The end of toxic leaseholds has been announced by the Government - much to the delight of long-suffering homeowners.
Housing minister Robert Jenrick said the new laws are being introduced to banish the scandalous pitfalls of leasehold and put fairness back at the heart of the housing system .
The changes have been widely welcomed as good news for leaseholders, who have long endured issues such as doubling ground rent and extortionate costs to extend their leases.
New legislation: The end of toxic leasehold homes has been announced by the Government
WHAT IS A LEASEHOLD PROPERTY?
A leasehold property has some key differences compared to a freehold home.
By Joey Gardiner2021-01-07T11:18:00+00:00
Housing secretary plans to abolish ground rents and introduce “commonhold” tenure
The government is pushing ahead with long-awaited reforms to the leasehold system which will make it impossible for developers and freeholders to impose swingeing ground rents on leasehold residents.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said the new system, brought in as part of the government’s response to the leasehold homes scandal – in which buyers of new-build houses were asked to pay large ground rents which doubled every 10 years – will see leaseholders given the right to extend their leases at zero ground rent.
Currently, leasehold house owners can only extend their leases by a maximum of 50 years, and cannot alter the ground-rent terms.
Nearly 4.5million leaseholders in England will be ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ better off as a result of laws to be unveiled today by the Housing Secretary.
Robert Jenrick said his attempt to make it cheaper and simpler for leaseholders to buy their properties is the biggest property law reform since Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy revolution in the 1980s.
Ground rents will be scrapped for millions with a new right to extend leases to 990 years. They will also be reduced to zero on all new retirement homes.
The Government said the changes ‘could save households from thousands to tens of thousands of pounds’.
MP Justin Madders has paid tribute to hardworking leasehold campaigners – including Ellesmere Port resident Katie Kendrick – after it was announced that property reforms will allow leases on homes to be extended by almost 1,000 years. Billed as some of the biggest reforms to English property law for 40 years, they could save leaseholders “tens of thousands of pounds”, according to the Government. The proposals, announced by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick today, will give leaseholders the right to extend their lease by 990 years, meaning millions of people will no longer have to pay any ground rent to the freeholder, removing added expense from owning a home.