Hoorah! Leasehold is being abolished!
Oh, no it's not.
Apologies if I don’t sound cock-a-hoop about the government’s Commonhold White Paper announced today. Neither do I mean to sound ungrateful for the hard work going on behind the scenes among campaigners and the government to reform the feudal system, not to mention for all the lovely texts I’ve received today about the news.
Of course, it is fantastic news the leasehold tenure is being banned for new flats in the future and is testament to the brilliant campaigners, including the National Leasehold Campaign and Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, and the late Louie Burns.
But what about the five million leaseholders stuck in leasehold flats? What about the zero transparency over service charges which freeholders and managing agents are ramping up as the government ramps up its attempt to rein them in? Where’s the promised marriage value reform to stop freeholders demanding what they like to extend your lease back up to 125 years if it falls below 80 years? What about the banning of ground rents? And why aren’t managing agents being regulated in what could be a fairly easy win for the government?
And why hasn’t the government banned unadopted estates being built? Apparently around 70 per cent of new estates are being build as fleecehold, a shocking figure when the government has known for years what a rip off it is for residents who find they have to pay extortionate charges to look after the roads, lighting and park repairs because the local council didn’t take responsibility for these services.
Indeed, there is an awful example of an unadopted estate in Folkestone and you can read all about it here.
Unless the government sorts out the huge pile of steaming poo that the current leasehold system is and bans all leasehold, then we are going to be left with a two-tier property system in this country with older leasehold flats remaining the second class properties they’ve now become. We will have to wait and see what happens and I am more hopeful than ever with a Labour government.
But when history has shown the likes of the Lord Asset-Classes throwing their weight and money around, it’s easy to become very cynical. (Spare a thought for MP Henry Broadburst who tried to get 25 Bills passed through Parliament to abolish leasehold in the late 19th century.)
On a lighter note (or not), my third book in The Missing Fur series called The Monkey Stones is out today. It’s a comedy crime caper which sees three friends trying to discover how a stone circle appeared out of nowhere next to their home and why everyone has started worshipping their rescue monkeys Emile, Titus and Zola, including a space tech billionaire who is blasting the monkeys into space.
The book is themed on endangered species, conservation and space. Why space? I used to write for at a satellite comms company and was shocked to learn how much junk there is whizzing around. No big surprise but it’s getting even more crowded up there with certain billionaires and their satellites. Last count in 2024, there were nearly 10,000 pieces of junk larger than 10cm, according to the European Space Agency.
Thanks for reading and hope you’re all well and happy.
xxx