The Government must go further and faster on commonhold and leasehold reform

Over the past week, Parliament has been on Whitsun recess. While MPs haven’t been sitting in the House of Commons, work has very much continued behind the scenes. 

On Wednesday, my Select Committee – the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee – released our report on the Government’s draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. 

In this newsletter, I want to update you on our key findings and explain what they could mean for leaseholders across Woking and beyond. 

Watch me announce the report:

The Government must go further and faster on commonhold and leasehold reform 

Select Committees play a vital role in Parliament – they’re one of the few places where you truly work cross-party to get a common consensus on the best way to tackle issues.  

Made up of small groups of MPs, members of the House of Lords, or both, they investigate and scrutinise the work of specific government departments and issues – and serve as one of the Parliament's primary tools for holding the government to account. 

As a member of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee, I’ve spent the past few months investigating the Government’s draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.  

Whilst it does make a significant step towards giving leasehold homeowners greater control of their buildings, the government needs to go further and faster to meet leaseholders' expectations.  

In its current form, the Bill does not deliver the promises Labour made in their manifesto – and that’s appalling. My committee has recommended a series of changes to ensure it deliverers what the public was promised. 

We’ve also recommended that the government goes further in this legislation by creating an independent regulator for property management agents. This is particularly relevant here in Woking, where management agents such as FirstPort, who manage the Clock Tower building in Maybury along with several other leasehold properties, have spent years causing leaseholders misery through a failure to deliver minimum levels of service. 

Our proposals include: 

Bringing the Government’s proposed ground rent cap of £250 into force by late 2027 

As a committee, we welcome the proposed ground rent cap of £250 per year for all existing leaseholders – it’s long overdue, which is why we’ve recommended that the government accelerate the timetable to bring in the cap by late 2027. 

Reducing the proposed 40-year transitional period for zero ground rent down to 20 years 

The Government’s proposals include a 40-year transitional period to zero ground rent. As a committee, we have queried the government's evidence base for proposing this length of time.  

40 years is far too long for leaseholders in Woking constituency to be waiting, which is why I support my committee's recommendation of a shorter transitional period of 20 years. I believe this would represent a fair balance between leaseholders, freeholders and institutional investors. 

Regulating property management agents 

Our report calls for the proper regulation of property management agents. As MPs, we hear far too often from homeowners distressed by poor service and bad actors hiding behind a veneer of bureaucracy to avoid fulfilling their responsibilities. 

Major firms such as FirstPort have, for too long, been allowed to deliver appalling standards of service without consequence. As a committee, we believe the Bill must include provisions for an independent regulator with the teeth to sanction rogue agents with meaningful penalties, including the removal of their license to operate. 

Enacting the Law Commission’s recommendations to strengthening leaseholders’ rights 

The committee and I are concerned that several vital recommendations previously made by the Law Commission are entirely missing from the draft Bill. These are measures, which the Government promised in its manifesto, which would make it easier and more affordable for existing leaseholders to convert to commonhold. 

We are urging the Government to implement the Law Commission’s recommendations in full. Without them, there is a real risk of “making commonhold an unattainable escape for homeowners trapped in the leasehold system”. 

Making commonhold the default outcome 

We’ve also made a series of recommendations on the technical changes needed to ensure commonhold works as intended in the interests of homeowners. 

In particular, we recommended that conversion to commonhold should become the default outcome of collective enfranchisement, helping more leaseholders move away from an outdated and unfair system. 

Shared ownership and voting rights – the government need to provide urgent clarity 

Our inquiry heard concerns from many shared ownership homeowners, who purchased their properties through the affordable housing scheme, that the draft bill is unclear about the voting rights they will have in commonhold associations.  

In our report we’ve called on the government to urgently clarify this and ensure shared owners are not shut out of decisions which directly affect them. 

Modernising the Land Registry 

In failing to modernise HM Land Registry's legacy system there’s a real risk to the successful implementation of commonhold. In our report, we’ve expressed concern that the government may not have supported the organisation with sufficient funding to undertake this work.  

We’ve called for greater digitisation and automation to support the Land Registry to address its backlog of casework and prepare for an increase in commonhold applications. 

To conclude... 

It’s heartbreaking that so many people in Woking constituency – and across the country – who have worked hard to get on the property ladder have seen their homeownership dream turn into a living nightmare because of the unfair leasehold system. 

Many leaseholders I have spoken to are concerned that without urgent reform, they will be trapped in homes with rising costs, that they are unable to sell. 

Successive governments have failed to tackle the unfair leasehold system, cap ground rents, and put homeowners in control of the management of their buildings. Whilst this draft Bill is a step forward, I was proud to put my name to a report that provides a blueprint for how the final bill can meet leaseholders’ expectations. 

I will continue to hold the government to account and push them to live up their manifesto pledges through revised legislation that delivers justice for leaseholders as soon as possible.  

Read our report in full 

https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/53249/documents/297864/default/