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Leaseholders' Rights Bill

In many senses, the Bill is a result of the failure of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. That was flawed in many ways, and I say that as someone who campaigned for five years to get it on the statute book. It was a great day when that was achieved. It was only the third leasehold reform Act since 1887, and it was substantially flawed. That was partly because civil servants had done their usual thing of giving their Minister a "Blue Peter" Bill—one that they had prepared earlier. It had substantially been prepared for the Conservative Government and had not taken account of all the work done in subsequent years by my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr. Raynsford) on the subject. Of course, civil servants were fearful that the 2002 Act would not get through the Lords. In those days, the landed interests of those there were still substantial; civil servants were very fearful that they would fight the Bill for a long period and delay the Government's legislative programme accordingly. For that reason, key elements of the 2002 Act did not work properly. However, it introduced consultation, which was not obligatory before. Critically, it introduced an obligation on landlords to hold moneys in trust. Extraordinarily, that had not previously been a requirement. Of course, it also supposedly made commonhold and enfranchisement easier. I remember that in my speech on Second Reading of that Bill, I said that even if 5 per cent. of new properties were designated commonhold, I would consider it a tremendous success if that were achieved within 10 years. Sadly, I have been proven right. Nowhere near 5 per cent. of new build is commonhold. I gave a target of 10 per cent. for enfranchisement, and that target, too, has not been met. That shows the fundamental inadequacies of the 2002 Act. I concluded my speech by saying that we would have to revisit the issue in seven or eight years, but what is seven or eight years when leaseholders have been waiting 130? It is essential that the inadequacies of the original Bill are widely addressed, which would encompass some of the points made by the hon. Member for Beckenham (Mrs. Lait). I always advise people not to buy leasehold unless they also have a share of freehold. It is only with a share of freehold that people get control. The issue of control is precisely what she raised in the Chamber today. People buy their house, thinking that they have finally become homeowners. They therefore think that they have control over their property. The tragedy of leasehold is that they do not. Their landlord has control over the property, all the more so, as she pointed out, in the public sector or with registered social landlords. I believe the Minister will refer the hon. Lady to section 151 of the 2002 Act, which amended section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and will say, "You don't understand. Provision for consultation is already made there." If I were the hon. Lady, I would make this response: "To have a right but no means of enforcing that right is to have no right at all." That goes to the heart of the issues that the hon. Lady raised, which all of us across the Chamber recognise from our casework experience. The rights may exist, but either the RSL does not know that it has those obligations, or the leaseholders do not know that they have those rights. Where they do know and try to enforce their rights, they find that there is no mechanism for them to do so. To have a right but no means of enforcement is to have no right at all. That is why the matter needs to be addressed. My own view is that it probably cannot be addressed by the mechanism of the Bill. The hon. Lady is sufficiently experienced in the House, and I know from her indications to me that she understands that, but today she has provided a very valuable service not only to the House and to the Government, but to leaseholders across the country. The issues must be revisited and addressed. Those rights and the remedies for breaches of those rights must be put firmly back into the hands of leaseholders.