Leasehold reform 'in next session of parliament'

A ‘complex’ bill outlining further leasehold reforms will be unveiled in the next session of parliament, the government has confirmed.

Levelling up secretary Michael Gove told the House of Commons in February that legislation fundamentally reforming the leasehold system would hopefully be introduced in the King’s speech.

Pressed on the timetable in a Lords debate yesterday, levelling up minister Baroness Scott of Bybrook said the leasehold bill, which she described as ‘very complex’, will be introduced in the next session of parliament but will not arrive in time for pre-legislative scrutiny.

The government announced in 2021 that leasehold reforms would be introduced in two parts.

The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act, which came into force last June, ended ground rents for new, qualifying long residential leasehold properties in England and Wales. The forthcoming leasehold bill is expected to deal with enfranchisement.

Baroness Scott said the government was committed to making the enfranchisement process simpler and cheaper.

‘We will abolish marriage value, cap the treatment of ground rents in the enfranchisement calculation and prescribe rates to be used, saving some leaseholders thousands of pounds. An online calculator will also be introduced to make it simpler for leaseholders to find out how much it will cost them to enfranchise,’ she said.

During yesterday's debate, Lord Kennedy of Southwark asked about the Building Safety Act and leaseholder protections.

Lease extensions granted in blocks of flats after 14 February 2022 are not protected by the Building Safety Act. Scott said the government was looking to resolve the issue through legislation but advised leaseholders seeking to extend or vary a lease to get legal advice 'and seek to come to agreements with landlords to apply the same protections as contractual terms’.

The government will respond to the Law Commission’s recommendation to reinvigorate commonhold as an alternative to leasehold ownership ‘in due course’.

Baroness Thornhill asked if the government’s reforms will address the ‘long, off-putting, expensive, complex process’ of going to the first-tier tribunal as the final arbiter of leasehold disputes.

Scott said the government will look at the tribunal issue when the leaseholders bill and private renters reform bill arrive.

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