Speed up £250 cap on leasehold ground rent, MPs urge

Speed up £250 cap on leasehold ground rent, MPs urge11 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleBecky MortonPolitical reporterGetty ImagesA planned £250 cap on yearly ground rents paid by leaseholders in England and Wales should be introduced more quickly, a committee of MPs has urged.The government has said it expects the limit on ground rents - an annual fee paid by leaseholders to their freeholder - to come into force in late 2028.However, a report by the cross-party Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee said this should be brought forward to late 2027, arguing leaseholders have waited too long for successive governments to tackle the issue.The government said it was bringing forward legislation "as an urgent priority" to bring the leasehold system to an end in this Parliament - which could run until 2029.There are around five million leasehold homes in England and Wales, where people own the right to occupy a property via a lease for a limited number of years from a freeholder.As well as capping ground rents, the government's draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, which is being scrutinised by the committee before it is introduced to Parliament, would ban the sale of new leasehold flats.It also aims to make it easier for people to convert to commonhold, where people jointly own and take responsibility for their buildings without an expiring lease.What is ground rent and how are leasehold rules changing?Charged £720 to have a key cut - soaring bills drive leaseholders to breaking pointGround rents are paid for the right to occupy the land on which a building sits and are separate to service charges, which cover the management and maintenance of a building.The English Housing Survey estimated that in 2023/24 the average annual ground rent was £304 a year.However, it is common for ground rents to double or increase by RPI inflation at fixed intervals, which can make it difficult to sell or get a mortgage for a property.Ground...