Speaking to parliament on 13th May, King Charles III laid out the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill and the Remediation Bill.

“My ministers will bring forward legislation to… to reform the leasehold system, including the capping of ground rents [Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill],” said the king.

“My government will bring forward a Bill to speed up remediation for people living in homes with unsafe cladding [Remediation Bill].”

The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill will seek to create a new legal framework for commonhold, providing full freehold ownership for flats and a bespoke approach to communal living without control by third-party landlords.

Among other things, it will also seek to cap ground rents at £250 a year and introduce a ban for leasehold for new flats.

The Remediation Bill is part of a Labour manifesto commitment to fix unsafe cladding issues in the wake of the Grenfell disaster.

This will include measures such as making cladding manufacturers pay towards fixing the problems they have caused and introduce a legal duty for property owners to remediate unsafe issues.

These measures have received a mixed response from the property industry.

The focus on leasehold reform has been welcomed by Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, who now wants to see these progress “at pace”.

“Reforms to the housing sector can support economic growth and allow people to get on in life, but there must also be a much stronger focus on reducing and removing property taxation to make it quicker, easier, and more affordable for people to move and get onto the housing ladder, reduce cost pressures on landlords and bring down the cost of renting for tenants,” said Timothy.

“We will continue to engage with policy makers and the UK government to ensure the housing market works for all.”

However, Kate Butler — assistant director at Real Estate:UK, has warned about the impacts this could have around investor sentiment.

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She argued that capping ground rent at £250, without compensation for institutional investors, could “actively” undermine property risks and risk damaging investor perceptions.

“There are billions of pounds of long-term institutional investment in ground rents across the country, with everyday savers reliant on this income for their pensions and long-term savings,” said Kate.

“While genuinely unaffordable and rapidly escalating ground rents must be addressed, the government’s approach is entirely disproportionate, and will raise the risk premium that investors attach to the UK at a time when the government is seeking to attract domestic and private capital for its growth agenda.”

Elsewhere, the government’s efforts to improve building safety by tackling unsafe cladding were welcomed, but Real Estate:UK associate director Sam Bensted warned about making these ambitions reality.

“The challenge now is ensuring the wider system can operate at the pace and scale needed to meet the government’s ambitions, especially due to the amount of regulatory red tape and capacity shortages already slowing projects and raising costs, with these pressures likely only to intensify as the remediation pipeline expands,” said Sam.

“Any measures introduced through a Remediation Bill should therefore be proportionate and aligned with the existing regime, with a strong focus on improving coordination and speeding up delivery in practice.

“The government must also ensure that the sector is not penalised for delays caused by system constraints outside its control, particularly where developers are already acting responsibly and engaging proactively to progress remediation works.”

Likewise, Andrew Parker — head of construction disputes and building safety at Forsters — said the government needs to get its strategy right in how it tackles this broad issue.

“The industry is in need of better collaboration and engagement from those designers, contractors and sub-contractors who are responsible for many of the problems being faced,” said Andrew.

“There also remain resourcing issues across the industry which are causing delays.

“A bill may help focus minds and signal the government’s intent, but is unlikely on its own to make the difference that is hoped.”