Moved by
Lord Kennedy of Southwark
42: After Clause 3, insert the following new Clause—
“Levelling-up missions: leasehold reform
(1) Within 90 days of the Minister of the Crown laying a statement of levelling-up missions for the first time which contains missions that relate to housing, a Minister of the Crown must publish a report in accordance with this section.
(2) The report must consider whether new legislation on leasehold reform would have any effect on the delivery of the mission which relates to housing.
(3) The report must recommend whether the government should introduce legislation relating to leasehold reform for the purposes of delivering the missions, including to—
(a) amend the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 to limit the right of landlords to recover legal costs in excess of a prescribed scale;
(b) make tribunal judgments binding on all leaseholders and to require landlords to account to all leaseholders;
(c) amend the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to prevent landlords recovering service charges where they have failed to comply with their disclosure obligations under that Act;
(d) commence section 21A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 insofar as it is not already in force;
(e) require landlords to disclose commissions earned on insurance policies;
(f) make provision requiring landlords exercising a right of forfeiture or re-entry in relation to a property subject to a long lease to account to the tenant for the tenant’s equity in that property and to hold the tenant’s equity on trust;
(g) restrict the landlord’s right to legal and administrative costs;
(h) amend the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to provide for service charges to be reduced where they do not reflect the landlord’s actual costs in providing goods and services;
(i) make fixed service charges subject to reasonableness requirements.
(4) If the report recommends the introduction of new legislation, a Minister of the Crown must publish draft legislation to implement the recommendations within 90 days of the publication of the report.”