The government has confirmed that leaseholders will be given more rights and better protections under new rules. In an announcement on Tuesday, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the current system sees leaseholders and people living on freehold estates "forced to pay fees in order to receive their landlord's permission for simple requests like keeping a pet – with no certainty of the costs and no clear oversight of the process".
Caps on fees and new powers
The department says ministers will legislate to give the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government, Angela Rayner, powers to bring in caps on these fees "that are genuinely reasonable and that landlords must follow". "These powers will also cover privately managed estates where homeowners can face similar charges for minor cosmetic changes to their properties," it added.
As well as overhauling rules surrounding these permission fees, the legislative changes "will enable a clamp down on administrative fees, where landlords can charge for providing documents on request, like building safety certificates, or even for simply notifying them of a change in mortgage provider", the MHCLG said.
Public consultation and regulation
The scope of what should be capped and the amount for each item will be informed by a public consultation. The government says it also intends to bring in independent regulation of property agents, which it says will give leaseholders, tenants and homebuyers a route towards better rights and protections.
An official watchdog will be able to set codes of practice, including standards of conduct and proper complaint handling for those they regulate. Additionally, under the proposals, property agents would be required to have a license and appropriate qualifications to operate, with the watchdog able to strip licenses from people who don't meet requirements.
Timeline and commitments
The government says it is committed to bringing forward these changes as soon as possible and will set out more information in due course. The Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, referenced the bill that would bring these rules into force during his speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool today (Tuesday, September 29), saying it would be introduced before Christmas.
"We promise we will not forget our leaseholders," he told ministers and party members. "To the millions of leaseholders across the country, the days of you being squeezed for every penny are coming to an end," he added.
It builds on a previously announced £250 cap on annual ground rents for leaseholders in England and Wales, BBC News reports. The government says it expects this measure to be implemented in late 2028, but has faced pressure from MPs to bring it forward by one year.
