The views of unhappy leasehold homeowners have been left out of a Government consultation on the problem after hundreds of pieces of evidence went missing.

A consultation led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on how to improve conditions for existing leaseholders with unfair contracts ended in November 2017.

But last week the Ministry emailed leaseholders who responded and said it had not received the answers they submitted to the consultation questions. Around 1,000 leaseholders have been affected.

Over the past 10 years housebuilders have increased their profits by selling the freehold of properties to investors tempted by the income from guaranteed yearly ground rents.

There are more than four million leasehold properties in England, of which 100,000 have "unfair" terms, according to Nationwide.

The Ministry’s email said: “This email is to let you know that your response will not be counted in the total figures reported as the official number of responses to the consultation.”

It has now apologised and extended the deadline for responses to 25 Jan.