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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the concerns raised by the Resident Freehold Association that capping ground rents could cause a significant number of professional freeholders to become insolvent and impact remediation on up to 12,000 buildings.

The government is capping ground rent at £250 per year, before changing to a peppercorn in 40 years. These measures, as set out in the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, deliver on the manifesto commitment to “tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rent charges” and “bring the feudal leasehold system to an end”. This policy will directly address cost of living pressures for leaseholders, and issues with buying, selling and mortgaging properties with high ground rents, before ending ground rents for good.

We recognise that these reforms will have a significant impact on freeholders and investors, but the government considers this is a justified and proportionate intervention to address harms and deliver a fair and effective housing market. We have taken investors’ concerns into account when developing this policy, which we believe strikes a fair balance between leaseholders, freeholders and those invested in ground rents.

For further information, I refer the Noble Baroness to the (attached) Policy statement on ground rents published on 27 January 2026.