Last week, the House of Commons debated the remaining stages of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill. The Bill now continues its journey through the House of Lords. Richard recorded his thoughts following voting in the House of Commons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqScxYGfFQQ
Richard's contribution to last week's debate can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1JZcW57ROY
Commenting, Richard Fuller MP said:
Another step forward this week for local homeowners being ripped off with excessive estate management charges as the Commons voted through the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
I am continuing my pressure on the Government to go further even though my amendment to ban council services being included in these fees was not selected for a vote.
Over the past year, Richard has campaigned for reform of these freehold management charges.
Many constituents have been in touch with Richard to recount their concerns about the way in which management charges are being levied, a problem which affects many thousands of people across North East Bedfordshire. The current system of freehold estate management charges is a mess and has resulted in unreasonable charges, a lack of transparency, poor services and no rights for homeowners to challenge bills they think are wrong or unfair.
At the start of 2023, Richard coordinated a letter to the Prime Minister signed by more than 30 other MPs highlighting concerns and calling on the PM to introduce reform. In April 2023, Richard called a debate in Parliament about the specific issues in North East Bedfordshire and in October 2023 he presented a petition to Number 10 with local councillors asking for Rishi Sunak to introduce new legislation. The Prime Minister listened, and the government committed to delivering change in the King's Speech.
Having listened to Richard's calls, the government proposed a Bill to establish a new statutory regime for freehold homeowners based on the rights that leaseholders already have. Richard sat on the Bill committee and has continued his fight for the rights of freeholders through the Committee and the remaining stages through the House of Commons .
Richard also added:
In the debate, I also raised questions about so called “marriage value” in existing leasehold contracts. This was an issue I raised at Committee Stage – first of all to see if “marriage value” was real and secondly to see how it is relevant in the reforms of leasehold contracts. The term marriage value refers to an option that the freeholder has at the end of a lease (or series of leases) to unite the freehold with all the leases – potentially releasing more value than the sum of the value of all the leases.
If you are following me, then you are doing well because the concept is quite difficult to comprehend. My interest at Report Stage was really to alert the government that this bill will be permitting the transfer of significant value between freeholders and leaseholders. And Parliament is doing this while we do not have information on some of the key variables that would help us assess the actual value that might be transferred. I think the government should have outlined this information before the Commons voted. Moreover, and as I said in my speech, I am concerned that not doing so raises potential risks of legal challenge that might hold up all the other provisions in the bill including those on estate management charges.
