Alice Editorial

@EwaMcLean12 7/4/24 Guardian: Leaseholder SERVICE CHARGES outcry! Building insurance “costs” paid by leaseholders may include massive hidden commissions to landlords &/or managing agents. This has gone on for decades, escalated & normalised. NEVER BUY LEASEHOLD! theguardian.com/money/2024/apr…

@David_ParkerUK @Cladder38093490 @SteveReedMP @UKLabour @jessphillips has just outlined the govts failure to act on images of CSA for fear of the tech billionaires. Leaseholders face the same delays and failures on LH reform - presumably due to billionaire freeholder pressure. Caution and inaction is ruining lives in so many spheres.

@SteveReedMP You were elected to end leasehold. You now do not want to do this. Vague statements will not help @UKLabour . The vagueness is why we have this leadership issue. Stick to your promises and save your skin.

Let’s get on with the job we were elected to do.

I don’t want a change of Prime Minister. I want a change of policy. Deliver what was in that manifesto in full - that’s a Hillsborough Law & ending leasehold. Start making life easier for people who work hard. That’s what Labour were elected to do and they haven’t done it.

The generation of homeowners trapped in unsellable flats telegraph.co.uk/money/property…

@LostInSW19 This Westminster psychodrama is actually driving me nuts! They need to make braver policy decisions and actually do something other than fight among one another. I’m no fan of the PM, but leaseholders don’t have time to sit about waiting for the inevitable personnel change.

At this stage I am expecting a reshuffle and (yet) another building safety minister to be appointed. Labour will no doubt pick someone with no prior knowledge of the dossier. Rinse and repeat.

@RichardBurgon Enough. There are 100s of things the government should focus on to actually help people and improve lives in the UK. Spending time on this Westminster psychodrama instead is offensive to voters. Get braver and enact reforms rather than personnel change.

As I’ve said, Keir Starmer needs to go. But not through a Cabinet stitch-up or palace coup. And not through a snap leadership election designed to hand Wes Streeting a coronation. We need a proper democratic contest involving the whole Labour movement so we get this right.

@HorNet_Group @HarryScoffin Ironically, doing those things would probably mean they didn’t need to organise a new leader. It feels like they are all addicted to the psychodrama of Westminster rather than actually taking brave decisions to solve the housing crisis.

Its crazy how all these MPs can organise to challenge leadership but they won't organise to get rid of fleecehold and leasehold or demand meaningful action of the housing crisis in the UK.

@AngelaRayner Please get @mtpennycook to speed up leasehold reforms: abolish marriage value and forfeiture, make enfranchisement and RTM easier, and set up some much more robust checks and balances on service charges/managing agents. Ground rent is by far the least of mostly LH’s worries.

We will be judged on our actions, not just words.  We have to show that we understand the scale of response the moment calls for. Labour exists to make working people better off. That is not happening fast enough. And needs to change now. Proud to address #CWU26

@LovellPropguru @Victoria_Spratt @theipaper @Ipsos_in_the_UK It is what Lab promised, so I don’t think it is unrealistic to expect SOME movement. Short of abolition (which the Scots achieved without existential collapse), there are changes that can be made to prevent the exploitation and bankruptcy of LHs. The tribunal is unfit for purpose

@aliceeditorial @Victoria_Spratt @theipaper @Ipsos_in_the_UK It is completely unrealistic to believe L/H tenure will be ended. It’s far too important in many fields and it was a strategic mistake to blame the tenure rather than the way it was exploited. However its use in co-ownership of resi blocks should have ended by now.

The majority of Brits think Labour is doing a bad job on housing… That is according to exclusive polling for me @theipaper by @Ipsos_in_the_UK And it is despite major policy interventions on renting and planning…and promises on leasehold What is going on? The polling suggests it is a major communication fail with voters unaware of the Renters’ Rights Act when asked … Read all about it inews.co.uk/news/voters-la…

@stemercer1982 @grok @RobertJenrick If you have a look at the price of butter and chocolate nowadays, I highly doubt any of these cake sheds are making hundreds in profit, even if they turn over a fortune.

@grok @RobertJenrick You clearly don’t know how much some of these cake stalls are making. They make hundreds of pounds in a day. It’s plain to see when they advertise they sold out within hours of opening. They are commercial sellers

Don’t let them eat cake! Just when you thought you’d heard it all from Labour, this happened… Labour run Bassetlaw District Council, which covers part of my constituency, is imposing a tax on people selling homemade cakes or fresh eggs from boxes at their front gates. They’ve set this absurd tax at an astonishing £1,007. Yes, you read that correctly, everyone who has the audacity to try to make a few quid from a bit of home baking, or offers boxes of fresh eggs, usually with an honesty box, has to pay Labour a stonking great fee for the privilege. As most people don’t even make £1,007 a year for doing this, presumably this is designed to end this harmless and in fact very endearing practice altogether. Honesty boxes, eggs, cakes, biscuits, sold at a farm gate or the end of the driveway in a rural village.. what could be more quintessentially English. Well, not under Labour. These people govern us as if they hate our country. To make the whole thing more absurd, the fine for failing to pay the £1,007 had been set at £1,000. So you would be better off not paying at all and get fined… I’ve written to Bassetlaw District Council to protest. Bassetlaw’s common sense Reform UK councillors are committed to reversing this idiocy if they take control of the council next year. Another reason to boot out Labour and back Reform UK. Has there ever been a more incompetent and out of touch group of people running our country than this Labour government and their town hall toadies?

