I wish I didn’t have to write this because leasehold should have been consigned to the giant rubbish bin of history alongside all the other terrible inequities thought up by British sociopaths.
But here we are again. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill 2023 is making its way through the House of Lords for its report stage due June 5 and surprise, surprise, there’s been much skulduggery.
Shadowy lobbyist groups like Pensioners for Ground Rents which didn’t exist the year before (78 followers on X), have appeared out of nowhere, their little violins furiously screeching at the prospect of their gravy train being derailed. Yet it is this small minority who have the ear of Parliament, not the 10 million leaseholders trapped in their ‘homes’ struggling to and in many cases unable to pay extortionate service charges.
I suppose we should be doffing our caps to our leaders in gratitude to have a Bill about leasehold going through Parliament in the first place when you consider who lines the pockets of the Tory party. But I can’t help thinking of the words spoken by Lord Asset-Class, a particularly odious character in the play, who delights in telling the National Leasehold Campaign ladies they will never succeed in abolishing leasehold.
‘It will never change. I can guarantee you that. 1884. 1984. 2084. Tiny tweaks here and there to let the commoners think we’re giving them some little crumbs of home. But nothing major will change. You mark my words. My descendants will never allow our entitlement to rob the little people to be taken away.’
Sadly it looks like Lord Asset-Class is right. The promise to ban leasehold houses and flats turned into a promise to reduce ground rent to a peppercorn or capped at £250 a year (rentier capitalism anyone?) and, fingers crossed, abolishing marriage value and forfeiture. Even these wins, if they happen, won’t come about until 2025/26.
So that’s another two years of torture for many leaseholders trapped in their flats and houses. Another two years of extortionate service charges now being reported widely in the media. A recent survey by Barclays revealed that one in ten leaseholders want to sell and wish they’d never bought leasehold. Double that and add seven and a half and I think you land at a more realistic figure.
The Tories have blown their opportunity to show they are human thanks mostly to their donors and to our billionaire leader. Let’s hope Labour will stick to their promise and abolish leasehold.
In the meantime, Fleecehold is back with an updated script and four fabulous new cast members. Wonderful Lucille Ferguson and Sasha Ravenscroft remain as Katie Kendrick and Jo Darbyshire respectively, while Debbie Christie has joined to play Cath Williams.
Supporting actors are London-based Tristan Pretty as the odious Lord Asset-Class and Alexander Halsall as the Earl of Clare and the late Louie Burns, possibly the tallest actors in the universe. For any BBC sitcom Miranda fans, we are very lucky to have James Holmes playing the ghost of MP Henry Broadhurst, a 19th century leasehold reformer and Sebastian O’Kelly from the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.
Please come and see us and help us keep up the pressure on banning leasehold!
We’re at The Quarterhouse on Saturday, July 13 at 5.20pm as part of Folkestone Live, the town’s first ever theatre and comedy fringe festival, followed by a three night run at London theatre The Cockpit from Thursday, August 22 to Saturday, August 24 from 7pm as part of the wonderful Camden Fringe.
