Leaseholders are pensioners or will become pensioners. To suppose that leasehold is not an issue for pension folk is to miss the point, health, housing and pensions are the three major financial issues that we all face as ordinary people.
I have been with Harry Scoffin and a small number of campaigners including pension journalist Norma Cohen in demanding action from a Labour Government we hoped would be on side of fairness to ordinary people. So a first glance made us sense a new stance…
Leaseholds in my view one of those things we don’t talk about nearly enough in Westminster
“We will introduce a bill before Christmas for long overdue leasehold reform… the days of you being squeezed for every penny are coming to an end”
— Sophy Ridge (@SophyRidgeSky) September 29, 2026
A second glance was not quite so optimistic. A central request from leaseholder association Free Leaseholders had been ignored as Norma pointed out to the Housing Minister
No, Mr Pennycook, MP. Regulating managing agents will do nothing to curb gouging of leaseholders. Service charge payers- and ONLY service charge payers – must be given the right to hire them. And sack those who do their jobs badly. https://t.co/vp5DiL5U9v
— Norma Cohen (@NormaCohen3) September 29, 2026
No, Mr Pennycook, MP. Regulating managing agents will do nothing to curb gouging of leaseholders. Service charge payers- and ONLY service charge payers – must be given the right to hire them. And sack those who do their jobs badly. https://t.co/vp5DiL5U9v
— Norma Cohen (@NormaCohen3) September 29, 2026
The worst case was that there was no bill and we were still waiting for action over ground rents in 2029 (and then another wash-out).
What was needed and was called for within parliament will not be set down in a bill. Leaseholders will still be at the mercy of rapacious property managers.
And leaseholders will pay the price through higher service charges. The best way to improve value and service is to empower leaseholders to appoint their own managing agent, with universal RTM. Regulators have proven toothless or too close to those they police. Water, hello? https://t.co/atKWLnHLGA
— Free Leaseholders (@FreeLeasehlders) September 29, 2026
We have the biggest gap between house and flat prices for thirty years. 40% of flats have become unmortgage-able due to service charges being in excess of 1% of property value. This is not being addressed by the proposed bill.
The rights to manage the property at a price that works for freeholders will still be in place. There will be little change for many who are suffering from over-charging and under-delivering management changes. This bill’s a halfway house , just as the means to abolish ground rents over 40 years is a halfway house. Leaseholders will still pay £250 a year for nothing.
I hope that the organisations looking to offer pension funds an opportunity to invest in residential property are made aware of the failures in the governance and regulation of leasehold and step in where the Government has watered down protection for leaseholders – and bottled it (pun intended).