Leasehold

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:24 pm on 7 March 2018.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 3:24, 7 March 2018

Thank you very much for those questions, and I would say that the announcement that I have made this week is only the start of my ambitions for leasehold, and the start of the action that I intend to take in this area. You'll recall we had a really instructive and useful debate here in the Chamber at the end of January, and I gave an undertaking at that point to bring forward as many early actions as I could, and the announcements that I've made this week are very much being true to the commitment that I made then, but this is just the start.

I do reiterate that I'm not ruling out the possibility of future legislation. I recognise that legislation may very well be needed in order to resolve the wider issues and to make leasehold, or an alternative tenure, fit for the modern housing market. In order to set out our way forward, we're engaging with the Law Commission's project, which is looking at this issue, and once we have the benefit of the Law Commission's report and our own research, which I've also commissioned into this issue, I'll be able to set out the next steps. But, in the meantime, I will be looking to use all of the avenues at our disposal.

I will say that, in terms of assisting people who are currently subject to those agreements that they've made through the leasehold contracts that they have, I'm very much aware of those problems. I think all of us, almost daily at the moment—I certainly do, anyway—have daily contact with people who are experiencing current problems. Some people think that they were badly advised or not advised at all about what leasehold means for them, and they should seek redress through the established means that already exist.

Disputes relating to the cost of buying freehold, increases in ground rent and service charges—those are things that we all hear about regularly—can all be referred to the leasehold valuation tribunal for resolution, and the leasehold advisory service is very well-placed also to assist leaseholders and help with the task of reforming leasehold tenure in the round as well. LEASE has been established for 20 years. They give free legal advice to leaseholders, landlords, professional advisers, managers and others on the law affecting residential leasehold in England and Wales, and they should be the first point of contact for people who do have concerns in this area.

But as I say, the announcement this week was a first step, and some early actions that I saw could be made fairly straightforwardly, following the discussions we had in January.