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The lack of progress on the much-anticipated government reforms of the UK's leasehold system, is leaving thousands of homeowners in a potentially costly waiting game and in danger of losing out, according to leasehold enfranchisement specialists Cavendish Legal Group.

The Government announced long-awaited reforms to 'level up' the leasehold system at the start of the year, including scrapping ground rents and ensuring leaseholders can extend effectively forever.

However, without a timetable for implementation homeowners who would have started leasehold enfranchisement proceedings to secure their home this year, are left in limbo as they wait for reform to be implemented - while all the time the clock is ticking on their lease.

Jonathan Frankel, litigation partner at Cavendish Legal Group, said the ongoing wait for detail from the Government on its planned reform and the lack of schedule, is having an impact on the market.

He said: "The frustrating lack of progress on this issue is forcing many leaseholders into very difficult decisions and what we are seeing is two distinct groups emerging as a result. For landlords it may not be such a big issue as they are likely to be generating income from their property and can probably afford to wait it out. But there are a lot of leaseholders who desperately want to start enfranchisement proceedings to secure the freehold, or seek a lease extension, on their property and they are now in a potentially very costly waiting game. These are people who ordinarily could have started down that route but are waiting for these reforms to kick in, so they're not in the market right now. It's like an extremely high stakes round of cards where leaseholders are being left to gamble on whether they should stick or twist; either wait for the reforms to be implemented or act now. It is a desperate position to be in, particularly for leaseholders who need to sell up this year or whose leasehold has only a limited number of years left to run."

Frankel said that the Government needs to make housing a priority, especially as the country recovers from the economic shock of the pandemic and the damage that has been done to jobs and income.

He added: "Whatever leaseholders in this unenviable position decide to do, it is crucial to ensure they get the right advice from a legal team with specialist knowledge in this area. It's not a legal process that most high street solicitors will have experience in, so we would always urge people to seek out specialists for the best advice.

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Housebuilding company Persimmon has seen profits build after it completed more homes and sold them at higher prices.

The FTSE 100 firm has posted a 64 per cent rise in pre-tax profit for the first half of the year to £480million. It completed 7,406 home sales at an average price of £236,199 in the six months to the end of June. In the same period last year - disrupted by a temporary shutdown of the housing market - it sold 4,900 for an average price of £225,066.

Persimmon said forward sales - properties sold before they are built - are up about nine per cent from pre-pandemic levels, indicating that the housing market could stay buoyant after the stamp duty holiday ends.

Persimmon has forward sales of £2.23billion compared with £2.05billion in 2019 and £2.48billion last year.

Despite the end of the stamp duty holiday in September, it expects the fundamentals of the market to stay strong.

However, it said some parts of the supply chain are seeing cost increases.

The Sun

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Lockdown life appears to have sparked a steep rise in outbuildings catching fire over the past year.

Figures from Freedom of Information requests by insurer Zurich have revealed that shed and garage fires increased by 16 per cent in 2020 compared with 2019. Zurich's Phil Ost said: 'Homeowners up and down the country have converted outbuildings into everything from bars and yoga studios, to gyms and offices. But as Brits take refuge in their garden sheds and garages, it appears to have sparked a rise in accidental blazes.'

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Top new mortgage deals are on offer for an average of just 21 days before being whipped away.

This is the shortest on record and nine days fewer than last month, data analysts Moneyfacts found.

Competition is fierce among lenders, and rates hit an all-time low this summer. Yesterday, NatWest launched a five year deal at 0.99 pc for borrowers with a 40 pc deposit. Borrowers have the highest number of loans - 4,660 - to choose from since March 2020.

Eleanor Williams of Moneyfacts, says the short shelf life is linked to 'frequent rate-repricing by lenders to compete and get new business'.

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hydrogen-fuelled home boilers would be worse for the environment than existing models that burn natural gas and which the Government wants to phase out, scientists have claimed.

So-called blue hydrogen is expected to form a key part of the Government's plans to fight climate change and ministers have said gas boilers could be banned as soon as 2035.

But the study, from Cornell University in the US, suggests its production - when methane, a key component of natural gas, is split - is 20 per cent more harmful to the environment than burning gas or coal for heat. The researchers said more greenhouse gases - methane and carbon dioxide - would escape during extraction.

Many environmentalists back green hydrogen instead, which is created by using electricity to split water.

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