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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the capping of ground rents will affect the price of the purchase of the freehold by leaseholders.

We will implement measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act to make it cheaper and easier for leaseholders to extend a lease or buy their freehold (enfranchisement). The Act caps ground rent in the enfranchisement calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value.

We will also cap ground rents via the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill at £250 transitioning to a peppercorn after 40 years.

I refer the Noble Lord to the government’s draft Impact Assessment for the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. This was published on 19 March 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here (attached). It has been reviewed by the independent Regulatory Policy Committee which published its opinion on 1 May. It can be found on gov.uk here (attached).