Ellesmere Port & Neston MP, has welcomed new Government
proposals on leasehold housing, but has warned that “the devil is
in the detail.” Madders is seeking a meeting with the
Housing Minister to put pressure on him to act with
urgency.
The Government has confirmed that they will go ahead with a
ban on new leasehold houses, following a public consultation and
will force developers to cut controversial ground rents to zero
for all new apartments and houses.
In a move which appears to be strongly influenced by
’ recent Private Members
Bill, the Department for Communities and Local Government said it
will be “working with the Law Commission to make the process of
purchasing a freehold or extending a lease much easier, faster
and cheaper.” The Government will also write to all
developers that have sold homes with “onerous ground rent terms”
to ask them to provide “necessary redress.”
In response to so-called “fleecehold” properties, whereby a
developer sells the leasehold of the property back to the
homeowner, but retains clauses allowing them to charge large sums
of money, the Government plans to make sure that freeholders have
equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge unfair service
charges.
Commenting, said:
“It is a significant step forward that the Government
appear to be listening to the thousands of leasehold campaigners,
who have demanded that changes are made to our deeply unfair
housing market. But of course the devil is in the detail as
to whether all of the injustices being experienced by current
leaseholders will be resolved and I look forward to pressing the
Secretary of State to provide some details.
“It is particularly pleasing to see that the Government
have taken on board the suggestions that I recently made in my
Leasehold Reform Bill about changing the mechanism by which
freeholds can be purchased. There is still a risk though
that the Government could kick this element into the long grass
leaving thousands of people still trapped in unsellable homes.
Urgent action is needed now for those with doubling ground
rents and unfair fees and charges in their existing leases and I
will be seeking a meeting with the Housing Minister to set out in
detail the straightforward process for purchasing the freehold
that I have proposed.”
“We would never have reached this stage without a huge
amount of hard work by the National Leasehold Campaign, the
Leasehold Knowledge Partnership and the All Party Parliamentary
Group and I pay tribute everyone
involved.
“In particular I have to single our Katie Kendrick from Ellesmere
Port, who has been absolutely tireless in her efforts and has
represented thousands of leaseholders from all around the
country. She should be incredibly proud of what she has
achieved so far.
“From the very beginning, I described this as the PPI
of the house building industry and the developers and freeholders
should know that we will not rest until a fair resolution has
been reached.”
