Commonhold and Leasehold Reform

Mike Martin Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

I am more than happy to write to my hon. Friend about the issue of shared ownership specifically. She will know that through our £39 billion social and affordable homes programme, we are making improvements to shared ownership as a tenure model. More widely, I can assure her that the provisions in the draft Bill will benefit leaseholders in her constituency in the way that she makes clear. I am happy to have a further conversation with her about how the reforms will benefit her constituents and what advice leaseholders can draw on, including the Government-backed Leasehold Advisory Service.

[Mike Martin (Tunbridge Wells) (LD)]

I thank the Minister for announcing this Bill to Parliament, and I broadly welcome the provisions within it, particularly the proposal on conversion from leasehold to commonhold—I think that is excellent. By my count, there are about 4.8 million leaseholders in England. Do the Government envisage driving this process so that people are empowered and encouraged to make that conversion, and when does the Minister think that we will get rid of the last leasehold in England?

[Matthew Pennycook]

I think that leaseholds will exist for some time to come. Indeed, people in various buildings may not, for whatever reason, wish to convert to commonhold, but it is absolutely our intention to make it easier to do so and to encourage as many leasehold homeowners as possible to make the change, because it is a radical improvement on leasehold ownership, not just an alternative to it.