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Crest Nicholson and Keepmoat back leasehold pledge after missing original list
Crest Nicholson and Keepmoat are now backing a government co-ordinated pledge to ditch “exploitative” leasehold deals, after not being on the original list, Inside Housing can reveal.
A spokesperson for FTSE 250-listed Crest Nicholson told Inside Housing that it is intending to sign the voluntary pledge and is “in discussions” with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
Keepmoat has now added its name, a spokesperson confirmed.
It is not immediately clear why the firms had not signed up to the scheme when it launched.
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More than 40 developers and freeholders appeared on an initial list last week, committing to scrap “onerous” double clauses in leases that can see ground rents soar over a short period. The move comes amid growing concern over how leaseholders are being treated in both the private and public sectors.
However, Surrey-based giant Berkeley is among those still missing from the list. A spokesperson for the firm told Inside Housing: “We have no comment on this.”
Announcing the pledge last week, housing secretary James Brokenshire said: “I want to see others who have not yet signed up do the right thing.”
An MHCLG spokesperson told Inside Housing it will “consider any further action we may need to take in due course” over getting other developers and freeholders to sign up.
A report last month by MPs on the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee called for wide-ranging reforms to the leasehold system. It also urged a new code of practice covering housing associations and councils.
However, Clive Betts, chair of the committee, was unimpressed by the government-backed pledge.
In a letter to Mr Brokenshire this week, he wrote: “We are concerned that the government appears willing to place a significant level of trust in the same industry that created onerous leases in the first place.”
Mr Betts’ letter concluded: “Weak industry pledges are simply not good enough; more fundamental reform of the sector is required.”
Separately, Mr Betts told Inside Housing that the government must intervene. "The pledge is a small step in the right direction. But the government has to legislate," he said.
