‘Only Labour is delivering for leaseholders facing a cost-of-living crisis’

Last week, Labour published its Commonhold Bill. This is a historic moment, allowing for an end once and for all to the leasehold system.  

For too long, flat owners have been denied real control over the building where they live, which resides with the ultimate landowner, or ‘freeholder’. This freeholder can charge a ‘ground rent’ at a nearly unregulated level, appoint a managing agent to look after the building in their interest, not the residents’, and deny all control and agency to the leaseholders who are not just meant to be homeowners but customers.  

Labour’s legislation is the boldest action taken on leasehold since the tenure was established. It caps ground rents at £250 before moving to a peppercorn after 40 years, bans new leasehold flats, establishes a method to convert to commonhold for leaseholders who want to do so, and ends the scandal of homeowners forfeiting their residences for debts as little as £350. 

This legislation is the beginning of the end of leasehold and comes after sustained campaigning by Labour MPs to highlight the experiences of their constituents and to hold to account some of the worst actors in this system.  

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The 2024 election already feels like a distant memory. Like many others, I was the first Labour MP ever elected in my seat, representing historic neighbourhoods from Pimlico to the West End and Paddington. As we settled into our new roles and offices in Parliament, I and many colleagues faced an influx of new casework from residents who for the first time felt seen by having a Labour representative.  

Soon, messages started to be exchanged as new MPs sought advice on how to deal with complex leasehold cases. Services charged for but not delivered, residents ignored or even threatened, unsafe buildings with flammable cladding left with waking watches and sky-high insurance costs – these stories were all too common in the inboxes of dozens of colleagues.  

So we acted. We summoned the largest and most complained-about managing agent in the country into Parliament and grilled them over their performance. MPs were furious at their lack of progress and recognition of the problem. We had them in a second time, and even got to the point of holding a inquiry session, to hear from residents facing similar issues nationwide, because we were so dissatisfied with the progress made. We repeated this process for more managing agents and had constituency meetings with residents to handle issues on existing sites.  

JOIN LABOURLIST ‘IN CONVERSATION’ WITH STEVE ROTHERAM TONIGHT at 17.15

Eventually over 150 MPs were involved in the ‘Labour for Leaseholders’ group I set up with David Pinto-Duschinsky to organise on behalf of constituents up and down the country. And now, as the Government publishes their plan to end leasehold, the efforts made by hundreds of members and staffers, in parliament and in their constituencies, have paid off.  

This legislation recognises and honours the choice which millions of voters made to vote for a Labour Government with a pledge to end leasehold, to tackle ground rents, and to bring accountability to managing agents and freeholders, all of which the Government is doing. And, looking to the opposition parties, it has been a dire but unsurprising disappointment to see their inaction.  

After fourteen years of dither and delay, the Conservatives only managed to pass reform in the dying days of their Government, in a Bill so messy that it is taking an extensive set of edits to even implement. Reform UK, whose leadership is replete with property tycoons like Richard Tice and Nick Candy, does not even support commonhold.  

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And, while Zack Polanski is happy to tweet about abolishing leasehold overnight without a plan to do so, not a single Green MP has mentioned leasehold or commonhold in the House of Commons since the last election up until the publication of Labour’s Bill.  

Leasehold is one of the most substantial issues in the cost-of-living crisis. Some leaseholders are paying ground rents as high as £4,000, and the average Londoner is paid an average service charge of £2,633 in 2024. These costs drive up prices in the private rental sector, and pile on affordability pressures to all of us living in the capital.  

Only Labour has real solutions to this crisis, and this is the first Government in my lifetime with a thought-through, achievable plan-of-action to end leasehold once and for all.

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