Posted 28.06.19
GOV.UK: Further reading
In a speech to the Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Manchester, Communities Secretary James Brokenshire confirmed plans to abolish the selling of new houses as leasehold properties and reduce ground rents for new leases to zero.
To stop freeholders and managing agents taking as long as they want - and charging what they want - to provide leaseholders with the vital information they need to sell their home, ministers will introduce a new time limit of 15 working days and a maximum fee of £200 to make the home buying process quicker, easier and cheaper.
The Secretary of State has also instructed Homes England to renegotiate Help to Buy contracts to explicitly rule out the selling of new leasehold houses, other than in exceptional circumstances, to protect new home buyers from unscrupulous charges.
And where buyers are incorrectly sold a leasehold home - saddling them with a property that could ultimately prove difficult to sell - consumers will be able to get their freehold outright at no extra cost.
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