute to the noble Lords, Lord Young of Cookham and Lord Best, and many others who have raised these issues time and again.

It is most frustrating to look at the timeline of events and actions taken in more recent times. I have a few examples to share with the House. The fire at Grenfell Tower broke out on 14 June 2017—just short of seven years ago. We have still not resolved issues arising from that tragedy. It is not right that there are people living in blocks whose flats are unsaleable and unmortgageable. There is no excuse for it. It is a complete failure by the Government, on their watch. Does the Minister think this is acceptable? When will they finally do something about it?

There has been a complete lack of action following the report of the Regulation of Property Agents working group, chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Best. It was published in July 2019, towards the end of the last Parliament. We are now at the end of this Parliament, and nothing has happened. This Bill is the ideal place to deal with it, but there is nothing in it. This is just not good enough. Nothing has happened in five years. Can the Minister explain why this is acceptable?

Three Law Commission reports were published in July 2020 on leasehold enfranchisement, the right to manage and commonhold. It is good that this Bill largely addresses leasehold enfranchisement, but there is very little on the right to manage and nothing on commonhold. Again, can the Minister explain why this is acceptable? We have been waiting nearly seven years to complete the job on Grenfell and nearly five years without any action on regulating property agents; and it is nearly four years since the Law Commission report, in which nothing was done about commonhold. Telling this House that this is all extremely complicated and will take time is not acceptable. We have been waiting for action for years, without promises being delivered.

It has been frustrating to watch the right honourable Member for Surrey Heath tour the television studios and radio stations, speak to newspapers, give interviews about what he wants to do to end the feudal leasehold system, make promises, pledges and commitments, and give assurances and undertakings. The noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, referred to letters and to a Statement in the House of Commons. These have amounted to absolutely nothing.

When I spoke to a member of the Government privately, they said: “Well, Roy, you must understand that this is what Michael does.” Another member of the Government said: “Roy, everything you want to do, Michael wants to do, but you have to understand, he has been vetoed by No. 10. His plans are now shot to pieces. It is all over.” I do not know if this is true or not, but going around making promises and pledges with no agreement to deliver them is shoddy politics. There will be a heavy price to pay. Making promises and pledges without delivering is stringing people along. It is just not good enough.

I will look at a few of the issues that are missing from the Bill. There is no ban on creating leasehold flats. Why not? Seventy per cent of leaseholds are for flats, but there is nothing in the Bill at all. The answer, as the noble Lord, Lord Bailey of Paddington, said, is commonhold. Why it is not there? The Government have had the report from the Law Commission for four years. Why are they not dealing with it?

There are other issues that are just not happening. There is the stuff about the Building Safety Act; again, after Grenfell, why are they not doing that? I just do not understand why. There was also a Conservative Party manifesto commitment on forfeiture in 2017, but it is not in the Bill. Why not? It is ridiculous. We are going to be putting it in the Bill; we will certainly have amendments on that one. Forfeiture can happen for as little as £350 in unpaid rent or service charges. If pursued to its conclusion, the process allows the landlord to take the tenant’s entire flat and not account to the tenant for a penny. Any mortgage is not repaid and the lender can pursue the tenant for the full amount of the debt. I accept that very few flats or houses are lost to forfeiture, but the whole process is used to bully tenants—the people in the properties—and it is just not right. They made that commitment in 2017 and it is about time they delivered it.

I move on to a few other issues. My noble friend Lady Twycross mentioned the assured shorthold tenancy trap. She was up on the ballot for a Private Member’s Bill; she got it and was then approached by the Government, who assured her: “You don’t need to do this Private Member’s Bill because we’re going to do it in a renters reform Bill”. But the Renters (Reform) Bill has disappeared. It started in the House of Commons before this Bill did, but it is still not out of that House. At the moment, it has vanished without trace. My noble friend was told there was no need for her to do it, so I hope that the Government will deal with the issue in this Bill, because we cannot guarantee that the other Bill will ever appear in this House. We know there have been all sorts of problems with people upset about what is in that Bill, so we certainly need to ensure that it is addressed here.

