Wednesday, March 05, 2025
Abolition of leasehold at last?
The paper says that the sale of new leasehold flats will be banned under government plans to make commonhold the default tenure, handing homeowners greater control over their properties:
After years of complaints from leaseholders about crippling costs and deteriorating buildings, housing minister Matthew Pennycook vowed an end to the “feudal” system.
He said homeowners have been subject to “unfair practices and unreasonable costs” for too long, with measures set out in a commonhold white paper on Monday marking the “beginning of the end” for the system.
Under the current system, third-party landlords can own a building’s lease and therefore make decisions on behalf of homeowners.
The government has proposed bringing the leasehold system to an end, as promised in Labour’s manifesto, giving homeowners more control over how their buildings are run.
Homeowners will not have to pay extra costs such as ground rent under the proposed reforms.
The white paper states commonhold will be “reinvigorated” through a new legal framework and the sale of new leasehold flats will be prohibited.
This is very welcome, but there are other reforms that are needed as well, not least with the latest trend of imposing service charges on new freehold housing estates without giving homeowners any say in how the money is spent or how much is raised.
In leasehold flats the home owners can vote to change management company. That should also be an option on freehold housing estates.
