The realisable value of the property or leasehold that you own is subject to market forces. The Conservative line is that they will support the property owning classed by keeping prices higher. House prices do not necessarily rise, they go down too but the Conservatives would like it to be known that they will support high house prices with tax breaks to landlords.
Contrast this with the failure of the Conservatives to protect leaseholders as promised in their 2019 manifesto in the five years that followed.
Whether you suffer from unreasonable service charges, money for nothing ground rent or are evicted as a leaseholder, for no fault of your own, you are a victim of your landlord.
So why is Rishi Sunak offering further tax-breaks to landlords. These tax-breaks are designed to keep freehold property prices high, but most people in the South East do not own freeholds, they are leaseholders and the value of leaseholds has fallen because of the practices of freeholders.
This has been recognised by the Conservative party, both in its 2019 manifesto and in the early , undiluted ,version of the leasehold and freeholder reform bill, a bill that only made it onto the statute book after being gutted by disgraceful shenanigans in parliament. These shenanigans were from Tory MPs and Lords. This is why it is right to keep the pressure up for change.
An overhaul of Freehold/Leasehold law is near the top of the priority list, particularly for younger voters. Reform can no longer be ignored. Procrastinators will be held to account and not forgiven. @FreeLeasehlders https://t.co/SdYqmQSH0d
— Norma Cohen (@NormaCohen3) June 25, 2024
So here we have it, the leader of the Conservative party telling the Daily Telegraph he will subsidise house prices by supporting freeholders with tax-breaks.
Meanwhile young people have to pay high rents , high service charges and get little or no security of tenure.
The only way to make things better in the long term is to build more houses. An increase in the housing stocks could lead to a fall in house prices because of the law of supply and demand.
The Conservatives have failed in its house-building targets and many who own their own home, they will thank them for that.
But that is no way to run a housing policy.
Among the many threads of project fear, housing project fear is one of the most heinous. Politicians should not be supporting property prices with public money, they should be making affordable property generally available and they should protect those who lease from extortion from those they lease from.
On all three counts, the last Conservative Government stands accused of letting down everyone but a small and entitled minority.
The history of the tory party is to represent the interest of land and property owners. So this is not new or different from what the tories have always done. Thatcher utterly destroyed the national housing stock by selling it at massive discounts to tenants and then purposely did not build any new council houses. This won her millions of votes and helped deflect voters from her failure to prevent Argentina invading the Falklands. Tories favour property owners and owners of capital. The naivety of people who don’t own property or other capital assets is to be sold the falsehood that they too will one day benefit from owning their own homes. And so they vote tory. And they vote not to increase taxes on wealth even though they have no such wealth themselves. The country is in a right pickle because even when GB plc is doing well the proceeds of prosperity are distributed in such a way to make the wealthy wealthier and the poor impoverished.
I was surprised by your statement that “but most people in the South East do not own freeholds, they are leaseholders”.
According to https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/leasehold-dwellings-2022-to-2023/leasehold-dwellings-2022-to-2023, 19% of dwellings in England are leasehold. Highest proportion is in London at 36%, and in the South East 16%.
Most of the leasehold properties are flats.
That’s not to disagree with the points made though.