Commonhold and Leasehold Reform: Managing Agents
Sarah Smith Excerpts(3 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi) on securing this incredibly important debate.
This issue is the reason I got into politics in the first place. My first community activism was with my fellow neighbours against an unscrupulous developer up in Newcastle. What I learnt from that is that when people are trapped in their own homes by systems which have been designed to extract money from them rather than serve them, they need a Government who are on their side. For too long leaseholders have not had that at all. I am so glad that this Government have taken strong steps already on commonhold and leasehold. There is so much that does need to change.
In the past, as many hon. Members have spoken about today, leasehold has been used as a system that has allowed developers to treat homeowners as a revenue stream: escalating service charges with no breakdown; poor maintenance resulting in unsafe parks; problems with footpaths and dying trees; and to make matters even worse and more insulting, really poor communication from managing agents, which makes it difficult to get your voice heard or your complaint addressed.
On local estates such as Marston Grange, Sancerre Grange and Sheridan Grange, I have worked to help residents register and build residents’ associations, and to raise their cases with managing agents so that they get better maintenance. Working together, we have had some genuinely great results, but for residents on new build estates it should not depend on how active or vocal their local MP is; it should be written into law. I urge the Government to ensure that property managing agents are sufficiently regulated.
I will give the House a couple of examples from my constituency. At my coffee morning last week, a case from Gateway Avenue in Baldwin’s Gate was raised. At their AGM, the residents wanted to form a management company, but they were blocked, and one is being imposed on them against their wishes. On St George’s Estate in Stafford, residents have reported that
“it genuinely feels like the managing agent is stealing money from us”
to the tune of £600 to £1,000 per leaseholder. Their charges have trebled. They now have to pay £2,500 to change the rent review period on their lease to be able to remortgage or sell. As a system, that is deeply unfair. At Deanspark Court, a retirement complex—other hon. Members have spoken about this—residents who own their own flats describe management charges as “extortionate”. The company refuses to engage meaningfully. At Adlington Brooklands House in Stafford, a constituent’s ground rent has risen year on year and now stands at almost £2,000, which is nearly six times the national average. I could go on—and on, and on, Madam Deputy Speaker—but I think I have made my point clear.
The Government have taken bold and decisive steps already in capping ground rents, abolishing forfeiture and making commonhold the default for new flats. Those are really significant reforms, but the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has called the absence of independent regulation of property managing agents a “significant shortcoming”. Every one of my constituents would agree with that.
As far back as 2019, Lord Best recommended an independent regulator with the powers to fine agents and revoke licences. It is now 2026. The case for that has been made consistently, and delivering it would be a tremendous contribution by this Labour Government.
Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend agree that it would also give some comfort to my poor residents on both Ribblesdale Avenue in Accrington and Lyndon Park estate in Great Harwood, who are currently faced with the impending truth that FirstPort will shortly be their managing agent? They are rightly terrified about what that might mean for them and what expense it might add, as well as the failure of such organisations to manage local parks and so on. Taking the steps that she mentions will help give my residents confidence that they will have the protections they deserve.
Leigh Ingham
I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. Given FirstPort’s record and the number of times that FirstPort has been called to Parliament—it has been called to speak before the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee and the “Labour for Leaseholders” group, which has worked really hard—it is an abomination that it is still getting contracts, to be honest. As someone who used to award contracts in my previous career, I think it is mad when previous behaviour is not taken into account when giving out contracts, and FirstPort is a case in point—absolutely atrocious behaviour.
Learning from my own experiences, I am helping constituents on estates across the constituency, as I am sure many hon. Members are, to form residents associations to fight back, but I think we are beyond that. We should not need to be fighting back any more; we should have the regulation in place to protect us.
Backing Business to Create Economic Growth
Sarah Smith Excerpts(2 months, 1 week ago)
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Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)
The House may not know this, but Hyndburn was the engine of the industrial revolution, for it was in Oswaldtwistle, where I live, that James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny back in 1765, which revolutionised the cotton industry. This spinning machine enabled subsequent advancements in textiles machinery, which ultimately paved the way for the mechanisation of the entire manufacturing process. What is often missed in the story about James is that he faced opposition to his invention by the weavers, who smashed up his house and forced him out of town. The spinning jenny brought down the cost of yarn, and it was natural for those workers to be fearful of the impact that this would have on their livelihoods. It was right that they sought to protect their future, but through this innovation and those that followed, the mills in Accrington, Oswaldtwistle and Great Harwood, and the workers who powered them, became the backbone of our economy.
Today, I believe that we can draw lessons from that history. We stand once again on the precipice of a new industrial revolution. We stand at a point in history that will be examined closely by future generations. AI is a bright new technology that offers us huge hope and opportunity. Indeed, when I asked it what the biggest opportunities of AI are, it told me that it is less about replacing humans and more about expanding what humans can do at scale. However, there is also plenty to be wary of. AI is going to cause the greatest amount of disruption, particularly to industries such as coding, law, accountancy and other highly skilled professions.
