This week, the government presented the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill to Parliament which promises wide ranging changes in the rights of leaseholders and important improvements to the rights of people who own their own homes.
Richard Fuller MP said:
Like the many constituents who are affected by estate management fees, I was delighted to see the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill find a place in last months' King's Speech, and even more pleased to see that the Bill has now started it's progress to becoming law.
This Bill is an excellent start to improving protections and rights for freeholders and as the legislation progresses I will be looking at making these protections even stronger.
One particular improvement I would like to see is giving freehold homeowners a 'right to manage' instead of paying estate management fees to outside companies.
During the second reading of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill I asked Secretary of State Michael Gove about this as at present this additional, but very important right is not present in the Bill. I was encouraged at his response that further positive changes will be introduced at committee stage.
Richard's contribution can be watched at https://youtu.be/Hc6u4T0k5Nc.
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.
Over the past year, Richard has campaigned for reform of these freehold management charges.
At the start of the year, Richard wrote to the Prime Minister along with more than 30 other MPs highlighting concerns and calling on him to introduce reform. In April, he held a debate in Parliament about the specific issues in North East Bedfordshire and in October 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 is now committed to delivering change.
This Bill will establish a new statutory regime for freehold homeowners based on the rights that leaseholders already have. This will ensure that estate management charges must be reasonable and service quality of an acceptable standard. There will also be a right to challenge the reasonableness of charges at the property tribunal.
