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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent steps he has taken to end the use of escalating ground rents on leasehold properties.

The Government has set out a package of measures to tackle unfair practices in the leasehold market, this includes a ban on the unjustified use of leasehold for new houses and restricting ground rents for both houses and flats to a peppercorn.

The Government is committed to providing support to existing leaseholders. We are putting pressure on developers who have sold leases with onerous ground rents, including those that double more frequently than every 20 years, to provide support for current leaseholders. Some developers have introduced schemes to assist individuals with onerous leases which is welcome, but these must go further and faster.

To facilitate this process, the Government announced a ‘Public Pledge for Leaseholders’ on 28 March 2019. This contains a commitment for freeholders to identify any existing leases within their portfolio which contain ground rents that double more frequently than every 20 years. They have also committed to contact the relevant leaseholders and offer to vary their leases. We are pleased that over 60 institutional freeholders and developers have signed the pledge, which also provides safeguards for future leaseholders.