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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent a two-tier market for shared ownership properties, where new properties have a peppercorn ground rent, lower rent increases, longer leases and protection from repair costs for 10 years unlike legacy shared ownership properties.

The changes described have been implemented through successive amendments to the shared ownership model lease. Once a lease agreement is entered into, its rights and obligations become legally binding. It is not, therefore, possible to apply policy changes to legacy shared owners without contravening legal agreements between individual shared owners and their social landlords.

Legacy shared owners will, however, benefit from the Government’s wider leasehold and commonhold reforms. Measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, once commenced, will grant shared owners the right to a statutory lease extension of 990 years.

The Government continues to give close consideration to ways to improve the experience of all shared owners, including those existing owners who were not captured by changes to the model lease.