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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.

As I have pointed out, the £6.50 ground rent is not economic to collect. Have you checked the freeholder at Land registry Records ? Was the ground rent previously paid to a person or company ? I suggest you make an informal offer ( and marked "subject to contract" ) to buy the freehold title of your house at 30 x GR = £195 + £250 contribution to landlord's legal costs .

1. If the ground rent is no longer collected by landlord's solicitor , it is indicating the annual ground rent must be small ( below £25 p.a ). 2. Before you write to make an informal offer to buy the freehold title for your house , investigate the size of the freehold title . ( just one house or entire street of houses ? ) Visit Land Registry Online website and buy a copy of the (1) freehold title and (2) site plan for your leasehold house . The cost is £3 each by credit card and you can download the info. Check with the houses , next door , to ascertain if they have same freeholder . 3. Details of free guide to compulsory purchase of freehold title of a leasehold house ( enfranchisement under 1967 Act ) , may be obtained from LEASE ( www. lease-advice.org ) . 4. Consider making an informal offer to buy the freehold title of your house at 25 x annual ground rent + £250 contribution to landlord's legal cost .

I think £750 charge by solicitor must include some conveyancing work. For countersigning ID1 form only , the countersigning party must see identify you in person, say with passport , driving licence with photo , proof of residence for last 5 years ( council tax and utility bills )

You can find the name & address of freeholder of your leasehold house from Land Registry Online and pay £3 for copy of freehold title. The annual ground rent in your 700+ years lease may be very low and not economical to demand payment . If you make direct approach for price of the freehold title, the freeholder may ask you to pay a few thousand pounds. However where the price of freehold title for a leasehold house cannot be agreed between leaseholder and freeholder , you can apply to : the Residential Property Tribunal Services ( Northern Region ) . 1st Fl, Picaddily Exchange , Manchester M1 4AH for determination of price to pay.

1, There is a free guide to buying the freehold title ( for leasehold house ) which can be downloaded from www.lease-advice.org . 2. Also for evaluation of cost, see section 6 for a house with 60 years remaining on the lease ( https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/leasehold-houses-valuation/ ) . The valuation sample ( section 6) includes "marriage value" which the previous Housing Minister has announced it intends to withdraw in the future. 3. You should pay Jeffrey Shaw for half hour consultation . He is the expert on leasehold matters and dealing with the freeholder.

The Chancellor has announced in recent mini-budget that energy prices from 1st Oct will be capped . Electricity should cost around 34p per unit and Gas cost around 10.3 p per unit.