Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department made of the effectiveness of the implementation of the leaseholder deed of certificate.

The Department engaged with leaseholder groups and lenders on the leaseholder deed of certificate. This helped to ensure that the leaseholder deed of certificate is fit for purpose; the information requirements were designed to present a minimal burden to leaseholders, whilst being sufficiently robust to demonstrate their qualifying status and to also prevent fraud.

We have worked closely with leaseholder groups to produce guidance on the leaseholder deed of certificates and the overall leaseholder protections. This guidance can be found here.

The leaseholder deed of certificate is an essential tool in the protection of leaseholders from unaffordable bills for historical building safety defects. This deed of certificate enables leaseholders to self-determine whether or not they benefit from the protections with regard to remediation costs for unsafe cladding and non-cladding building safety defects, as well as costs for interim safety measures for their leasehold property. The leaseholder deed of certificate is an essential part of the protections as it allows leaseholders to demonstrate their ‘qualifying leaseholder’ status.