18. What steps his Department is taking to reform the leasehold sector.

The Government continue to steadily implement those reforms to the leasehold system that are already in statute and to progress the wider set of reforms necessary to end the leasehold system for good in this Parliament, not least through the provisions in our draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, which was published on 27 January.

My constituent Yvonne has lived in a house in Halesowen that she has owned for 20 years. She purchased it under a leasehold arrangement that allowed her property management company, Principle Estate Management, to quadruple her service charge from £400 to £1,550 without conducting any maintenance. Clearly, Yvonne feels that she is being ripped off, and other residents of the same housing estate are now having difficulty selling their homes. Will the Minister outline what action is being taken to tackle property management firms such as Principle Estate Management, so that people like Yvonne are not continually being ripped off?

I am determined to switch on the improved leaseholder consumer rights provided for by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, including service charge standardisation and transparency measures, at the earliest possible opportunity so that people like Yvonne, and many hundreds of thousands more across the country who are dealing with exorbitant service charge increases, including in my constituency, will get the protection they need. When it comes to managing agents, we are committed to strengthening regulation, as my hon. Friend knows, but I will happily write to provide him with the full position and details of what measures we are considering.

I thank the Minister for his answer and the hon. Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger) for raising these issues. We have similar problems in my constituency, and I know that the Minister is keen to ensure that all parts of the United Kingdom can take advantage of the legislative change that the Government have proposed here. Will the Minister talk with the relevant Minister in Northern Ireland to ensure that the proposals put forward by the UK Government to address these issues can help my constituents in Northern Ireland too?

As the hon. Gentleman knows, we engage regularly with our Northern Ireland counterparts. On leasehold reform, which covers just England and Wales, I am more than happy to provide him with the insights of the proposals that we have been working up and what more we are considering to take forward in future months and years.