Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set to change the law on leasehold (Image: Getty)
New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has given his clearest indication yet of intent to change a housing law affecting an estimated five million UK households.
Speaking in the House of Commons during his first ever Prime Minister’s Questions on Tuesday, September 1, Mr Burnham was asked about the long-running issue of leasehold reform.
Get the latest politics news – straight from our team in Westminster and more Invalid email
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
Under current rules, homeowners pay annual or monthly ‘ground rents’ to occupy the land underneath their buildings, and is a common arrangement for flats but increasingly it applies to new build housing as well as some older houses.
New protections against unfair ground rent charges and easier routes for existing leaseholders to switch to commonhold form part of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
The Bill would also give homeowners a new right to request a faster broadband connection, if it became law. Although the bill was approved under the previous Conservative government in May 2024, the majority of its provisions are not yet in force.
When asked about the commonhold and leasehold issue which is thought to affect five million households, Mr Burnham replied: “I’m looking at every facet of the cost of living crisis and where people face unfair charges that they can’t avoid, and this area of leasehold is absolutely in that territory.
“So can I make a commitment directly to him today, it is my intention and the intention of the government, to bring forward that commonhold and leasehold bill so that finally we can reform this unfair system and we will do that in this session.”
A draft version of the legislation was published in January this year, under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, and was included in the King’s Speech.
Since 2022, landowners have been banned from charging ground rents in most new residential leasehold properties throughout England and Wales.
Taking back public control over services and utilities will be at the centre of the Government’s efforts to create economic growth, the Prime Minister said in his first Commons session on Tuesday.
During a three hour and 23 minute statement, including questions from backbenchers, he hit out at the “failed economic model” which had led to high streets across the country being left desolate. He described Britain’s water industry as “a leaking monument to that approach, a country run in the private rather than public interest”.
Mr Burnham added: “The Government I lead will be relentless, relentless in giving people and places what they were promised 10 years ago: ownership and control.
“And from that control over their destiny comes change and growth.”
A 10-year plan for Britain, laid out later this year, will make the case for “stronger public control over these essentials, making them work for people and places again”, Mr Burnham said.