What there is on leasehold houses is absolutely welcome, but there are still some issues about that. It was introduced in the House of Commons only on Report; remember, it was left out of the Bill when it was first published, so it came in then. There are one or two little problems. Clause 7 and part 1 of Schedule 1, paragraph 1, together allow new leasehold houses to be created as under leases or sub-leases. An example may be where a local authority granted a head lease to a developer before 22 December 2017; the developer could still create leasehold houses. In Clause 7 and part 1 of Schedule 1, paragraph 3 allows the creation of new retirement leasehold houses, regardless of whether they are built on freehold land. Again, that issue has been raised elsewhere, but why are some of the most vulnerable in our society not protected? That is another big issue we need to deal with.

Then there is the control of service charges. In many cases, with great property companies and good freeholders, it all works absolutely fine. Sadly, of course, that is not always the case and we need further reform. It was 50 years ago that there was talk in the other place about reform to service charges; we still do not have that matter sorted out, and much of the of the detail in Part 4, which deals with service charges, is left to statutory instruments—secondary legislation. There is very little detail in the Bill.

Clause 51 extends information rights to properties paying a fixed service charge. The clause does not allow for extending the right to challenge unreasonable service charges. I can assure your Lordships that leaseholders know when they are being ripped off. When things are bad, they know. So, while it is great to get some information, what they need are the tools to actually stop it. The Bill does not do that.

Clause 54 creates a new system of accounts and annual reports. Again, that is to be welcomed, but we need to go further. Clause 56 introduces a new right to claim damages of up to £5,000; again, we need clarity on what that actually means. There are two issues: we all know that “damages” has a specific legal meaning. The clause may not provide an effective remedy to claim money for delay where the leaseholder is unable to prove loss. That needs to be addressed in Committee. It is also unclear whether the clause allows each affected leaseholder to claim up to £5,000, or whether it is just £5,000 for the leaseholders as a collective body. There are many issues we need to explore in Committee.

Part 4 of the Bill requires landlords and estate managers to join an approved redress scheme, but much of the detail is missing and the Secretary of State will determine who is obliged to join by regulations, which we have not seen yet. This change is welcome, but there are still issues.

On the whole issue of commencement and interpretation, many provisions will be commenced by regulation at a later date. The Bill has 123 clauses and 12 schedules. Only four clauses will come into force two months after the Bill is passed. The rest of it will come into play when the Secretary of State determines. When will that be? We do not know. We have not got the regulations here; we do not have visibility on any dates. So, again, we need some more assurances. Even if the Bill passes, most of it will not come into force until you decide you are going to bring it in. We need to be careful about this. We need a clear timetable for when this stuff is going to come into force. I think it is really important. There are many cases, on the issue of marriage values, of leases that are approaching 80 years now. This needs to be resolved for them in particular.

So, as I said when I started, I welcome the Bill. It is progress, but it is very limited progress. We need much more progress here in Committee. I hope the Government will listen to what the House is saying and bring amendments forward. If not, certainly colleagues around the House will bring amendments forward and we will divide the House on those.

I will spend a bit of time working on what I call the “Gove amendments”—that is, all the pledges Michael Gove has made over the last few years. I will create amendments and divide the House for him, so he can actually deliver what he wants to do. It is really important that, if you make these promises and pledges, you actually want to do that. I am sure he does want to do it, so I am disappointed we have not got there. I am going to help the Secretary of State in that way and make sure that the House gets the chance to vote. Then he can have the chance to speak up for them when they get to the House of Commons. I will leave my remarks there and look forward to the noble Baroness’s response.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to close this debate and to reflect on the many thoughtful contributions that we have heard. I thank all noble Lords for their engagement with the Bill thus far, and especially all noble Lords who met me before this debate to discuss their concerns. As the Bill progresses, I am keen to continue engaging. If any noble Lords would like a briefing, please get in touch. I will put further dates forward ahead of Committee, and of course noble Lords can ask for a meeting at any time, and I will try and accommodate them.

