Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the ministerial statement HCWS384 of 21 December 2017, what steps he plans to take to prevent onerous ground rents in already existing leasehold properties.

The Government response to the consultation on ‘ Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market’ set out a range of measures to cut out unfair and abusive practices within the leasehold system. This included introducing legislation to prohibit the development of new build leasehold houses, other than in exceptional circumstances, and restricting ground rents in newly established leases of houses and flats to a peppercorn (zero financial value).

For existing leaseholders, the Government wants to see developer compensation schemes going further and faster, with support extended to all those with onerous ground rents, including second hand buyers and for customers to be proactively contacted. We will be keeping a close eye on progress and will consider measures that could be pursued to take action if necessary.

We want to make it easier for existing leaseholders to exercise their right to buy their freehold, or extend their lease, for this to be faster, fairer and cheaper, and to be available as soon as possible.