Leasehold reform

That this House believes reform to the leasehold system is long overdue; notes that Liberals and Liberal Democrats have campaigned to end leasehold since David Lloyd George's Limehouse Speech on his People's Budget in 1909; regrets that the Conservatives in government failed to protect leaseholders from dangerous cladding or ban leaseholds; further notes that leaseholders make up over 20% of the housing stock in England which suffer from poorly regulated management and uncapped ground rents; recognises that many leaseholders have faced large service charge increases, including a 32% rise in the last five years; is concerned that the Government’s draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill means leaseholders will continue to pay £250 in ground rents every year for the next 40 years and will still face development values that put enfranchisement and home ownership out of reach; further regrets that the draft legislation fails to set up regulator of the property sector to cap service charges and unregulated estate management charges and provides no date for the introduction of the Bill itself; is further deeply concerned that the Government is failing to honour its manifesto commitment by further delaying leasehold reform; asks the Government to urgently provide real measures to enable leaseholders to enfranchise, cap unreasonable service and estate management charges, and speed up the process for remediation of buildings built with unsafe materials; and finally calls on the Government to abolish residential leasehold, remove the barriers to home ownership and protect the millions of remaining leaseholders from unfair charges.