I have heard that some noble Lords would like to see what is in the Bill clarified and improved. Other noble Lords want to see it go further still, and I look forward to engaging with them on all those issues as the Bill comes to its Committee. That said, listening to this debate, I am also struck by the strength of consensus among noble Lords that the system of leasehold needs reform. I will now seek to address all noble Lords’ points in turn.

The noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Stevenage, began the debate and set out her wide range of concerns, particularly those areas where she expects to bring forward amendments. I am grateful to her for her engagement and her work with the Bill so far; I look forward to continuing this as the Bill progresses. I will turn right away to the Government’s position on ground rents, on which she and noble Lords right across the House, including my noble friend Lord Moylan and the noble Lords, Lord Adonis and Lord Palmer, courteously asked for updates.

I understand the strength of feeling about this issue and the level of interest, given its size. We are aware that reforms to protect leaseholders will have a negative impact on those who benefit from ground-rent income, and are carefully considering this as we formulate our policy. That is why we are studying the recently closed consultation very carefully. Next steps will be set out in due course to this House as soon as I am able to do so.

I also want to address the specific point made by noble Lord, Lord Adonis, about the ECHR. The Government consider that all provisions in the Bill are compatible with the relevant convention rights; and that, in the case of provisions regarding Article 8 and A1P1, any interferences are justified and proportionate.

The noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, also had a specific question about marriage value, setting deferment rates in primary, rather than secondary, legislation. My noble friend Lord Borwick also raised this point. I understand their concerns, but we do not feel that setting rates on the face of the Bill would be appropriate. The Government absolutely recognise that careful consideration is needed on how to set rates, and that many different elements need to be considered when setting them. We have been clear that we will set the rates at market value to ensure that the amount landlords are compensated reflects their legitimate property interests, and we have had active conversations with relevant stakeholders. Ultimately, the Secretary of State’s flexibility to make these decisions is paramount, and we will continue these conversations. I welcome any further views that noble Lords might have on this matter.

I will come to the overall principle of marriage-value reform shortly, but with regard to the specific points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, and the noble Lord, Lord Truscott, about the online calculator, it is an important issue, and I can confirm that the Government absolutely remain committed to launching this. This will help leaseholders understand how much it will cost to extend their lease or acquire their freehold up front. However, before we can launch such a vital tool and make a true success of it, we must first pass the Bill, so that the online calculator reflects the final provisions of the reforms in the Bill.

I turn now to the central issue that the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, and many others raised: the future of the leasehold market. The Bill delivers our manifesto commitment to ban new leases of houses. Once commenced, other than in exceptional circumstances, new houses will have to be sold as freehold. I know that noble Lords across the Chamber, including the noble Viscount, Lord Hanworth, have expressed particular interest in the exceptions where a lease might still be justified, such as shared ownership, which helps consumers take their first step on the property ladder, or National Trust land where the freehold cannot be sold on. We expect a developer to prove it through the new steps included in the Bill. We believe that each can be justified, but we will keep a close eye on the market, and will not shy away from using the powers in the Bill to tighten or remove exceptions if required.

I turn now to the issue of banning leasehold flats, not just houses. The majority of houses have always been provided as freehold. There are few justifications for building new leasehold houses, so this Government will ban them. Flats, on the other hand, have shared fabric and infrastructure, and therefore require some form of arrangement to facilitate management. This has historically been facilitated by a lease.

None the less, the Government recognise the issues in the leasehold system, and I have heard the concerns from the noble Baronesses, Lady Taylor, Lady Thornhill and Lady Andrews, my noble friends Lady Finn and Lord Bailey and many other noble Lords regarding a lack of commonhold measures as a meaningful alternative to replacing leasehold for flats. I want to reassure your Lordships that the Government remain committed to commonhold reform and that we see it as a long-term replacement for leasehold.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

The Government have now had the report from the Law Commission for four years. I think the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, who is not in her place at the moment, raised the question: how much longer do they need?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

As I think I have said to the noble Lord many times from this Dispatch Box, this is a complicated issue. I think there are about 121 recommendations in the Law Commission’s framework and we just have not had the time to go through them. However, this takes us a good way towards commonhold for the future.

