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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to give freeholders on private and mixed tenure estates equivalent rights to leaseholders to (a) challenge the reasonableness of estate rent charges and (b) have the right to apply to the First-tier Tribunal to appoint a new manager for the provision of services covered by estate rent charges; and what assessment he has made of the financial effect on freeholders of not having those same rights as leaseholders.

The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. Where people pay estate rentcharges it is not appropriate that these homeowners have limited rights to challenge these costs.

That is why the Government intends to legislate to give freeholders on private and mixed tenure estates equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of estate rentcharges as well as a right to apply to the First-tier Tribunal to appoint a new manager to manage the provision of services covered by estate rentcharges.

We will translate these measures into law as soon as parliamentary time allows.