The housing department has launched a consultation on the “feudal” leasehold system to make management fees transparent and force property managers to qualify as professionals for the first time.
The consultation will feed into secondary legislation that will be added to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, which standardised charges the five million leaseholders in England and Wales.
The department adds it is also committed to publishing a draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill “later this year,” which aims to “reinvigorate” the commonhold system and “will also include a range of other vital reforms to the leasehold system”.
Minister for housing and planning Matthew Pennycook says the lives of leaseholders are “marked by an intermittent, if not constant, struggle with punitive and escalating ground rents; unjustified permissions and administration fees; unreasonable or extortionate charges; and onerous conditions imposed with little or no consultation”.
He adds: “The government is committed to bringing the feudal leasehold system to an end and we are progressing the wider set of reforms necessary to do so.”
The current consultation will run for 12 weeks until 26 September.
Key proposals include:
Lease chairman Martin Boyd says: “The current system favours landlords. Leaseholders face complex and often opaque systems when trying to raise concerns and have little real power to hold managing agents to account.
“With no direct obligation to those footing the bill, some agents act with impunity. Leaseholders regularly report unacceptable behaviour, ranging from aggressive conduct to outright abuse.
“Any action that enhances transparency to rebalance power when it comes to addressing concerns and inaction will be welcomed by homeowners.”
