Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Leasehold Costs

Monday 3 March 2025 · 4 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 4 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Government has no plans to cap service charges for tenants and leaseholders, stating such action would hinder necessary fund raising for legitimate purposes.
  • Intends to tackle unaffordable ground rent provisions through the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, aiming to improve transparency in service charges.
  • Bans on the sale of new leasehold flats are planned to make commonhold the default tenure, simplifying the conversion process for existing leasehold blocks.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Rachael Maskell Labour (Co-op) York Central
Housing
Context

Leaseholders face increasing financial strain due to opaque and unfair fees and charges.

Question

I welcome this Labour Government getting a grip on the feudal racket that enslaves leaseholders to ever-rising management fees and ground rents, making it impossible to pay and impossible to move. Will the Minister provide transitional arrangements to cap those costs while ensuring that all new developments—even developments that are soon to enter the planning stage, such as the one at York Central—can make the transition to commonhold as soon as the law changes?

Answer from The Minister for Housing and Planning (Matthew Pennycook)

The Government have no plans to cap service charges for tenants and leaseholders, given that would prevent necessary funds from being raised for legitimate purposes. However, we do plan to tackle unregulated unaffordable ground rent provisions through legislation. As the White Paper published today makes clear, we want to make the process of converting to commonhold as easy as possible, and we will set out proposals in the draft leasehold and commonhold reform Bill, which is to be published later this year.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Plan to cap service charges

How: No Plans, Not Preventing Legitimate Funds

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Q2 Lee Dillon Lib Dem Newbury
Housing
Context

Thousands of leaseholders are struggling with high service charges and poor management, particularly from companies like FirstPort.

Question

I welcome the Government’s announcement today of changes to leasehold and the introduction of commonhold, but thousands of leaseholders across the country are still crippled by both high service charges and failing delivery. I am sure that the inboxes of Members across the House are full of complaints from constituents, particularly in relation to FirstPort management company. What can the Government do to hold individual management companies accountable for the services they deliver to our residents?

Answer from The Minister for Housing and Planning (Matthew Pennycook)

As the hon. Gentleman will know, we intend to bring into force this year the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, which is designed to drive up the transparency of service charges so that leaseholders can challenge them more easily if they consider them to be unreasonable. We intend to strengthen the regulation of managing agents, imposing minimum standards in relation to qualifications.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific measures against failing management companies

How: Strengthening Regulation, Imposing Minimum Standards

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Q3 Florence Eshalomi Labour (Co-op) Vauxhall and Camberwell Green
Housing
Context

Existing leaseholders have been promised relief but are still facing financial strain.

Question

I thank the Minister for his comments over the weekend—we really do need to ensure that we ban new leaseholds—but, as he knows, leaseholders have been promised this many a time before, and many will be going to sleep tonight with only a little sigh of relief because those bills will continue to come. The Minister mentioned the White Paper; can he tell us what the status of existing leaseholders will be when the measures to end leasehold are finally introduced?

Answer from The Minister for Housing and Planning (Matthew Pennycook)

Let me explain, as simply as I can, what we want to do. As the White Paper makes clear, we will ban the sale of new leasehold flats so that commonhold becomes the default tenure, and we will ensure that the process of conversion is as simple as possible for those in existing leasehold blocks who wish to make this change.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific relief measures for existing leaseholders

How: Simplifying Conversion Process, Not Addressing Current Strain

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Q4 Joshua Reynolds Lib Dem Maidenhead
Housing
Context

Leaseholders are trapped by rising ground rents and high costs of changing leases.

Question

What steps are the Government taking to help those leaseholders with doubling ground rents who now feel trapped and unable to remortgage or sell their properties without meeting the massive costs of changing their leases, which, as I know from personal experience, can amount to five-figure sums?

Answer from The Minister for Housing and Planning (Matthew Pennycook)

I well recognise the problem. Historically, ground rents were nominal sums but over the past 20 years we have seen a very different system develop. We have made a commitment to take action on unregulated and unaffordable ground rents through legislation, and we will provide further details in due course.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific measures for rising ground rent issues

How: Commitment To Regulate, Providing Further Details

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