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* Aviva to remove 'unfair' rent terms and repay owners
* Persimmon to cap freehold property prices at 2,000 pounds
* CMA probes other investment firms which acquired freeholds
(Adds government comment, shares, detail)
By Pushkala Aripaka
June 23 (Reuters) - Persimmon Homes and a fund managed by
Aviva have agreed to measures called for by Britain's
competition regulator as part of an ongoing investigation into
possible mis-selling of leasehold homes and high ground rents.
Insurer Aviva will remove "unfair" ground rent terms
and repay owners whose rents were doubled, the Competition and
Markets Authority (CMA) said on Wednesday.
Persimmon will offer leasehold owners an option to
get complete ownership of their property at lower rates.
The regulator launched the investigation in September with
cases against top developers Barratt, Taylor Wimpey
, Countryside and Persimmon, which is Britain's
second largest housebuilder.
"This settlement with Aviva and Persimmon is a hugely
important step," Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said, adding
that new legislation will protect future homeowners.
The moves come after the CMA in March asked Taylor Wimpey
and Countryside to drop unfair ground rent terms. Both said they
were cooperating with the regulator.
Persimmon has also agreed to extend the time during which
buyers can exchange contracts after reserving a property, and
separately said it would cap freehold property prices at 2,000
pounds ($2,796). It stopped selling leasehold homes in 2017.
It added the undertakings formally end the probe into
Persimmon, whose shares were down 1.2% to 29.9 pounds at 0754
GMT, while Aviva shares were unchanged.
Aviva's investment arm said in a statement that one of its
funds agreed with the CMA to amend terms for around 1,000 leases
it had acquired, adding that these represented only 2% of
leaseholds held by Aviva Investors Realm Ground Rent Fund.
The CMA said it was investigating Brigante Properties,
Abacus Land and Adriatic Land, which bought freeholds from
either Countryside or Taylor Wimpey and used the same terms.
Reuters could not immediately reach the three investment
groups for comment.
($1 = 0.7154 pounds)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka and Vishwadha Chander in
Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Alexander Smith)
