This Bill is the second part of a legislative package to reform leasehold law.  It follows the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which put an end to ground rents for most new residential leasehold properties in England and Wales. 

I welcome and support many measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, including changes to the calculation of premium payable for lease extensions or collectively buying the freehold, the end of marriage value, the introduction of 990-year extensions, ground rent reforms, and freehold estate regulation. 

However, I remain concerned that this legislation has been scaled back. 

Most notably, the Bill’s stated aim is to ban leasehold, but, as it stands, the Bill will not do this.  Ministers have promised to amend the Bill to achieve this as the Bill progresses, but there is no guarantee that they will.  I am dismayed that the Government did not include a clause to ban leasehold to begin with.  

I also share the concern of my constituents that the proposed ban on new leasehold houses will not extend to flats.  For most freehold homeowners, ownership means security and control, yet for far too many leaseholders, the reality of home ownership falls woefully short of the dream they were promised. 

Too many leaseholders face constant struggles with punitive and ever-rising ground rents, rent for a home that they actually own, in exchange for which the freeholder needs to do nothing at all. Leaseholders are locked into expensive agreements and face unjustified administration fees and extortionate charges.  Conditions are imposed with little or no consultation.  For leaseholders also affected by the building safety crisis, the situation is even worse. 

I support making commonhold the default tenure for all new properties as part of wider proposals to reform the leasehold system, enacting the Law Commission’s recommendations on enfranchisement, commonhold and right to manage in full.  In my view, the existing system should be completely overhauled so that existing leaseholders can collectively purchase more easily and move to commonhold if they wish. 

The current Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, which passed its Second Reading on 11 December, is a shadow of what it should be.  It will not achieve what it is designed to achieve.  I can assure you that my Opposition Colleagues and I will seek to strengthen this Bill as it progresses through Parliament.