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All-Party Parliamentary Group for Leasehold and Commonhold Reform OPEN CONSULTATION Modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases Deadline: Wednesday 17th January This consultation by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities seeks views on capping the maximum ground rent that residential leaseholders can be required to pay in England and Wales. The MP co-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group, Sir Peter Bottomley, Justin Madders and Daisy Cooper, support the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, the National Leasehold Campaign and the Leasehold Advisory Service in their submissions to cap residential ground rents at a PEPPERCORN You may respond to the consultation by completing an online survey here: https://consult.levellingup.gov.uk/leasehold-reform/38011950/ Alternatively, an email response to specific consultation questions can be sent to: Consultation@levellingup.gov.uk

Lease extensions and Ground rent 12 This Bill introduces a new right to a lease extension for leaseholders of both houses and flats, for a term of 990 years at a peppercorn ground rent on payment of a premium. 15 The Bill introduces a new right for leaseholders who already have very long leases (with over 150 years remaining) to buy out their ground rent without extending the term of their lease or buying the freehold. 16 The Bill sets the method for calculating the price of a statutory lease extension or freehold acquisition, known as the valuation process. The Bill removes the requirement for marriage value to be paid, caps the treatment of ground rents in the valuation calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value and allows Government to prescribe the rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium. Rates will be set by the Secretary of State in secondary legislation. My comment on No. 16 : Removing the marriage value is correct , because the building belongs to the leaseholders. But treatment of ground rent at 0.1% of freehold value is not acceptable , because the building belongs to the leaseholders.

Here is a weblink to explanation notes on Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill which is passing through Parliament : - https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-04/0013/en/230013en.pdf Overview of the Bill 1 The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill is the second part of a legislative package to reform English and Welsh property law. It follows on from the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which put an end to ground rents for new, qualifying long residential leasehold properties in England and Wales. 2 The Bill will make long-term changes to homeownership for millions of leaseholders in England and Wales. The main elements of the Bill are: 3 Empowering leaseholders: a. Making it cheaper and easier for existing leaseholders in houses and flats to extend their lease or buy their freehold. b. Increasing the standard lease extension term from 90 years to 990 years for both houses and flats, with ground rent reduced to a peppercorn. c. Removing the requirement for a new leaseholder to have owned their house for two years before they can extend their lease or buy their freehold and for flats before they can extend their lease. d. Increasing the 25 per cent ‘non-residential’ limit preventing leaseholders in buildings with a mixture of homes and other uses such as shops and offices, from buying their freehold or taking over management of their buildings - to allow leaseholders in buildings with up to 50 per cent non-residential floorspace to buy their freehold or take over its management. 4 Improving leaseholder consumer rights: a. Requiring greater transparency regarding leaseholders' service charges so that all leaseholders receive minimum key financial and non-financial information on a regular basis, including introducing a standardised service charge demand form and an annual report, so that leaseholders can scrutinise and better challenge costs if they are considered unreasonable. b. Replacing buildings insurance commissions for managing agents, landlords and freeholders with transparent administration fees. c. Scrapping the presumption for leaseholders to pay their landlords’ legal costs when challenging poor practice. d. Granting freehold homeowners on private and mixed tenure estates the same rights of redress as leaseholders – by extending equivalent rights to transparency over their estate charges and to challenge the charges they pay by taking a case to a Tribunal.

The "Leasehold and freehold Reform bill" is in House of Commons, at the Committee Stage after 1st and 2nd reading. This consultation on "capping ground rent " is a separate subject from Mr Gove and it is open to public response from freeholders, leaseholders, management companies , mortgage lenders , property letting agents and conveyancing solicitors , who report on title to a mortgage lender, and to members of forum . So if you are leaseholder, then please respond to the consultation and inform Mr Gove that buyers have paid 100% to developer for their flat which includes construction of their building , and the leaseholders should own their building with the gardens . But currently, a ground rent company can pay 2% -3% to developer for "the freehold title" for the ground rent income ( and gets the building for free.) . The Government's mistake is to define "freehold title includes land plus the building" and protect the freeholder's interest by upholding unfair laws , such as "forfeiture of lease" for ground rent in arrear and "marriage value" in statutory lease extension . It is time for Mr Gove to recognise the block of flats belongs to the flat owners , and withdraw the court rules on " forfeiture" and "marriage value etc .

