15:44

The government is to ask competition authorities to investigate the practice of selling new houses on a leasehold basis, with a ground rent that increases over time, the latest official move to crack down on the practice.

Builders will already be banned from selling new houses on a leasehold basis, but now the communities secretary, James Brokenshire, has called for the Competition and Markets Authority to act immediately to help those already stuck in exploitative leasehold clauses, which his department estimates to be 100,000 householders.

While houses traditionally were sold on a freehold basis, a recent practice has been to have a leasehold sale, with the owners obliged to pay a ground rent each year. These can rise, and in some cases have a clause in the lease where the amount doubles every ten years, eventually reaching thousands of pounds annually, trapping people in unsaleable homes.

Brokenshire has also written to the Solicitors Regulation Authority to seek an investigation into conveyancing solicitors who may have mis-sold properties with such clauses in place.

The Law Commission was asked last year by Brokenshire’s predecessor, Sajid Javid, to look into ways owners could be allowed to buy freeholds easily and cheaply.

Brokenshire told MPs this afternoon: