The days of ground rent grinding hard-working Londoners down are over

This week, I announced a change that will put money back into people’s pockets and give millions more control over their own homes: we're capping ground rents at £250.

- BY SIR KEIR STARMER

For leaseholders paying more than that, it means lower bills. Fewer nasty surprises through the letterbox. And greater security for families that have saved and sacrificed to own their homes.

That matters, because it speaks to what most of us were brought up to believe: that if you work hard, do the right thing and save what you can, one day you might be fortunate enough to have the security that comes from owning a home.

And that security is about more than just a roof over your head. It’s about protection from the things you can’t control — sudden rent hikes, surprise charges. The kind of financial shocks that can knock even the most careful families off balance.

Many of us remember our first step onto the housing ladder: that feeling of pride, the sense that we'd built something we could rely on — and the relief that those promises our parents made had finally come good.

But for too many leaseholders today, that promise has come up short.

Instead of stability, they find themselves trapped in an outdated system that gives them nothing in return. They pay again and again for homes they already own.

Some are hit with charges they never anticipated and often cannot challenge.