<p><span>Leaseholders will be able to extend their leases at zero ground rent, the housing secretary Robert Jenrick announced today, as part of the government’s long-awaited leasehold reforms.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Announcing “the biggest reforms to English property law for 40 years”, aimed at making home ownership “fairer and more secure,” Jenrick announced that leaseholders would have the right to extend their lease by a maximum term of 990 years without paying any ground rent to their freeholder, freeing them of “cumbersome bureaucracy and additional, unnecessary and unfair expenses”. This could save some leaseholders up to tens of thousands of pounds, Jenrick stated.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Currently, leaseholders can face high ground rents, with leaseholders of houses only able to extend a lease once for 50 years while incurring a ground rent. Meanwhile, leaseholders of flats can extend without limit at a zero “peppercorn” rent for 90 years.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Now, both types of leaseholder can benefit from the changes, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>MHCLG will also introduce a commonhold system through a Commonhold Council - consisting of leasehold groups, industry and government – to drive the tenure’s takeup.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Under the commonhold model, which MHCLG said was used worldwide, blocks of houses or flats …