Speeches by Pennycook.

“We just have not made a decision yet.”

“Mr Woodcock, I don’t want to give the public the impression that that is our intention. It is not.”

“As I said—this is what the consultation was designed to elicit—we have to weigh up whether there will be a significant impact on housing supply, for example, which would mean that the transition has to look a certain way, rather than another way.”

“In terms of actually switching on the ban, that decision has not yet been made.”

“We need to analyse the feedback to the consultation. What we are trying to get at and elicit views on is the potential risk of disruption, what that looks like in specific terms, and what exemptions are required. To go back to the general point, we want these things in place as quickly as possible. A corresponding elem…”

“There is that angle, and having a managing agent regulatory framework that ensures that where managing agents are still managing those blocks, that is being done effectively. Chair, you have had ongoing engagement with the Department over this Bill. There is a number of technical questions about the consumer element of…”

“As a general point, the information needs of buyers under commonhold will not be wholly dissimilar to the needs of buyers in resident-led leasehold blocks, which are already a feature of the housing market. We expect this process to be simpler and quicker than that for leasehold flats, once it is bedded in—there will o…”

“It is worth my noting, as a Minister, the extent to which we can direct LEASE. Obviously, helping consumers to get ready for commonhold is a huge part of what LEASE will need to do over the coming years. I will formalise that direction in my 2026-27 chair’s letter to it, because, among other things, that is a huge part…”

““Risky” is not the word that I would use.”

“Yes, so he was speaking in a personal capacity.”

“I think that was said in a personal capacity, rather than as the chair of LEASE—it should have been, because otherwise it would have been blurring the lines between two roles.”

“It is probably worth saying that as the Bill progresses, LEASE, as a Government-supported service, will provide regular updates to consumers on what it means for them going forward.”

“We will strengthen the regulation of managing agents in this Parliament. If that requires primary legislation or inclusion in this Bill, that is what we will do.”

“I agree. I refer you to my previous answers on managing agents. We are very clear that we are going to deal with that.”

“You are conflating a number of quite distinct issues. We have managing agent reform, which the 2019 Lord Best report dealt with. We have a piece of Law Commission work on right to manage, or what the variant of right to manage might be.”

“I will bring officials in here. I do not think I can answer that today. I do not know the Law Commission’s recommended approach on this point. It comes back to what you mean by ending the injustice of fleecehold. I would say that at the point that we switch on new consumer protections, we are taking action. We will tak…”

“If you will excuse me, Mr Curtis, this is all extremely hypothetical. We have two consultations that got a significant amount of feedback. We have the Law Commission work on whether there is an appropriate form of enhanced residential freeholder control of freehold estates and what it would be. We have to see what come…”

“I don’t think I can sit here and make that commitment now. I think partly we need to see, particularly on the prevalence issue, what comes out of the consultation.”

“We do want to address their concerns and the injustices that many of them face. In the development of this draft Bill, we have looked at what specific provisions we can bring forward. Obviously, we have brought some forward—the Bill is not silent on private estates, on freehold estates, and rent charges provisions are …”

“Are we talking about this Bill or are we talking as a general point?”