Commonhold and Leasehold Reform: Managing Agents
Debate between Ben Maguire and Yuan Yang(4 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) (Lab)
I thank the Housing Minister for all his tireless work on these landmark commonhold reforms—I only hope he finds my constant lobbying not too tiresome. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi) for her leadership on this issue.
My parents and grandparents are in the Gallery today. I thank them for ensuring that throughout my childhood, I had a roof over my head. Thanks to their efforts, I have enjoyed the childhood tour around all the various property tenures possible under English law—from council, to private rental, to leasehold, to freehold and a brief interlude as lodgers in a community Christian church.
When my parents moved to Earley, they bought a freehold house that was built in the 1960s. It came with no strings attached. If they had bought the same house on a new build estate built in the last two decades, it would have likely come with estate charges, standing charges for some, and often low-quality roads and communal infrastructure that will never have any route to adoption by the local council. They would have had a contract to pay these fees to a property manager—someone they did not choose and who they almost certainly cannot leave. Five million leaseholders also face similar fees, from ground rent to property management charges that are difficult to change.
What has happened over those few decades since the 1960s to make things so much worse for young families moving into new builds today? The negotiations and relationships between developers and local authorities, as other Members have pointed out, have taken a turn for the worse. As a result, over a thousand constituents have been in touch with me, seeking advice for taking control of property management and breaking free of the monopoly held over them.
The problems are not just about charges. In 2024, the average annual service charge bill rose by 11% to £2,300—four times the rate of inflation over the same period—so the average service charge now exceeds the average cost of all other utilities combined.
In Shinfield, the impact on my constituents goes beyond that; they also pay a suitable alternative natural greenspace charge. Following negotiations that I instigated between the landowners and the residents, they are still waiting for a final agreed position. They also face a lack of transparency. Residents in Woodley, for example, have negotiated through me a service charge freeze with their managing agents, FirstPort, but there is still lack of transparency about the underlying charges.