Stephen Squires

The stench of desperation from a major London developer of flats shows buyers are rejecting toxic leasehold. Leaseholders cannot match these sweeteners. Yet, to please ground rent grifters, the @UKLabour government has U-turned on its promise to end leasehold for good.

By recommitting to leasehold abolition, @ZackPolanski has @UKLabour on the ropes. They told the BBC today they’re still committed to ending it. But @mtpennycook admitted here weeks ago they have no intention of abolishing leasehold, despite promising to end it in the manifesto.

Ground rents provide no service to leaseholders, found the CMA. If you’re paying for nothing, you should be paying nothing. Yet a @UKLabour government props up the ground rent racket for 42 years. Protecting exploiters over the exploited in a cost of living emergency. Obscene.

I don’t support violence. But freeholder lobby, wake up! People are bloody angry at being treated as debt slaves. No one can manufacture consent for leasehold anymore. Stop the money politics and lawfare NOW. Or open the door to a government that will seize your freeholds.

Remarkable that the Court of Appeal is allowing Big Freehold another go to thwart the will of the people in ECHR lawfare against the 2024 Act. But the government acts like it wants more of this farce. Keir Hardie would be ashamed of Keir Starmer, appeasing rentier parasites.

They use Lawfare against innocent leaseholders every single day. This Government can not and should not delay a moment longer. They will fight every step of the way ‼️ THEY ARE BULLIES THATS WHAT BULLIES DO @AngelaRayner @justinmadders @mhclg

Leasehold is killing the property market, especially in London. 60% of homes sold in the capital last year were leasehold flats - but they made up 90% of all losses, according to Hamptons.

Ground rent = money for nothing. Second-biggest parliamentary majority in 126 years. And yet @UKLabour are protecting the grift until 2068. So much for ending leasehold.

The question we need the answer to is "is this actually a serious setback" ? Leaseholders need to know ASAP. "The Department for Housing, Communities & Local Government was approached for comment" ....... @mhclg @mtpennycook @SteveReedMP #LeaseholdScandal

'Hypocrisy': Sadiq Khan refuses to stop properties already in the pipeline from becoming leasehold mylondon.news/news/zone-1-ne…

NEWS: FREEHOLDER LOBBY LAWFARE AGAINST 2024 ACT SET TO CONTINUE AS COURT OF APPEAL GIVES GREEN LIGHT 📢 Reports today from industry sources on LinkedIn suggest that the freeholder lobby has been granted permission by the Court of Appeal to proceed with an appeal relating to its judicial review of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, which it lost at the High Court in October. There has been no official confirmation as of 14:46 on Thursday 2 April 2026. We believe that what the freeholder lobby is doing is an attack on the will of the people. They lost in elections, they lost the debate with policymakers, and are now trying to torpedo an Act of Parliament through the courts. All of the original claimants who were thrashed in October by a comprehensive and devastating High Court decision, bar the John Lyon’s Charity, are involved. Their continuing judicial review trolling risks having a chilling effect on government as it looks at commencing the 2024 Act, most of which is sat rusting, and considers the new draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. We urge the @UKLabour government not to hide behind the judicial review to continue its stalling of the enfranchisement reforms. The judiciary is not hierarchically superior to other branches of the state. Parliament is still sovereign. Government can still govern. And the freeholders lost at the High Court in October and chances are they will lose again. Do not give in to the bullying. Remember your manifesto promise to end leasehold for good. Local elections are coming up and leaseholders are understandably angry at the foot-dragging as well as the watered down draft Bill shorn of the promised remaining @Law_Commission recommendations on enfranchisement and Right to Manage. Get on with the public consultation on the enfranchisement rates promised in November 2024 for last summer, which we are all still waiting for. Leaseholders are being left to be looted. The government will not be allowed to hide behind this judicial review to continue its stalling of the enfranchisement reforms in the 2024 Act. Show politics is a force for good, as you promised @Keir_Starmer. Otherwise the people will continue to think democracy is controlled by Big Money, not voters. By letting the freeholder lobby call the shots, you are abandoning Labour’s historic mission of taking on rentier interests for a fairer society. Your namesake Keir Hardie would be raging right now.

My advice to anyone thinking of buying a new build in the UK is to avoid it like the plague. They lure you in with the ‘affordable’ shit tenures, but the service charges rack up like a second mortgage. You’re also on the hook if the ‘high quality’ build turns out defective.

I remember when people praised elected mayors for standing up to central government in the pandemic. So why is the @MayorofLondon refusing to challenge government over a law that breaks a @UKLabour manifesto pledge to end leasehold for good? Leasehold is destroying Londoners.

Labour’s Commonhold Bill: 🏠 Traps leaseholders into paying ground rent until 2068. 🕰️ Discards Law Commissions enfranchisement report recommendations, which would have made it cheaper & easier to convert to freehold. ❌ Doesn’t end the scandal of leasehold. Vote them out.

Grenfell was an utter tragedy and quite rightly prompted a wholesale review and tightening of fire regulations. I said it was a tragedy in my interview with Inside Housing and in no shape or form am I belittling that disaster or the huge loss of life. It must never happen again. I reiterate that, and am sorry if it was not sufficiently clear. Within the last 24 hours, the Berkeley Group, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, has paused new land purchases and announced a hiring freeze. They blame ‘an unprecedented surge in costs and regulation.’ These concerns are felt across the industry. The result? The UK’s long running housing crisis is getting worse. To address the national housing crisis, we must ensure that regulation remains safe, sensible and proportionate. My concern is the introduction of numerous measures that do nothing to protect life and are throttling housebuilding.

This government can't be trusted to end the housing crisis because its ministers are bought and paid for by the developers, landlords and corporate interests who profit from it.

Labour clearly misled the public when they said they were 'ending' leaseholds, yet they want us to believe they're sticking to the manifesto Via @willem_moore_uk Labour minister caught in a lie over leasehold betrayal thecanary.co/trending/2026/…

Labour Minister Matthew Pennycook caught in a lie over leasehold betrayal Labour clearly misled the public when they said they were ending leaseholds, yet they want us to believe they are sticking to the manifesto thecanary.co/trending/2026/…

Leasehold is the biggest organised scam in England today. Many of our supporters are already in negative equity. This Labour government is playing with fire by putting the property cartels ahead of the people.

Govt minister Matthew Pennycook yesterday : "I have never once suggested we'd abolish leasehold outright" Govt minister Matthew Pennycook on the 27th Jan 2026: "This package as a whole, as I have said, will end the leasehold system in its entirety and in a single Parliament"