The Law Commission did fantastic work to review the commonhold framework, and, as I said, it set out 121 separate detailed recommendations on how to modernise it. I appreciate the points from the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, about commonhold and his frustration that these reforms have not come forward. However, these are not trivial changes. Implementing them requires detailed consideration. It is a complex policy, and to make sure we get it right and so that commonhold does not fail to take off for a second time, we will take the time required to make it work. We will therefore set out our response to the Law Commission’s report as soon as that work is concluded.

On the comments made by the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, the noble Lord, Lord Stunell, my noble friends Lady Finn and Lord Moylan and many others about leasehold rights to manage, managing a large or complex building is not an easy feat, especially meeting building safety requirements, and some leaseholders may simply not want this responsibility. That is why the Government believe that leaseholders should therefore have the choice to manage their buildings, which they now do. The Bill delivers the most impactful of the Law Commission’s recommendations on right to manage, including increasing the non-residential limit to 50% in mixed-use buildings to give more leaseholders the right to take over management, and changing the rules to make each party pay their own process and litigation costs. These measures will help existing leaseholders now and save them many thousands of pounds into the future.

The Government recognise that the participation threshold of one-half can frustrate leaseholders if they cannot reach it. However, we agree with the Law Commission that the threshold is proportionate and ensures that a minority of leaseholders are prevented from acquiring the freehold against the wishes of the majority of leaseholders in the building. We are therefore very clear that we should hold the participation requirement at half of the total number of residential units in the premises.

The noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, my noble friend Lord Moylan and many others have also made powerful arguments that the creation of new freehold estates must end, and that local authorities should be compelled to adopt all communal facilities on a new estate. It is up to the developers and the local planning authority to agree on specific issues relating to new development, including appropriate funding and maintenance arrangements. That said, we are carefully considering the findings and the recommendations of the Competition and Markets Authority report to address the issue that home owners on these estates face.

On the questions from the noble Baronesses, Lady Taylor and Lady Thornhill, about expanding the right to manage regime to cover the residents of freehold estates, the Government recognise the benefits that the right to manage regime on freehold estates would bring, empowering home owners to manage and take a greater control of the estate on which they live. However, there would be many detailed practical issues to work through to deliver this, which would all require careful handling since they affect property rights and existing contract law. Instead, we have introduced measures in this Bill to empower home owners and make estate management companies more accountable to them for how their money is spent, including the ability to apply to the appropriate tribunal to appoint a substitute manager.

The noble Lord, Lord Best, spoke extensively and eloquently about the regulation of property agents, which my noble friend Lord Young, the noble Lord, Lord Truscott, and many others, supported. This Government remain committed to driving up professionalisation and standards among property agents. We welcome the ongoing work being undertaken by the industry and others to drive up standards across the sector, including on codes of practice for property agents. I put on record my sincere thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Best, and the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, for their valuable work on this issue. However, as a Secretary of State made clear at Second Reading, legislating to set up a new regulator would require significant additional legislative time of a kind that we simply do not have in the lifetime of this Parliament.

On cost, the Government believe that any regulation can and should be done in an appropriate and proportionate way that controls the cost to business. Managing agents must already belong to a redress scheme and leaseholders may apply to the tribunal to appoint a manager to provide services in cases of serious management failure. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will make it easier for leaseholders to scrutinise costs and challenge services provided by landlords and property managing agents, and ultimately for them to take on management of the buildings themselves, where they can directly appoint or replace agents. These measures, alongside existing protections and work undertaken by the industry, will seek to make property managing agents more accountable to the leaseholders who pay for their services.

The valuable work on the regulation done by the noble Lord, Lord Best, remains on the table, but this Bill is tightly focused on the fundamental improvements for leaseholders. These, alongside our building safety reforms, already make this a time of great change for managing agents, necessitating higher standards across the sector. We continue to listen and look carefully at the issues that Members across the House are raising on this.

