When will the Government be honest about leasehold reforms and make the legislation enforceable? It took resignations from a senior cabinet minister, Jess Phillips  to get the crime law on the books ensuring youngsters don’t send each other nude pictures.

Here’s what the Times are reporting

Sir Keir Starmer will cap ground rents, paid by more than four million leaseholders, a year earlier than expected after bowing to pressure from Labour MPs.

Ministers had promised to implement a £250 cap by “late 2028”, partially to allow them to work through some exemptions to the policy.

But the government is expected to pledge to implement the move by late 2027 instead, after a report by the housing, communities and local government committee of MPs said it must be “implemented without undue delay”.

This could prompt concern from large investors such as pension funds, which control many freeholds on properties and rely on ground rents for a steady income stream.

While not at the same level of vulnerability, leaseholders are also being damaged by a failure of Government to enact promised legislation to improve matters for leaseholders.

Of course the emboldened claim is a load of rot which the Times need to stop repeating. It is indicative of the misbehaviour of the Freeholder lobby.

You may ask why I make such a fuss about this. It is because housing and pensions are tied up for those saving for a pension and those getting paid one.

Over to Harry Scoffin who points out that whatever the promises, if they’re contingent on legislation being passed, there is no timetable for improvement. Leaseholders saw the same thing happening with the previous Government.

For Jess Phillips read Angela Rayner

It was confirmed by the government on Tuesday that ground rents would be capped at £250 a year for leaseholders in England and Wales. They will then be cut to a peppercorn rate after 40 years.

The announcement was made after pressure from Angela Rayner, the former housing secretary, who led more than 80 Labour MPs in threatening to rebel if the Treasury succeeded in watering down a manifesto commitment to end the “feudal” system of leasehold.

But is this really reform or just incremental change?

The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill was published in January, and the final version is expected to be introduced to parliament before the beginning of the summer recess in mid-July.

• Property bill is biggest change in 1,000 years — so how does it work?

When the move was announced, the government said that

“subject to parliamentary timings, the ground rent cap could come into force in late 2028”.

Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, told MPs there were “a number of remaining policy choices that we need to work through” — including whether to allow leaseholders to agree to pay a ground rent in exchange for a lower purchase price — before seeing how quickly changes could be made.

Thomas Krych/Anadolu/Getty Images

The housing committee disagreed that this should affect the timetable, saying:

“We do not believe that time spent considering a small number of exemptions to the ground rent cap is in leaseholders’ interests.”

• Leasehold reforms won’t solve all the issues faced by flat-owners

Government sources said they would respond to the committee’s recommendations by committing to a timetable of late 2027, while stopping short of adding an amendment to tie enforcement to two months after the bill is passed.

However, ministers are set to turn down proposals from leaseholders to shorten the 40-year transition from £250 to zero ground rent announced at the start of the year, arguing that a shorter period increased the risk of legal action by freeholders.

The incremental changes to necessary law are still not satisfactory. There is still  wriggle-room from a Government under pressure from the Freeholder lobby. We need a promise on enforcement and an end to petty pleading .