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<p>The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners
and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. We are taking
forward a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold
market.</p><p>Whilst the cost of a lease extension will vary depending on a number
of factors including the time remaining on the existing lease, under the current system
too many leaseholders find the process for extending their lease or buying their freehold
(a process known as enfranchisement) too complex, lacking transparency and prohibitively
expensive.</p><p>We will reform the process of enfranchisement valuation that leaseholders
must follow to calculate the cost of extending their lease or buying their freehold.
The Government will abolish marriage value, cap the treatment of ground rents at 0.1%
of the freehold value, and prescribe rates for the calculations at market value. The
Government will also introduce an online calculator, further simplifying the process
for leaseholders and ensuring standardisation and fairness for all those looking to
enfranchise. These changes to the enfranchisement valuation process will result in
substantial savings for some leaseholders, particularly those with less than 80 years
left on their lease. Our reforms to enfranchisement valuation also ensure that sufficient
compensation is paid to landlords to reflect their legitimate property interests.</p><p>We
will translate these measures into law as soon as possible, starting with legislation
to set ground rents on newly created leases to zero in the upcoming session. This
will be the first part of major two-part legislation to implement leasehold and Commonhold
reforms in this Parliament.</p>
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