Following the news that homeowners will no longer be charged ground rent after buying flats from Barratt, the National Leasehold Campaign (NLC) has issued a statement.

Barratt Developments is starting to offer 999-year leases and zero ground rent on new-build flats.

Leaseholders will also have the right to set up a resident management company that would govern the property.

The changes are being introduced ahead of an update to the government’s Help to Buy subsidy scheme for first-time buyers next year. Ministers announced in March that developers would no longer be able charge ground rent on properties sold under the scheme.

Barratt is now looking to standardise terms across all of its new developments to ensure that some leaseholders are not charged ground rents in a building, while others are not. Other developers are expected to follow suit.

Regarding developers changing to a peppercorn ground rent, the NLC said: “The news of developers moving to a peppercorn [zero] ground is long overdue. The government have already committed to legislating to ban leasehold houses and to set future ground rents to zero, but we are still awaiting ‘parliamentary time’. This a positive step to achieving our ultimate aim of abolishing leasehold in England and Wales.

“The developers have not taken this decision because “it’s the right thing to do”, they are being forced to change their poor practices because the applications for the new Help To Buy scheme opens from the 16th December and Homes England have stipulated “Ground Rent Charged must not exceed a peppercorn”.

“Help to Buy has played no small part in the significant increase of leasehold houses across England & Wales over the past 10 years. The scheme has created a generation of leaseholders trapped in homes they cannot sell. Developers have used Help to Buy as a pull factor to sell leasehold houses for no other reason than to create a second asset for them to sell and boost their profits. It’s a national scandal. The government are trying to use the very scheme that contributed to the leasehold scandal to assist in fixing it. Whilst removing ground rent for future properties is a welcomed pro-consumer move, it’s paramount those already trapped in the leasehold scandal are not left behind both in houses and flats.

“We urge the government to adopt all of the Law Commission recommendations in full and without further delay.”