The Land Registry are taking 17-22 months to register : https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-processing-times

The consultation period has been extended to close on 17 Jan 2024. Your local MP could reply to this consultation , as the Head of a Constituency. Note for responders : We strongly encourage responses via the online survey, particularly from organisations with access to online facilities such as local authorities, representative bodies and businesses. Consultations receive a high-level of interest across many sectors. Using the online survey greatly assists our analysis of the responses, enabling more efficient and effective consideration of the issues raised. The MPs for Sheffield area include : Gill Furness , MP for Sheffield Brightside Paul Blomfield , MP for Sheffield Central Olivia Blake , MP for Sheffield Hallam, Louise Haigh , MP for Sheffield Heeley . Clive Betts , MP for Sheffield South East

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guide-to-the-leasehold-and-freehold-reform-bill The Bill will strengthen existing, and introduce new, consumer rights for homeowners by: Making it cheaper and easier for people to extend their lease or buy their freehold so leaseholders pay less to have more security in their home.  Increasing the standard lease extension term to 990 years for houses and flats (up from 50 years in houses and 90 years in flats), so leaseholders can enjoy secure ownership without the hassle and expense of future lease extensions. Giving leaseholders greater transparency over their service charges by making freeholders or managing agents issue bills in a standardised format that can be more easily scrutinised and challenged. Making it easier and cheaper for leaseholders to take over management of their building, allowing them to appoint the managing agent of their choice. Making it cheaper for leaseholders to exercise their enfranchisement rights as they will no longer have to pay their freeholder’s costs when making a claim. Extending access to redress schemes for leaseholders to challenge poor practice. The Government will require freeholders, who manage their building directly, to belong to a redress scheme so leaseholders can challenge them if needed – managing agents are already required to belong to a scheme. Making buying or selling a leasehold property quicker and easier by setting a maximum time and fee that for home buying and selling information. Granting homeowners on private and mixed tenure estates comprehensive rights of redress, so they receive more information about what charges they pay, and the ability to challenge how reasonable they are.

Copied from https://www.gov.uk/government /consultations/modern-leasehold-restricting -ground-rent-for- leases This consultation seeks views on limiting the level of ground rent that leasesholders can be required to pay in England and Wales. It asks for views on the the following: the full range of problems that existing ground rents can cause for leaseholders, and the scale of these problems which option to cap ground rents respondents believe is the right one to deliver our aim of giving leaseholders a fairer deal whether there should be a period of delay before implementing any cap, and the types of leases which need to be exempted from any cap to ground rents How to respond: You may respond by completing an online survey at Citizen Space. Alternatively you can email your response to the questions in this consultation to Groundrents.Consultation@levellingup.gov.uk If you are responding in writing, please make it clear which questions you are responding to. Written responses should be sent to: Ground Rent Consultation 3 SW, Fry Building 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF When you reply it would be very useful if you confirm whether you are replying as an individual or submitting an official response on behalf of an organisation and include: your name, your position (if applicable), the name of organisation (if applicable), an address (including post-code), an email address, and a contact telephone number We strongly encourage responses via the online survey, particularly from organisations with access to online facilities such as local authorities, representative bodies and businesses. Consultations receive a high-level of interest across many sectors. Using the online survey greatly assists our analysis of the responses, enabling more efficient and effective consideration of the issues raised.

I found this report about capping the ground rent on the LKP website : https://www.leaseholdknowledge.com/leasehold-reforms-respond-to-government-consultation-over-ground-rents-before-21-december-because-those-legging-you-over-will-certainly-be-doing-so/ Send your choice for option 1 to Mr Gove and send before 4 Dec or those-legging-you-over-will-certainly-be-doing-so/

To beat the postmans strike starting 14 Dec, its better to post your selection for option 1 about 10 days earlier by second class stamp costing 75 p to Mr Gove at Ministry of Levelling Up , Housing and Communities. SW1P 4DF .

Mr Michael Gove , Housing Secretary is holding a consultation on capping ground rent for existing leaseholders ( published on 9 Nov 2023 and closing on 23 Dec 2023 ). Ground rent reforms to save thousands for leaseholders - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) The options are : 1. setting ground rent at a peppercorn 2. putting in place a max value . 3. capping ground rent at a percentage of property value. 4. limiting ground rent to original value when lease was granted . 5. freezing ground rents at current levels. Leaseholders should post their selection ( for option 1 ) to Mr Gove before 15 Dec 2023 . Other options means paying ground rent etc .

Almost 20% of housing stock in E & W is sold under leasehold title . The properties are sold under 99 year or 125 year leases , which can be sold / transferred to the next buyers etc , until the lease term falls to expiry, when the premium falls to zero. When property under freehold title is purchased , the buyer becomes the legal owner of the property. When property under leasehold title is purchased , the buyer becomes the long term rental tenant who pays annual ground rent and service charge for 99 or 125 years. The leaseholder pays for everything under the leasehold property system but gets no interest in the freehold title. We can estimate that 5Mil leasehold units ( at £250,000 each ) = £1.25 Trillion will be lost over 125 years . The lease is recognised by successive Housing Ministers as " a contract on unfair terms for leaseholders" , but these leases are protected by the Government , by foolish decision and £1.25 Trillion will be lost .

The proof of payment is shown on your bank statement .

What is the current value of house, off Chippinghouse Road now ? Must be over £150K ? Was any compensation paid based on ground rent or house value , on the house lost to slum clearance ?

When you own a house under freehold title, you are the legal owner of the property. There is no risk of forfeiture for a freehold house. When you own a house under leasehold title, you are the long term rent tenant of house owned by the freeholder. Your question about "putting buyers off", should be answered by local estate agents operating around your district. Many house buyers will refuse to view leasehold houses, so you may not attract offers from buyers looking at freehold houses.