@MattLismore Most sensible thing I’ve read in a long, long time.

If we want to deliver on housing we must. 1. End leasehold on new AND existing, this parliament. 2. Establish a national house builder, targeted on volume & quality of homes, ending the “viability” dependency. 3. CPO the homes of repeat offender slumlords. 4. Ban councils from forcing soon to be homeless tenants to wait for bailiff eviction to qualify for help. 5. Force developers to fix post Grenfell cladding issues before they can break ground on any new sites. 6. Ban the contractors responsible for Grenfell from bidding for govt contracts for 20 years. 7. CPO sites with planning permission where construction doesn’t start within 1 year. For a start.

@jensen1966 @PGroenhuysen @JENBROOK8 @BethRigby Matthew Pennycook told leaseholders last week that we shouldn’t expect the changes to be enacted during this parliament. I don’t think any of us believe they will get a second term.

@PGroenhuysen @JENBROOK8 @BethRigby The term is not over…they are working on this.

Senior MP texts to tell me that “everyone sensible” is trying to get Catherine West to withdraw. “It’s completely irresponsible”. MP also says they think Streeting allies will lend votes to West to try trigger race

@PeterStefanovi2 @LucyMPowell @LucyMPowell it’s the complete backtrack on leasehold that’s done it for me. It’s all sound bites and smiles from Pennycook but for leaseholders living day to day it’s hell. 2yrs in power and things have gone from bad to worse for those living in flats. @Keir_Starmer sort it out!

@endleaseholduk @Victoria_Spratt @theipaper @Ipsos_in_the_UK @UKLabour Yep. We are stuck with a 1bed flat we cannot sell due to LH issues so cannot buy a family home. We have a son with severe disabilities and being stuck in a rental genuinely keeps me up at night. It is family mobility as well as the housing market.

@Victoria_Spratt @theipaper @Ipsos_in_the_UK @UKLabour The RR act further compounds misery for leaseholders forced to turn into accidental landlords and rent their flats out. If the l’holder does by some miracle find a buyer, goes through the long process of evicting the tenant and the sale then falls through,the l’holder is stuffed.

@Cladder38093490 @HarryScoffin @Keir_Starmer Can I add: abolish marriage value and make lease renewal 999 years. Maybe by then someone might have abolished LH altogether…

@Keir_Starmer You lost my vote when you back tracked on leasehold. 1) Make ALL leaseholders eligible for Right to Manage immediately (costs £0 to implement). 2) Reduce Ground Rent to £0 immediately & don’t wait for Court of Appeal/£250 over 40yrs. Do both these & that’s 5m voters back onside

We must respond to the message that voters have sent us and break with the status quo once and for all. We must confront the big challenges the public face with real answers. That is how we will deliver the change that people are desperate for and build a stronger and fairer country. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

@melb4886 @Cladder38093490 @HarryScoffin @Keir_Starmer It solves a lot of problems though. LHs can select their own contractors and their own pace of work - and can plan finances accordingly. Ours recently billed us £1000 to “quote for” a repair to our block door. They didn’t even do anything. It’s a racket.

@Cladder38093490 @HarryScoffin @Keir_Starmer But RTM doesn't solve all the problems either. All buildings need maintenance. Problems arise from high costs of maintenance done by rip-off , incompetent firms.

@JohnChr51533771 @ZiaYusufUK They do indeed…Nick Candy and Richard Tice are just two of the senior Reform figures who have interests in commercial property development.

@ZiaYusufUK No mention of type of work done. For example, software development work can be done just as effectively at home, or anywhere with internet, as in the office. What is the obsession with bum on seat in office. Do Reform backers own office rental space businesses?

Yet another reason to vote Reform!

@critithinkstar @BaconLettuceTmo @endleaseholduk @NLC_2019 @mtpennycook @vickyfoxcroft @SteveReedMP @mhclg @LKPleasehold And even if they did, it would hugely impact mortgage affordability and most lenders would run a mile. It’s not exactly the kind of property that would attract a cash buyer with money to fling about.

@BaconLettuceTmo @aliceeditorial @endleaseholduk @NLC_2019 @mtpennycook @vickyfoxcroft @SteveReedMP @mhclg @LKPleasehold It’s not guaranteed to be £1million nor is the work guaranteed to be done

Another leaseholders life just fell apart when they opened a Major Works notice for a staggering £54,416 per flat‼️- they had their flat for sale but no chance now 🥲 Who has that kind of money? @mtpennycook @vickyfoxcroft @SteveReedMP @mhclg @LKPleasehold #LeaseholdScandal

@critithinkstar @BaconLettuceTmo @endleaseholduk @NLC_2019 @mtpennycook @vickyfoxcroft @SteveReedMP @mhclg @LKPleasehold You have to declare this in the sale of a leasehold flat. I’m pretty sure nobody sane is going to sign up for an extra payment of £1000 per month for the next ten years - which is the approximate cost per flat for the works and general maintenance. It’s a one-bed flat.