It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David, on this, our last day of term. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) and the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) on securing this debate. As I am sure my hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Robert Courts) will agree, it was a worthy application when it came before the Backbench Business Committee, of which I am a member.
We all agree that there is a need to promote fairness and transparency for the growing number of leaseholders. Historically, leasehold arrangements have been used primarily to manage properties that share a single space and have shared facilities. Where leasehold is used in properties such as flats, it often makes sense, so that there is a collective responsibility for the upkeep of roofs, lifts and entrance areas, and so on. However, as we all know, an increasing number of new build homes are now being sold on leasehold terms when there appears to be no obvious reason why the freehold is not also sold at the point of sale, other than to create an additional revenue stream for developers.
The number of leaseholds, as we have heard, is growing rapidly. While leaseholds may be presented as a cheaper option than buying the freehold, it is not always clear to the leaseholder what additional medium and long-term costs they may face. There are terms of some leases that are becoming increasingly onerous to those purchasing the leasehold for a flat or a house, and they can often expose home buyers to unreasonable and long-term financial abuse.