My noble friend Lord Young spoke specifically about forfeiture, as did the noble Baronesses, Lady Taylor and Lady Twycross, my noble friend Lord Bailey and many others. As I said in my opening remarks, the Government recognise that this is a real and significant problem. There is huge inequity at stake. We have heard from colleagues today about why we should act. We think it is the job of government to go away and work through the detail of this, which we are doing. We will report back to the House shortly with more details as we consider the matter further.

My noble friend Lord Young, the noble Lord, Lord Stunell, the noble Earl, Lord Lytton, the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, and many others, raised several concerns about building safety, which I will try to address in some detail. The Government understand that many individuals are frustrated with the distinction between qualifying and non-qualifying leaseholders. We have been clear that the primary responsibility for resolving issues in buildings requiring remediation is with those who caused them. In circumstances where it does not prove possible to recover the cost of remediation from the developer, we have established a threshold that strikes a balance between leaseholders and landlords as to who should be paying for the costs of remediation. No leaseholder, whether qualifying or non-qualifying, can be charged more than they otherwise would have been in the absence of the leaseholder protections for costs relating to historical building safety defects.

A range of support is in place for leaseholders whose lease does not qualify for protection. All residential buildings above 11 metres in England now have a pathway to fix unsafe cladding, through either a taxpayer-funded scheme or a developer-funded scheme. With regard to buildings under 11 metres, it is generally accepted that the risk to life from fire is proportionate to the height of the building. Therefore, the risk to life from historic fire safety defects in buildings under 11 metres will require remediation only in exceptional circumstances.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

We have taken the issue of human life as the important one. I think we will have further debates on 11 metres as we go through the Bill. I am conscious of time; if the noble Earl does not mind, we will deal with those matters in Committee.

Given the number of small buildings under 11 metres that need remediation, our assessment remains that extending leaseholder protections to below 11 metres is neither necessary nor proportionate, as I think the noble Baroness has heard many times before.

Regarding my noble friend Lord Young’s issue about enfranchised leaseholders, the Government decided that the leaseholder protection provisions in Part 5 of the Building Safety Act would not apply to leaseholder-owned buildings. That was because the freehold to the building is de facto owned by all or some of the residents who, as leaseholders, have collectively enfranchised and would still have to pay to remedy the safety defects in their buildings. However, leaseholders in those buildings, either individually or collectively, can pursue developers and their associated companies via a remediation contribution order for funds that they have spent or will spend remediating their buildings for relevant defects.

I turn to joint ownership. This Government understand that individuals are frustrated with the distinction between leaseholders who own properties jointly and those who do so independently. We are listening carefully to feedback from stakeholders on this matter. We have also published a call for evidence on jointly owned leasehold properties, which was launched on 22 March; this will enable the Government to understand the scale of the issue and consider whether any further changes can be proposed.

The noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, asked about development value. I am very grateful to her for engaging with me beforehand about this issue. I can say to the noble Baroness, as she acknowledged, that we committed to enabling leaseholders voluntarily to agree to a restriction on future development of their property to avoid paying development value as part of the collective enfranchisement claim. We are consulting on making changes to the existing permitted development right and are seeking views on whether sufficient mitigation is in place to limit potential impacts on leaseholders. I urge the noble Baroness to contribute her views to that consultation before it closes on 9 April. When it closes, the Government will carefully consider and review all the responses and see how the regime can be improved.

I was very sorry to hear of the personal difficulties of the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, when purchasing his freehold, and I hope that the reforms in this Bill will address the issues he raised. With regard to the point that he and my noble friend Lord Bailey raised on service charges, the level of service charges that leaseholders pay will depend on many factors, such as the terms of the lease and the age and condition of the building. This means that the cost of things such as repairs, maintenance of common areas and management of the building will differ considerably. The transparency and redress reforms in this Bill will empower leaseholders to take action against any unreasonable costs.

