DISTRAUGHT homeowners will get a timeline for ground rents being slashed to a peppercorn rate in just months, Michael Gove vowed today.
Speaking to The Sun, the Housing Secretary pledged to never cave to “shadowy corporations” and “fake campaigners” desperately trying to kill off reform to Britain’s “antiquated” housing system.
Mr Gove said before the next general election the Leasehold and Freehold Bill will become law.
He promised it will save millions of leaseholders from excessive ground rent and service fees, and make it easier to extend leases or purchase a freehold.
The Department for Levelling Up, Communities and Housing estimate homeowners will save a combined £5.1bn in ground rent over 10 years.
Over four million leaseholders in England and Wales pay ground rent, and under the reforms each home should save around £1,136.
Ministers had weighed up various options for ripping up “antiquated” rules governing England’s system – including capping rates and scrapping the system all together.
Mr Gove told The Sun he was “instinctively drawn” to forcing all ground rent to peppercorn prices.
He said: “I'm instinctively drawn to a peppercorn, because money for nothing should mean that you should be paying as close to nothing as possible.
“I agree that if you've got a situation where people need some of that common work to be done in communal spaces, then service charges should be fair.
“But with ground rents, you really are paying for nothing.”
Mr Gove added: “Before a general election I think what we can do is show that we will have passed into legislation, a lever, a rapid move to peppercorn or a stage-by-stage process whereby we get there.”
Lobbyists working on behalf of companies that own freeholds across England have been badgering ministers to kill the bill.
They’ve said investors in companies that own freeholds will sue the government for billions over lost income.
But a defiant Mr Gove hit back: “Fine. Let them make that case in court.
“To my mind, the whole point about parliament is to represent the people of this country, and the overwhelming majority of people who are involved in the world of homeownership are people who are doing the right thing.
“We shouldn’t give into them when there are hundreds of thousands of people, hardworking people, who have tried incredibly hard to make sure they get a deposit together to get on the housing ladder.”
