This will put an end to rip-off that soured dream of home ownership

FOR many daily Mail readers, owning a home of your own is hugely important. It’s an aspiration every Conservative government has sought to realise for as many people as possible.

But, for those who have bought a property with a lease imposing crippling ground rents, additional fees, and onerous conditions, the dream of home ownership has been soured.

That’s why, today, the Government is announcing the biggest change to how we own homes for generations – an end to the unfair practices and legal loopholes which have dogged the leasehold market.

In all this we will be guided by the simple insight that most of us aspire to be homeowners, in the truest sense of the phrase – owners not leaseholders.

Instead of only being able to extend your lease for 50 or 90 years, both leasehold house and flat owners will now benefit from a standard lease extension of 990 years or ownership into the year 3000!

Importantly, these extensions will also be at zero ground rents, ending the reprehensible behaviour of developers sometimes doubling or even tripling these charges within just a few years.

Millions of eligible homeowners will be able to buy their freeholds at a lower price than what they currently pay landlords. There will be a simple formula where the amount attributed to ground rents in the calculation will be capped.

We’re also scrapping the complex and opaque process for leaseholders looking to buy their freehold or extend their lease – abolishing prohibitive and arcane costs like ‘marriage value’ and prescribing fair rates in a new, straightforward calculation which will cut the cost of extending a lease or buying the freehold and potentially saving leaseholders thousands of pounds.

Leaseholders will be able to log on to an online calculator – further simplifying this process and breaking down barriers for homeowners across England.

We’ve already committed to ending ground rents in many new leases and, today, we are announcing this will be extended to include all new flats in the retirement sector as well. If any group deserve protection from rip-off practices it is surely the elderly.

Across leasehold, some practices have, quite literally, been indefensible. Ordinary family houses have been sold as leasehold for no reason bar eking out a bit more profit for developers. Absurd charges have been levied for simple day-to-day things like putting up a satellite dish or building a conservatory. The changes we are bringing about will make the leasehold system fairer, cheaper and simpler. We will be legislating to bring these about, first fulfilling our commitment to abolish ground rents this year and then taking forward widespread reform.

Leasehold reform is a complex issue, as demonstrated by the fact that successive post-War governments have wrestled with it. Harold Wilson’s government enabled a limited right to extend a lease and/or acquire a freehold, while Margaret Thatcher gave the right to first refusal where landlords wished to sell.

John Major then oversaw the most radical reform, enabling leases to be extended for an additional 90 years and a clear right to buy the freehold, after a battle with vested interests.

And Tony Blair provided an alternative tenure to leasehold, Commonhold in 2002 (freehold ownership of flats with joint responsibility for the common parts), but poor legal drafting and even worse promotion meant it hasn’t gained traction yet.

None succeeded in settling the issue or wholly countering the criticisms.

THE Law Commission has recognised the advantages of Commonhold, and we now need a bold effort to make this tenure more widespread and work through the practicalities with great care.

That’s why I’m establishing a Commonhold Council, a partnership of leasehold groups, industry and government to do just that. The announcement we are making today is a giant stride forward in the long history of English property rights.

The scandalous pitfalls of leasehold are being banished by this government, and we are putting fairness back at the heart of the housing system.

And as we focus on fairness, we know The Grenfell Inquiry has laid bare some of the astonishingly brazen behaviour of developers and managing agents in cutting corners and putting residents at risk. This is a corporate scandal. We are – and will continue – to hold them accountable.

The Government is working at pace to develop further financial solutions to protect leaseholders from unaffordable costs.

We will always put the interests of leaseholders first. This is a massive and immensely complex challenge. We understand the importance of getting this right and fighting for homeowners so they can move on with their lives with renewed hope, in safety and security.