The The National Leasehold Campaign say they are ‘delighted to see a real commitment from this government to prioritise Leasehold Reform’ in today’s King’s Speech.
The organisation say their commitment to “Act quickly” to implement the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will be a relief for many leaseholders who currently remain in a state of ‘Leasehold Limbo’.
For many the implementation cannot come soon enough. Removing the disproportionate and draconian threat of forfeiture is very much welcomed as this is often used as a weapon against leaseholders.
The National Leasehold Campaign (NLC) and The Leasehold Knowledge Partnership (LKP) alongside the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Leasehold Reform (APPG) say they have ‘put in a tremendous amount of work over the past 12 years to get to this point. We are relieved to know the new government wants to continue with the work already done including the incredible amount of work of the Law Commission’.
Katie Kendrick founder of the NLC states: “Today is a momentous day for Leaseholders. Over the years we have heard many Queens / King’s speeches promising reforms but today’s commitment from the new Government feels different. It feels like meaningful change is eventually going to be delivered. It’s fantastic to see that the government shares our vision to bring the feudal Leasehold system to an end and wants to “ban the sale of new leasehold flats so Commonhold becomes the default tenure” by introducing a draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill in this session of parliament.
The NLC say that it is clear there is a lot of work still to do on the many issues of Leasehold but they also say it’s refreshing to know that the new government is determined to pick up the outstanding issues, tackle them head on and deliver once and for all.
Cath Williams, Co-Founder has said: “Leasehold is not homeownership, for too many it is a living nightmare. Whilst we welcome the banning of new leasehold flats, we cannot forget the millions of existing leaseholders who remain trapped in this feudal system. We remain cautious about creating a 2-tier system and care must be given to ensure existing leaseholders are not left behind. We need to see urgent action on capping existing ground rents otherwise people will remain trapped in homes they cannot sell”.
Jo Darbyshire, Co-Founder has said: “We are really pleased to see the government’s commitment to bring the injustice of ‘Fleecehold’ private estates to an end. The NLC coined the term ‘Fleecehold’ to illustrate the many ways our homes are being used as income streams. This practice must be stamped out. We now need to see today’s commitments translated into action as soon as possible and hope the government responds positively to our call for a cap on existing ground rents and regulation of property agents (ROPA).
“We look forward to working closely with the government to achieve our goal of abolishing the feudal Leasehold system with a move to Commonhold as the default tenure. From what we have heard today the future will be much brighter for leaseholders.”
3 responses
Will the proposed reforms mean that Freeholding management companies will be compensated for loss of revenue? they have been handed millions if not billions in ground rent payments for many years, and over the last 20 years or so the situation has become more & more of a case where the leaseholder is being used as a product rather than a customer.
The leasehold racket is riddled with onerous terms and legalities, even when a leaseholder wins a case against a freeholding company the lholder may still be obliged to pay their court fees, this and many other facets of this form of exploitation has been deliberately legalised for the benefit of freeholding companies and individuals and is in my opinion a form of feudal slavery.
So under the present system as I understand it, when the reforms come forward it will be the freeholder companies and individuals who will be wanting payments for loss of revenue, just as was the case when slavery was abolished, it was the slave owners who were compensated, not the slaves, if there were true justice in this country the leaseholders would be compensated, I propose a return of all payments with interest.
“Banning the sale of new leasehold flats so Commonhold becomes the default tenure” would be terrible for existing leaseholders. Worse than the current situation. Unbelievably shortsighted, Tory 2.0.
For those who have followed the commonhold campaign since we restarted it in 2014 protecting existing property values has always been a priority. Conversion of existing homes will occur over many years. Some sites will convert easily and quickly while for others it will be more complex and slow.
Commonhold becomes a far less complex product for conveyancers. No need to check lease length or worries about short leases or ground rent terms, no strange leases terms. Common terms for commonholds from Cornwall to Northumberland.