Housing and Regeneration Bill

I sympathise with the proposal but add a word of caution. I heard what the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, said, and there is clearly a problem, but the people who bought the properties presumably thought that they were escaping from the inclusiveness of the original arrangement. If we do this, we will make the regulatory process more complex. It would be inappropriate to have blanket regulations applying to somebody who had bought their way out and had only a residual liability in respect of estate development. One would have to draft regulations to take account of the variations in tenure, which would make them more complicated; but the amendment would make that necessary.