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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Housing Secretary commits to leasehold reform before election

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has committed to leasehold reform and fixing cladding issues before the next election.

It comes as the Government is due to announce a six week deadline for developers to sign an agreement to fix unsafe towers above 11m tall or be banned from the market.

The revelations were made in a wide-ranging interviewing with The Sunday Times over the weekend, in which Gove conceded that "faulty and ambiguous" Government guidance and building regulations contributed to the Grenfell Tower tragedy more than five years ago.

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He told the paper, “If you can’t maintain that which you have already built in safe conditions for those within those homes, then why should . . . you [be] granted permission to carry on with your line of business, with the development of new homes?”

Cladding issues as well as leasehold terms have been blamed for stopping homeowners from remortgaging and selling their homes.

Asked if he wants to abolish the leasehold system, Gove said yes, adding: “I don’t believe leasehold is fair in any way. It is an outdated feudal system that needs to go. 

“We need to move to a better system and to liberate people from it.” 

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