Speeches by Pennycook.

“It is certainly not our intention to allow any loopholes into the legislation. That is precisely why we have brought forward a draft Bill rather than a final product. Such is the complexity and technical nature of the reform we are enacting that the additional and enhanced scrutiny to be provided by the Housing, Commun…”

“I have made it clear to the House that we have already set out proposals to strengthen the regulation of managing agents. Those proposals are not the summit of our ambitions; there is more to come. I say to the hon. Gentleman and generally to the House that managing agents will play an even more important role as we pr…”

“I say to my hon. Friend that we are on his constituent’s side. It is because so many leaseholders across the country are suffering from unjust and discriminatory practices that we have to overhaul and ultimately end this feudal system.”

“My hon. Friend is right: there will always be vested interests that resist reform of the nature that we are trying to take forward, just as there will always be naysayers out there for whom nothing we do is ever good enough. This package as a whole, as I have said, will end the leasehold system in its entirety and in a…”

“I will happily meet the hon. Gentleman. As I have said, it is our intention as a Government to end the unjust and discriminatory practices from which leaseholders suffer. As I hope I have made clear, over the course of the Parliament we intend to end—finally, once and for all—this iniquitous system. That will take some…”

“I think that leaseholds will exist for some time to come. Indeed, people in various buildings may not, for whatever reason, wish to convert to commonhold, but it is absolutely our intention to make it easier to do so and to encourage as many leasehold homeowners as possible to make the change, because it is a radical i…”

“I can feel the glare of my private office as I agree to meetings across the House, but I am happy to do so. The matters that the hon. Lady addresses are in the consultation we brought forward last year. It is an incredibly technical consultation on standardising and making more transparent service charges across the co…”

“I am more than happy to write to my hon. Friend about the issue of shared ownership specifically. She will know that through our £39 billion social and affordable homes programme, we are making improvements to shared ownership as a tenure model. More widely, I can assure her that the provisions in the draft Bill will b…”

“I thank the right hon. Member for his fair and reasonable question. The Government consider the intervention on ground rents that we are making through this draft Bill to be a justified and proportionate approach to the specific problems that leaseholders face as a result of high and harmful ground rents. We are introd…”

“I detected an unusual amount of support in that question from the hon. Lady, which I welcome. On the specific issue of insurance charges, again, there was a consultation on switching on some of the provisions in the 2024 Act that relate to insurance commissions. I am more than happy to write to her to set out further d…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend. She, like me, will have constituents who are subject to high, unfair ground rent charges and, in some cases, to escalating ground rent charges, particularly those that are inflation-linked. People across the country see those ground rent charges stack up to significant amounts and they will…”

“My Department always strives to ensure that the House is updated at the earliest possible opportunity. I note and appreciate fully the points you have made, Mr Speaker, and will ensure that they are passed on to my ministerial colleagues. With your permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the Governm…”

“We are absolutely committed to strengthening regulation of managing agents. Some proposals on charges were set out in the consultation on protections for leaseholders, which we released last summer, but there is more to come.”

“Absolutely. Commonhold is a purpose-built tenure designed specifically for people to own and manage a shared building without a third-party landlord and without a ground rent. We want to see its uptake grow significantly over this Parliament, and that is what the measures in this draft Bill are designed to provide for.”

“We want to act as quickly as possible, particularly to bring in the new consumer protections provided for by the 2024 Act.”

“All manner of provisions in the draft Bill that we are discussing are absolutely about rebalancing leasehold and freehold interests. To take the example of forfeiture, freeholders have often been in an unassailable position of strength vis-à-vis leaseholders. That is what we are trying to address by introducing the Bil…”

“As I have said, it is the Government’s intention to ensure that the draft Bill, and the final product that eventually comes forward after scrutiny by the Select Committee, is made law as soon as possible so that leaseholders can benefit from the new provisions. In general terms, no one will pay more than the ground ren…”

“I will come on to talk about financing in more detail, in particular the options that we are considering, but I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman will, again, have to wait for the publication of the SEA report and the programme that will go out to consultation. He and other hon. Members, as well as their communities an…”

“It is a pleasure to close this debate for the Government. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch (Katrina Murray) and thank her for securing the debate, and I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting the House an opportunity to debate this incredibly important matter. I wa…”

“My hon. Friend made the same points when I appeared before the Select Committee earlier this week. I have taken them on board and I am happy to look at what the Department can do to ensure that there is a constructive relationship in each instance where the Government are seeking to build the evidence base. I certainly…”