There is a congruence between the FT and the Guardian about the financial impact of allowing value of leasehold is falling most dramatic in London but now all over Britain. This is a pension blog, but we must remember that housing is a cost but also an investment for both young and old. Here is Harry Scoffin.

There is an argument that Covid made the idea of living close to where you work irrelevant. Many people who previously worked 5 days in a fixed workplace may only do two or three and this attracts people  to bigger houses rather than smaller flats.

This is not a financial but a lifestyle factor but what Harry and the Free Leaseholders argue for is freedom from ground rents and pernicious charges by managing agents that they have no control over but which makes the cost of a flat much more than mortgage and council tax, a raft of extra costs are levied. These are not transparent, not monitored and most certainly not regulated.

Were leaseholders extra charges such as ground rent, to come under the FCA, you can be sure that their would be more than a £250 cap. There would be a question of “value for money” that would lead to the end of ground rents altogether. When it comes to ownership of assets, the parallels between the rights of a pensioner and those of a leaseholder starkly display the pensioner being protected while the leaseholder is exposed to a range of costs that would not detract from a pension payment.

It really is time that we recognised the issues around flat holding and recognise the rights of leasehold to value for their money.