There were no real surprises in the King’s Speech yesterday, which set out 39 bills the government hopes to pass, including a pledge to ‘get Britain building’

One of the government’s flagship measures, intended to streamline and speed up planning and associated infrastructure needs to get more new homes developed. It includes a more top-down approach, with penalties for councils that fail to meet housebuilding targets.

The Renters’ Rights Bill will include the scrapping of Section 21 evictions, as long promised by the previous Conservative government but never delivered.

The draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill – another housing plan that the Tories failed to deliver – will see the leasehold system reformed, including a ban on expensive ground rents and the sale of new leasehold flats.

Industry reaction:

Ian Barnett, national land director at Leaders Roman Group, said: “Local authorities have been under resourced for some time which, coupled with an ambiguous and often contradictory planning system has stifled development and growth. The King’s Speech suggests a new direction which is welcome.”

Jonathan Wish, a partner in residential development land at Knight Frank, commented: “The government’s renewed focus on planning reform to accelerate high-quality infrastructure and housing delivery is a welcome step. Reinstating targets could be particularly beneficial, providing clear benchmarks for the industry. In fact, the reintroduction of these targets would likely have a positive impact. These targets are crucial for the wider industry, with numerous positive ripple effects. Additionally, it would be beneficial if Planning Committees became less influenced by local politics. This shift could reduce the frequency of developers resorting to appeals when five-year housing targets aren’t met, ultimately saving public funds and expediting delivery by eliminating an unnecessary layer of planning.”

Andrew Bulmer, chief executive of The Property Institute, said: “Many of the announced reforms were anticipated, including forthcoming bills on energy and transport, and a renters’ rights bill incorporating the abolition of Section 21. These were widely trailed in advance.

“It was less certain whether the Government would prioritise leasehold and commonhold reform amid an already crowded agenda, but it is encouraging to see the proposals for this particular bill. This new legislation will go further, introducing greater powers for residents to take control, an end to the sale of leasehold flats, controls on forfeiture, and regulation of ground rents. We await the details on the ministers’ intentions regarding these reforms, but there is a clear opportunity for such tenure reform to introduce practical and proportionate regulation for our sector and improving transparency and upfront information for leaseholders.”

“Notably, building safety and the remediation of unsafe buildings was absent from today’s speech; we urge Government to take notice of the immediate need to fund and fix the thousands of unsafe buildings,” he added.

Katie Kendrick, founder of the National Leasehold Campaign, stated: “Today is a momentous day for Leaseholders. Over the years we have heard many Queens / King’s speeches promising reforms but today’s commitment from the new government feels different.

“It feels like meaningful change is eventually going to be delivered. It’s fantastic to see that the government shares our vision to bring the feudal Leasehold system to an end and wants to “ban the sale of new leasehold flats so Commonhold becomes the default tenure” by introducing a draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill in this session of parliament.

“It is clear there is a lot of work still to do on the many issues of Leasehold but it’s refreshing to know that the new government is determined to pick up the outstanding issues, tackle them head on and deliver once and for all.

Ian Fletcher, director of policy (real estate), noted: “Leasehold reform is a complex area of the law which requires careful consideration, and we are supportive of the Government taking time to consider the best way forward, which must be done carefully and holistically. That means ensuring that other flaws in the system, such as an unregulated managing agent sector, are remedied. Any expansion of commonhold will work best if it has the confidence of developers.

“Responsible freeholders support reforms that make leasehold work better and would welcome dialogue with the new Government on this issue.”

Mick Platt, director at The Residential Freehold Association, said: “We await further details of the government’s plans but welcome their recognition that there is more to be done to address the real concerns of leaseholders, such as rising service charges and the regulation of managing agents.

“While we support proposals to enact the Law Commission’s recommendations, the government must ensure that any legislation does not retrospectively interfere with the legitimate investments of institutional investors, including professional freeholders and pension funds.

“The RFA looks forward to working with the Government to ensure proposals promote the highest standards of management across the sector, whilst protecting existing property rights.”

Greg Tsuman, director of lettings at Martyn Gerrard, added: “The new Labour government has a real opportunity to actually deliver on Renters Reform, which under the Conservatives became trapped in a vicious cycle of becoming too complicated for its own good, so it is good to see that this has been included in the King’s Speech and is high on the legislative agenda from the outset. My main hope for this Bill is that that we see a version of it emerge under the new government that has been simplified and balanced, so that it actually works for all stakeholders.

“In particular, the key measure that needs to strike a fair balance between working for both landlords and tenants is of course the abolishing of Section 21, or ‘no fault’ evictions. In practice, landlords should not have an issue with this change in the rules, and I am likewise in support of getting rid of no-fault evictions as long as there are robust provisions in place that mean landlords are able to efficiently deal with problematic tenants who are abusing the system.

“For the vast majority of the private rented sector, this is rarely a problem, but it is nonetheless a risk that landlords take on, and so they need to be protected or we could see a number of landlords exit the market. However, just stopping landlords from leaving the market cannot be the end goal. It is vital that the new government aims to encourage more private investment into the rental market to increase the number of homes available to rent in line with growing demand, which should include expanding the supply of affordable housing.

“Another measure that has previously been tipped for Renters Reform is abolishing fixed-term tenancies, which if introduced would create more problems than it would solve. Broadly speaking, both landlords and tenants want to enter long-term contracts which see tenants paying a fair price to be settled into a good quality home, as well as having peace of mind that their rent will not unreasonably increase and that the landlord has committed to not selling up during this period.

“We know that wider reform for the private rental sector is high on the new government’s agenda, and I suspect we will see further changes to the tax regime introduced later this year, possibly at the new Chancellor’s first budget statement in the Autumn. If this is indeed the case, I hope to see the government re-introduce mortgage interest rate relief for landlords, in recognition that the policy to remove this has only been detrimental to the market. It has failed as a policy and served as a core reason for rents increasing by around 40% since the changes were rolled out, making it more difficult for renters to find suitable homes, let alone save up to buy.  We’ll have to wait and see, but if the old idiom that change begets change is true, the new government has plentiful opportunity to change things for the better.”

King’s Speech reforms could unintentionally exacerbate the rental crisis