Alongside this technical revolution, there is the fact that the era of globalisation as we know it is over. The risk of being dependent on foreign capabilities for our data storage, our defence capabilities and our manufacturing, and for the skills that we need to build our economy and support our businesses, so that they can thrive, cannot be overstated. The solution is to back British business, to buy British, to make British bricks—ideally, the Accrington Nori bricks—to build British houses, to be proudly patriotic, and to create the conditions in my constituency and across this country for our businesses to thrive, to invest, to grow and to create the jobs that are needed.
I was pleased to see in the King’s Speech that we will
“deploy the power of an active State in partnership with business and enable reforms that support higher growth and a fair deal for working people.”
I urge the Government to go further and faster on that commitment, whether it is on procurement policy, energy policy or cutting red tape. We need an industrial strategy that outlines how investment will deliver the jobs, supply chains and sovereign capability in the skills and infrastructure that we need for the future. This is not a time for making tweaks around the edges; it is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to meet the scale of the challenge and to build back better.
In places like Hyndburn, we need active intervention by the state on things like infrastructure. For example, there is an opportunity for a freight terminal in Huncoat, and the chance to support RedCAT, a catapult in my constituency that needs funding to help businesses bring products to scale. That could be a game changer for many local businesses—Senator Group, Emerson & Renwick, What More UK, Rospen Industries, Langtec, Fagan & Whalley, and so many more.
I want to cover briefly the importance of skills. I am proud of the progress that the Government are making in this area, and I am pleased that the current Session will focus on apprenticeships, tackling youth unemployment and, of course, a plan for SEND. I hope that these plans will put colleges, such as those in the East Lancashire Learning Group, at the heart of the Government’s ambitions. It is time that college teachers had pay equity with other teachers. It is time that colleges received the respect that they deserve, and the funding that they need to help our most vulnerable and disadvantaged students. We can be the Government who put right the wrongs of the Tories and finally unlock the potential of millions of young people.
Before I close, I offer one final word to my hon. and learned Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and to her successor as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. There is £120 million sitting there, stuck in children’s tax funds for children who lack the capacity to access them. If we can break this, that money will go directly into local economies across the country. I hope that point is not lost as my hon. and learned Friend takes on her new job.
The King’s Speech is clear in its ambition to increase growth, expand investment and improve our public services. It is a Labour programme due to the fundamental belief that underpins it: that access to opportunity is for all. I look forward to working with colleagues to support and strengthen the Bills that will come before us in the Session ahead.
Parental Leave Review
Sarah Smith Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Justin Madders
The hon. Member raises an important point. The Government have clearly done great work already in expanding the availability of affordable childcare, but there is always more to do. This specifically will not be part of the review, but I can confirm that we will be working with other Departments to see how their input can help to achieve the outcomes we want from the review.
Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)
The fathers who met me in Haslingden will welcome the review and the Minister’s announcement, but in conversations I have had I have been struck by the difficulties faced by some of our public sector workers, with teachers almost forced back perhaps a week—if they had been able to take that—after a holiday period, and police officers facing particular challenges with parental leave and paternity rights. Will the Minister reassure me that those important issues will be squarely within the terms of the review and that he will be looking to make progress on them?
Justin Madders
My hon. Friend raises concerning issues about the culture of some employers who possibly do not see the value of parental and paternity leave. We all know that recruitment and retention is an issue in teaching, and in particular there are not enough male teachers. That is a challenge, and maybe one thing behind that is the cultural shift that we need to see. I am sure that those comments can be fed in.
Paternity Leave and Pay
Sarah Smith Excerpts(1 year, 9 months ago)
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Josh Simons (Makerfield) (Lab)
Time and again, my constituents in Makerfield have told me that having a child in this country is too expensive and exhausting. Mums have said that they have been forced out of their job through long maternity leave, and dads have told me that employers have made it impossible for them to spend time with their kids and support their partners. As other Members have said, only when dads take parental leave will we make maternity discrimination a thing of the past, but we also need a deeper cultural shift. As ever, the Tory party is lagging behind our society, as we have seen this week, because thankfully we no longer live in a world where women make the home and men make the money. Men want to be parents. They want to be dads, and to cook and do the washing. They want to hug their kids when they have had a tough day at school, to tear up when they watch a Disney movie, or to laugh with their kids at my best-known constituent, Hacker the dog. In an age when so many young men suffer from mental health problems and feel that they lack purpose in our society, we must talk about what it means to be a man in a way that is in step with the age.
Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend agree that this is about not just all the things he mentions, but the impact on the mental health of the mother?
Josh Simons
I absolutely agree. The support that men can give to their partners is an absolutely vital part of the argument for paternity leave, which is why we need to talk about what it means to be a man in the society that we live in that is in step with the age that we live in. Strength and resilience are qualities that my wife has just as much as me. Care and love are qualities that I have just as much as her. Being a dad is about care, protection and love as well as strength and courage. As men, we must take pride in both.
I very much hope that the Government’s review of parental leave will include paternity as well as maternity leave, and that it will cover pay and duration of leave for employees of firms of all sizes. Every week working parents I represent open the door exhausted and broke, despite loving their kids with all their heart. Better paternity leave is vital to show that we value parenting, kids and family in this country.