Residential Estate Management Companies Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Olly Glover
Main Page: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)Department Debates - View all Olly Glover's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
(1 week, 6 days ago)
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Olly Glover (Didcot and Wantage) (LD)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) for her excellent and comprehensive speech, as well as for securing the debate.
My constituency of Didcot and Wantage in Oxfordshire has seen enormous population growth. New estates affected by these issues include Highcroft and Winterbrook Meadows in Wallingford, Fuller’s Grove and Hamilton Drive in East Challow, Dida Gardens and Great Western Park in Didcot, Kingsgrove in Wantage, and Cholsey Meadows. With 30,000 more homes planned in the surrounding area by 2041, the issue will clearly not go away.
Companies that have caused some of the issues that have come across my desk include not only FirstPort, but RMG, Remus and Home Group. My residents have experienced many of the issues mentioned by hon. Members, including arguments and a lack of accountability regarding responsibility for maintenance issues, a lack of transparency around fees and a lack of ability to influence management companies. As my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury (Cameron Thomas) highlighted, the details of the fees and charges that will apply are sometimes revealed only towards the end of the purchase process, and are mysteriously absent from the pretty brochures that promote such sales.
I have seen examples of residents valiantly taking on estate management companies—for example, Home Group in Mersey Way and Venners Water, in Didcot—and securing far more reasonable charges than those originally proposed. However, that needs to be made simpler, so that residents in Springfield Way, in Sutton Courtenay, and on the Dovecote estate, in Drayton, can build on that excellent experience. We clearly need a lot more regulation because the market has failed in this area.