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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to leasehold reform, what steps the Government is taking to establish a (a) Redress Reform Working Group and (b) Housing Complaints Resolution Service.

In summer 2019 the department established the Redress Reform Working Group to help improve redress across the housing market and consider a Housing Complaints Resolution Service. We continue to work on improving redress and meet with members of the Redress Reform Working Group, and the group continues to meet independently and provides updates to the department.

There is a gap in redress for leaseholders where their freeholder does not employ a managing agent and carries out their own property management on their leasehold property. In such circumstances, the freeholder is not required to sign up to a redress scheme. As part of filling the gaps in redress the government intends to require freeholders of leasehold properties who do not employ a managing agent to join a redress scheme and will seek a suitable legislative slot to do so.