Leasehold Debt Trap

4 years. 4 trips to the tribunal. £645k in proven overcharging (157% over the odds!). No remedy. And this week MPs held a “roundtable on leasehold reform” w/ managing agents & insurers - yet no leaseholders. You can’t fix this problem by consulting only those who profit from it

Harry’s Tuesday presentation to Parliament has shaken Westminster. WhatsApp groups are still buzzing. The English establishment’s leasehold scam won’t end itself. But with your support, we are forcing its dissolution. Watch the @PoliticsJOE_UK remix vid 👇

"It's not a political point. It's a right or wrong – and it's wrong." @AngelaRayner gave evidence to our Committee today on the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill making the case for putting leasehold reform right. Watch the full session 👉 youtube.com/watch?v=s_Qonb…

Lord @MichaelGove, former Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, told us that freeholders "have benefitted from a system whereby they get money for nothing", and he'd like to see an acceleration by Government to end ground rent.

This is spot on from a genuine money expert; leasehold is a con job and shared ownership is even worse. Take care!!

We're questioning leasehold and ‘fleecehold’ campaigners and the @RFAssociation as part of our scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. @AngelaRayner and @michaelgove will also be giving evidence. Watch from 9.45am on 3 March: committees.parliament.uk/work/9587/prel…

A remarkable @spectator story. @Simmons__ details how @RachelReevesMP has let the City shape policy — leaving leaseholders stuck with money-for-nothing ground rents until 2068 and legislation delayed to the dying minutes of the Parliament. Do read! spectator.com/article/its-a-…

A real positive that big beasts Angela Rayner and Lord Gove will be coming out to bat for leaseholders on Tuesday. The media should be all over this. I’ll be repping @FreeLeasehlders to ensure grassroots scepticism and upset at the government’s approach is properly conveyed.

This is shaping up to be a blockbuster hearing! On Tuesday, our campaign will appear before a Commons Housing Select Committee inquiry into the draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill. We’ll be truth-telling on how the draft Bill fails leaseholders.

Why has @UKLabour been so timid about pushing through legal changes urged by the non-partisan Law Commission on enfranchisement and Right to Manage rules affecting Leaseholders? Current law paves the way for their exploitation by deep-pocketed Freeholders! Enough!

Ministers can’t keep dismissing critics holding them to account for the 5.3 million households trapped in leasehold. If manifesto and King’s Speech policies suddenly vanish from draft legislation, questions will follow.

WOW. @SteveReedMP has just been schooled on @UKLabour’s leaseholder betrayal by @GideonJAmos. The government has broken a manifesto and King’s Speech promise to enact the remaining @Law_Commission enfranchisement and Right to Manage policies in the draft Commonhold Bill. Why?

The Corn Laws protected idle landowners and made bread expensive. Today Parliament does the same with our homes. Leasehold enriches a few, punishes everyone else. Even the Daily Mail calls it a racket! Join the new Anti-Corn Law League: freeleaseholders.org.uk/join

Flats are flatlining: sales collapsing, prices plunging. The house–flat price gap is the biggest in 30 years. Who’d buy into the leasehold scam? Yet @UKLabour sides with ground rent grifters and the offshore property mafia. @LBC leading the debate. More soon!

@KaneEmerson An excellent piece. Modern leasehold is extractive zero sum which is not ending well.

I’ve written about flats in The New Statesman! Lovely, lovely flats that are vital for people to live affordably in town centres. But too often Government rules fail us and there are few places as failed than our housing market.

That approach would require siding with regular folk in existing properties who needed somewhere to live over those who opted to spend time working out how to exploit the “financialisation opportunities” of zero-sum leasehold. The simple choice is growth or further decline 3/3

Q is will Gov act decisively on a uniquely 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 aberration, or continue to paint over cracks with leasehold reforms that amount to fixes for new stock only (a minuscule proportion of total problem / growth opportunity). 2/3

Excellent on need for fundamental reform of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 flats market. Flats could be THE solution to housing & productivity challenges of this country, but until control AND ownership are given to those living in them they are severely compromised. 1/3 #Echobox=1771671004" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

The Housing Minister rushes out a thread on a Saturday night, reassuring leaseholders that, despite all the foot-dragging and legislation punted to the end of 2028, if we are lucky, the government has our backs. We won’t accept it. They are trying desperately to regain narrative control after the Tuesday announcement unravelled, abandoning the remaining 2020 @Law_Commission recommendations on enfranchisement and Right to Manage, violating promises in both the @UKLabour manifesto and King’s Speech. Meanwhile, @ZackPolanski continues to champion leaseholders ahead of the local elections. This is a smart move, too, as many leaseholders are angry city graduates who are downwardly mobile and already burdened with rip-off student loans and mortgages larger than their parents’. A perfect way of cannibalising the Labour core vote. In Gorton and Denton, where the Greens face a straight fight with Reform UK in the by-election, 32% of properties are leasehold, according to Commons Library data. Just saying!

‘You’re being a little semantic.’ ‘I’m just applying the words in your manifesto to reality.’ @Lewis_Goodall and Housing Secretary Steve Reed get into it over the government’s promise to ‘end’ the leasehold system.