黑洞社区

Government plans to shake up England鈥檚 leasehold system must avoid making the future worse for home buyers, according to industry experts.

Communities secretary Sajid Javid today to end what he called 鈥渦njust and unnecessary鈥� practices. Javid launched an eight-week consultation on its proposals, which he said would 鈥渉elp make sure leasehold works in the best interests of homebuyers now and in the future鈥�.

While some, including Mark Farmer, co-founder and chief executive of Cast, welcomed the move, the government has also been warned not to go too far in its reforms.

Stephen Barter, who heads KPMG UK鈥檚 Real Estate Advisory, acknowledged that some action was necessary but warned any future sanctions needed to be 鈥渃arefully targeted in order to avoid making the disruption worse for homeowners or inhibiting the future development of new homes鈥�.

Ministers needed 鈥渢o consider outright sanctions very selectively but also needs to urgently promote the creation of industry best practice guidance on ground rent, landlord approval and service charge regimes, including the notification and right to buy arrangements for tenants.鈥�

Others shared Barter鈥檚 concerns including Catherine Harrington, director of the National Community Land Trust (CLT) Network, who said Javid鈥檚 proposals 鈥渃ould have a significant impact on community land trusts, at the very moment the community-led housing sector stands ready for rapid growth鈥�.

Leasehold is commonly used by CLTs as a means of ensuring that new homes remain permanently affordable for their local communities, she said.

Harrington added: 鈥淟easehold works well for many community land trusts across the country, allowing them to help people to access home ownership while ensuring that housing remains genuinely affordable in perpetuity.

鈥淲e welcome the government鈥檚 commitment to stamping out abusive practices by the big developers but it shouldn鈥檛 stop communities from coming together to build the affordable housing they so badly need.鈥