Leasehold activists: Peppercorn ground rents are best reform option

Leasehold campaigners are urging anyone responding to the Government’s consultation on ground rents reform to boycott all options but capping them at a peppercorn rate.

The Government has outlined five proposals to reduce ground rents for existing leaseholders as part of a consultation launched last month.

It sets out five options for tackling ground rents for current leaseholders.

These are:
•    Setting ground rents at a peppercorn;
•    Putting in place a maximum financial value which ground rents could never exceed; 
•    Capping ground rents at a percentage of the property value; 
•    Limiting ground rent in existing leases to the original amount when the lease was granted; and
•    Freezing ground rent at current levels. 

The National Leasehold Campaign (NLC) is calling for all respondents to opt for the first option.

Cath Williams co-founder of the NLC, said: “The rationale we put forward for choosing this option is simple. Peppercorn ground rents are positive for leaseholders, lenders, and the wider market because it removes the two-tier market where new leases are now a peppercorn under the Ground Rent 2022 legislation. 

“All the other options perpetuate some kind of ground rent income for investors for no service and therefore are not acceptable’.

Katie Kendrick, founder of the NLC, added: “We need to kill leasehold off at the roots. It’s a feudal iniquitous system. 

“The aim of the NLC has always remained clear, to Abolish Leasehold. The Ground Rent Act 2022 was welcomed as it banned new leases being able to charge a ground rent but what it did do was disadvantage existing leaseholders by making their ground rent terms less desirable. Our members are reporting they are losing sales due to ground rent terms. The only way we can re-align new leases with existing leases is by reducing them to a peppercorn”.