Speeches by Pennycook.

“We would obviously robustly defend an appeal case as well, yes.”

“What are you asking me?”

“We will be ready for it. We will robustly challenge it, as we did that to the 2024 Act. I go back to the fact that we want to see these reforms in place as quickly as possible. That is why, returning to the particular choices we have made on ground rents, it is to the lasting benefit of leaseholders to ensure that all …”

“Our contingency plan would be to robustly contest the legal action, as we robustly contested the challenge to the 2024 Act provisions. It is about as simple as that. It does not really go beyond that, so responding to the nature of the specific legal challenge that may or may not come. I fully expect one to come, let’s…”

“What is the question?”

“It is my preference and my intention to include those fixes in this Bill, subject to receiving collective agreement and getting that through the process of the King’s Speech. The point I am trying to make is that the valuation rates consultation is not the constraint to switching on those provisions. It is the flaws in…”

“That will be forthcoming in the coming months. The important point here is that we will go out to consult on the capitalisation and deferment rates, which, as you know, under the 2024 Act the Secretary of State sets. I just want to make the point which I have tried to stress on previous occasions: we could have consult…”

“I will weigh that up and make a judgment, but it will be good to have your general view.”

“A future piece of legislation would be slower than this one obviously, which is before us.”

“On the principle you raise, that is one of the considerations in the timeline for impact. There is a world in which we could get a number of discrete managing agent provisions into this draft Bill, and that would be switched on at the point that we receive Royal Assent, and any secondary legislation required. If we tak…”

“There is not a chance on earth that I can confirm what is in the King’s Speech to this Committee today. I am sorry.”

“I do not have a clear timeline that I can share with you, not least because I cannot pre-empt this King’s Speech, let alone future King’s Speeches.”

“I have made it very clear that I want the SIs to come forward as quickly as possible. To supplement what Rachel said, we have discovered, not least through the consultation, that what is seemingly a fairly simple intervention—let us standardise service charges and make them more transparent—is actually incredibly compl…”

“I feel that I am dominating the conversation, so I will bring my officials in and then supplement their answers. I can tell you how we break down the SIs.”

“As I set out in my November 2024 written ministerial statement, as well as in other places, we have made clear that we are committed to strengthening the regulation of managing agents—that is not an issue. They will play a key role in the maintenance of multi-occupancy buildings and freehold estates. Their importance o…”

“Okay, we will come on to that. They took a small number, so both the elements relating to the nature of the right to manage and the process issues in that report are far easier to deal with. Enfranchisement is far more complex.”

“Let me give you a bit more clarity on that point, because I think it is useful. It is quite difficult to determine the number of outstanding recommendations from the Law Commission, because the 2024 Act departed from its recommendations for holistic reform of the leasehold and RTM regimes. Some of the recommendations a…”

“We intend to honour our manifesto commitments in this Parliament, as we made clear.”

“Let me bring my officials in on the Law Commission. I should declare an interest, by the way, as my wife is joint chief executive of the Law Commission.”

“I will not be drawn on whether it will be dealt with in the draft Bill. We absolutely recognise the issue here. It is probably worth my setting out some of the background and thinking. Obviously, we are already taking steps to make enfranchisement cheaper and easier by implementing the reforms in the 2024 Act—I am sure…”