As set out on 21 November, the Government intends to consult next year on implementing the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 on service charges and on legal costs, bringing these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter. These include measures to drive up transparency and will apply to housing associations who charge leaseholders service charges unless specifically exempted.

With regard to the question about the regulation of managing agents, I refer the Noble Lady to the answer I gave to HL2579 which was answered on 28 November 2024. The Government has committed to introducing a Competence and Conduct Standard for registered providers of social housing and will set out next steps for implementing the standard in the coming months.

Registered providers of social housing are required to deliver the outcomes set out in the Regulator of Social Housing's regulatory standards, including the requirement to take all reasonable steps to ensure the health and safety of tenants in their homes and associated communal areas.

As set out on 21 November, the Government intends to consult next year on implementing the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 on service charges and on legal costs, bringing these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter. These include measures to drive up transparency and will apply to housing associations who charge leaseholders service charges unless specifically exempted.

With regard to the question about the regulation of managing agents, I refer the Noble Lady to the answer I gave to HL2579 which was answered on 28 November 2024. The Government has committed to introducing a Competence and Conduct Standard for registered providers of social housing and will set out next steps for implementing the standard in the coming months.

Registered providers of social housing are required to deliver the outcomes set out in the Regulator of Social Housing's regulatory standards, including the requirement to take all reasonable steps to ensure the health and safety of tenants in their homes and associated communal areas.

We are taking very seriously the issue of property agents and are committed to promoting fairness and transparency for tenants and homeowners in this space. The commitment also includes raising professionalisation and standards among property agents—letting estate and managing agents. The Government welcome the ongoing work being undertaken by the industry itself. Interestingly, since the noble Lord, Lord Best’s report, the industry is doing something different and is working better. We will continue to work with the noble Lord and his working group on what more we can do to ensure that property agents are behaving professionally.

The Secretary of State considered the decision to launch the Building Safety Fund in line with requirements under the Public Sector Equality duty. Funding is being provided to support leaseholders in both the social and private sectors. Where funding is claimed from government, the costs of remediating unsafe non-ACM cladding systems cannot be passed onto leaseholders.

It has not proved possible to respond to these questions in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

It has not proved possible to respond to these questions in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

The Government’s consultation, Tackling Unfair Practices in the Leasehold Market, considered a number of issues within the leasehold sector including the sale of new built leasehold houses, and onerous ground rents. The consultation also sought views on what further areas of leasehold reform should be prioritised and why. The public consultation, which closed on 19 September, received around 6,000 replies. We are carefully analysing the responses, and will issue the Government response in due course.

On the 18 October the Government announced a call for evidence on regulating letting agents and managing agents. This is to help improve the sector’s professionalism and address problems in the property management industry, drive down costs and protect consumers from the small minority of rogue agents. The call for evidence closes on 29 November 2017.

At Spending Review 2015, the Government announced its plan to publish a call for evidence looking at the process of buying a selling a home. We understand that there are complexities involved and, therefore, will assess the evidence received in response to the call for evidence to determine what changes have the potential to make the greatest impact. The call for evidence will include consideration of the impact of leasehold on buying and selling homes, and will be launched in due course.

At Budget 2016 the Government announced its plan to publish a call for evidence looking at the process of buying a home including the process of purchasing a leasehold property. The Government will assess the evidence received to determine what changes to the homebuying process can make the greatest impact including the transactional costs incurred by leaseholders.

The Government is not persuaded that more burdensome approaches to regulate landlords would be effective. Leaseholders in dispute with their landlord can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in England and the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in Wales to seek redress.

The Government is extending leaseholders’ access to redress by including provisions in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 that will address an irregularity concerning the inability of courts and tribunals to restrict recovery of a landlord’s legal costs from leaseholders as administrative charges, where they consider a restriction on recovery to be just and equitable. The Government plans to introduce related secondary legislation by summer 2017.

With more than 4 million properties across England subject to a long lease, leaseholders are a vital part of a growing housing market.

This Government has already increased protections for leaseholders, with limits being placed on the amount of service charges recoverable from local authority leaseholders where the works are funded by Government grant, as well as a requirement for every property manager to belong to an approved redress scheme. We will now work closely with the Competition and Markets Authority to consider what further support the Government can offer.

Housing is a devolved issue for Wales. I understand that the Competition and Markets Authority will be pursuing the issues arising out of its market study separately with the Welsh Government.

Chapter 4 of Part 1 of the Consumer Rights Bill applies to contracts between a trader and a consumer, for the trader to supply a service to a consumer. A residential lease itself is not considered a service, as it is an “interest in land”, and, as such, chapter 4 of the Consumer Rights Bill does not apply. Chapter 2 of Part 1 of the Consumer Rights Bill applies to contracts between a trader and a consumer, for the trader to supply goods to a consumer. Goods are defined as “tangible moveable items”, so do not include land which is immoveable property.

Rights and protections specific to long residential leases are provided through landlord and tenant legislation, including the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, and the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.

Leases are also contractual arrangements between a landlord and tenant or leaseholder which defines each party’s interests, rights and obligations in respect of the leasehold and, as such, Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Bill on Unfair Terms would apply where the landlord is a “trader” and the leaseholder a “consumer”.

Part 1 and Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Bill will apply to contracts between a trader and a consumer entered into after the Bill comes into force.

The noble Baroness is of course correct. We are looking to do that and to help leaseholders to feel more secure. On the right to be consulted about legal and service challenges, to extend a lease or buy the freehold, to take over management—subject to certain criteria—or seek an appointment from a tribunal and protection for service charges so that moneys are protected from creditors, we are working with practitioners in the field to ensure that such information is communicated effectively. We have talked about good landlords and bad landlords. It is important that good practice and good landlord practice is shared, and we encourage landlords to share information on the rights of leaseholders with their own leaseholders.

As the noble Baroness will know, the question goes across departments—that for housing and the Ministry of Justice. I do not have the details available but I will certainly ask for inquiries to be made along the lines of the question.

Right to manage cases, which are leasehold disputes, are heard in the First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber. Onward appeals from the First-tier tribunal are to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber). HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of the Property Chamber and the Upper Tribunal (Land Chamber). The number of cases received by the First-tier tribunal and Upper Tribunal is published by the Ministry of Justice Tribunal Statistics (quarterly) on the GOV.UK website at the following address:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics

Data specific to right to manage cases is not routinely published. To obtain the information requested would require interrogation of case files within the First-tier tribunal and the Upper tribunal, and quality assurance checks on that data to ensure it is accurate, reliable and in a form suitable for publication. This could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for paying so much attention to my voting record. This provision in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act is the right way forward because it will provide, as I said, a new course of redress for leaseholders and tenants. We believe that once the

schemes are in place they will drive up standards, which are so important, and that they will be able to do so without yet more regulation.