§ Sir John WheelerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the Government intend to introduce for England and Wales a scheme providing for the freehold ownership and communal management of flats including the collective right to buy from the freeholder at market value; when legislation to implement the proposals will be introduced; and whether the title of the Bill will allow an amendment to the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, so as to allow long leaseholders of higher rateable value houses to enfranchise.
§ Sir George YoungThe Government intend to introduce legislation to provide for the communal management of flats, including a collective right to buy the freehold interest at market value, as soon as parliamentary time can be found. The Government are currently considering sympathetically the case for including in the Bill provision to allow long leaseholders of higher rateable houses to enfranchise, but I can in any case confirm that the long title of the Bill will be so drawn as to allow amendments to the Leasehold Reform Act 1967.