Existing leaseholders were the moral centre of this verdict, with the strongest Yes case making the issue one of fairness rather than technical reform. Its argument was that ending ground rents for new builds while leaving older owners exposed had created a “two-tier market”.
Other Yes voters treated the question as part of a broader demolition job on leasehold. One called it outdated and said, “Zero the value and needs to be scrapped”; another went further, arguing that leasehold mortgages should stop and land should be sold at a peppercorn rate.
The No case was more qualified than its result suggests. The floor’s most-respected No voice objected that “retrospective legislation does not feature”, while another accepted that the system can fail: “When it works it’s fine, when the rent is collected and no service provided it’s not.” Less-respected objections appealed to the free market, warned that caps can push prices up, and supplied one comic territorial growl: “Get orf mah laaaand.”
The real disagreement was over speed and scope. A No voter wanted action focused on extortionate charges first, insisting, “We shouldn’t have peppercorn rent immediately,” and favoured a gradual shift towards commonhold; the Yes majority treated that caution as prolonging the two-tier system the vote was rejecting.
For a self-selected online vote, the message was not a settled theory of leasehold so much as clear impatience with making existing owners wait.
8 Opinions
Get orf mah laaaand.
Plenty of flat owners delighted to have someone do the upkeep of the outside of the building. When it works it's fine, when the rent is collected and no service provided it's not.
We shouldn’t have peppercorn rent immediately. Focus should be on flats where ground rents are extortionate. Cap these until a new system is devised to gradually shift from leasehold to commonhold and then we can do away with ground rent. Doing away with ground rent immediately could be counterproductive for property construction.
All leasehold mortgages should be stopped. Peppercorn leases should be stopped and whoever owns the land as each property is sold forced to sell the land at a peppercorn rate.
In a mature society as a rule of law retrospective legislation does not feature. As a real estate professional general knowledge about leaseholds is appalling & there are always ignorant journos & politicians stirring the pot. Leaseholds got a bad name because a few years ago ground rents were increased regularly often doubling them over 10 years so the liability becomes exponential & the asset becomes unsaleable. If peppercorn who compensates those who bought income stream?
Leasehold is outdated in the modern housing market. Zero the value and needs to be scrapped.
No, free market doesn't need the cap. Besides all these government caps somehow make prices go up.
Leasehold is an archaic, quasi-feudal system that treats homeowners like permanent tenants. While new builds banned ground rents in 2022, leaving millions of existing leaseholders trapped with doubling fees and unsellable flats creates an unfair two-tier market. Ground rents provide zero tangible service to residents. Capping them at a peppercorn restores fairness to homeowners and finalises long-overdue property reform