Human Rights and Ground Rent Reform: Douglas Maxwell invited to Westminster to advise the Public Bill Committee and APPG on the compatibility of Ground Rent reform with the Human Rights Act 1998

Douglas Maxwell was invited to Westminster on 15 and 16 of January 2024 to advise MPs on the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Public Bill Committee and the APPG on Leasehold and Commonhold Reform.

On 15 January 2024, Douglas was invited to speak to the APPG on Leasehold and Commonhold Reform (chaired by Sir Peter Bottomley MP) alongside the Minister for Housing.  Douglas and Professor Susan Bright (Oxford University), in a 30-minute presentation, set out the human rights issues arising from the consultation on restricting ground rent for existing leases (the “consultation”).

Douglas was also invited to the Public Bill Committee on 16 January 2024 on the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill to advise on the compatibility of certain provisions in the Bill with Article 1 of Protocol No.1 to the European Convention on Human Rights (“A1P1”).

The Bill and consultation raise the important issue of potentially limiting or capping ground rent in existing leases. The Government’s own impact assessment sets out that the potential impact of this proposal would be £27.3bn. Douglas set out the preliminary conclusions that the capping of ground rent in existing leases to a peppercorn would more likely than not constitute a breach of the right to property in A1P1.

For more information on A1P1, see Douglas Maxwell The Human Right to Property (Hart Publishing 2022) or for matters directly arising from the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill and human rights issues relating to ground rents, contact clerks@hendersonchambers.co.uk

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