As well as speaking extensively about building safety issues, the noble Earl, Lord Lytton, made a compelling case for thinking about leasehold from the perspective of consumer protections. The Government are committed to improving consumer protections against abuse and poor service from landlords, managing agents and freehold estate managers. That is why we will set a maximum time and fee for the provision of information as part of the sales process for leasehold homes and those homes encumbered by estate management charges, and introduce rights of transparency over service charges, extended access to redress schemes and reform of legal costs. We consider that it is a powerful package of consumer rights and reforms, and, following Royal Assent, we will make sure that appropriate guidance is available for consumers. None the less, I look forward to meeting the noble Earl after Easter to discuss how this package can be further improved and well implemented.

The noble Lord, Lord Palmer, the noble Baroness, Lady Bray, and my noble friend Lord Howard asked about the Government’s policy on marriage value. Any suggestion of retaining marriage value—wholesale or in limited circumstances—would be counter to our aim of making it cheaper and easier for leaseholders to extend their lease or acquire their freehold. Such proposals would risk both perpetuating and creating a two-tier system—eroding the benefits that the Government are delivering through the Bill. Removing marriage value and hope value will deliver a level playing field and wide access for leaseholders who may otherwise find it prohibitively expensive to extend their lease or purchase their freehold. Our wider reforms to enfranchisement value will ensure that sufficient compensation is paid to landlords to reflect their legitimate property interests.

The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester spoke about the positive contribution that charities make to our society, which this Government wholly recognise. He asked specifically about exemptions from our reforms for charity. Although well-meaning, attempting to created carve-outs for specific groups of landlords—for example, charities—would complicate the system that we aim to simplify and would risk both perpetuating and creating a two-tier system. We appreciate the engagement that the right reverend Prelate has conducted with us so far and hope that we can continue that engagement on issues that we know, and he knows, are significant.

The noble Baroness, Lady Twycross, and the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, brought up the renters Bill and assured tenancies. We are aware that leaseholders with ground rents of more than £250 per year can be legally regarded as assured tenants. In the Renters (Reform) Bill, we are addressing this problem by removing all leaseholders with a lease longer than seven years from the assured tenancy system. That Bill is progressing through Parliament, and our priority is to pass this vital legislation before the end of this Parliament.

The noble Lord, Lord Khan, brought up the issue of the Commonhold Council. The council has met regularly since it was established in 2021 and last met in September. The Government are currently reviewing the Law Commission’s proposal to reform the legal framework for commonhold and plan to reconvene the group ahead of finalising their response to the Law Commission.

If I have missed any other specific issues raised, I can only apologise. A tremendous amount has been said in this session—all of great value—and I reiterate my commitment to meeting any Member of this House who wishes to discuss the Bill further after Easter. I hope that is acceptable to the House.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will deliver on the Government’s 2019 manifesto commitments, promoting fairness and transparency in the residential leasehold sector. I look forward to working with noble Lords during the passage of this most important Bill.

I have noted forfeiture, commonhold, the regulation of property agents, marriage value, ground rent and service charges as areas of serious interest to noble Lords, although others of equal importance have been raised. I am sure noble Lords will recognise that this is a very long list and there is little time remaining in the parliamentary Session. However, we are listening and looking carefully at what can be done on all those things.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

Before the Minister sits down, although I am frustrated about the Bill, I have great respect for her and look forward to our debates in Committee. I particularly asked about commencement, because this is a Bill of 123 clauses and 15 schedules, and only the issues on rent charges and three parts of the Building Safety Act are going to be brought into force after two months. Nothing is being brought in on Part 1, on leasehold houses, Part 2, on leasehold enfranchisement and extension, Part 3, on the rights of long leaseholders, Part 4, on the regulation of leasehold, Part 5, on the regulation of estate management, or Part 6, on redress schemes. Basically, about 95% of the Bill is not going to come into force until a date that the Secretary of State determines. As in my earlier remarks, I am a bit frustrated sometimes that what we should get from the Secretary of State does not materialise. Will the Minister write to me and be clear about when these are going to come into force? We need to know what date they are coming into force, otherwise all the promises amount to nothing.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I am happy to write to the noble Lord on this issue, and I will put a copy of that letter in the Library.