Ocean Wire Audio

Well, it’s a poor start for Labour and the Tories, and a good start for Reform so far… 33/136 declared 🟣Ref ⬆️ 272 🔶 LibDem ⬆️ 23 💚 Green ⬆️ 21 🟤 Ind ⬇️ 12 🔵 Tory ⬇️ 104 🥀 Lab ⬇️ 195

There’s this idea with leasehold that if things get tight, you can just rent the place out and ride it out. People have told me, buy somewhere else, rent the flat... Maybe that worked once. It doesn’t now. Our service charge was £300 a month. It’s just gone up another £135 - now £435 pcm. That’s before mortgage, letting fees, maintenance, or the odd empty month. I know one leaseholder already losing £200 a month renting their place out. That was before this increase. Add another £135 and it’s not "letting" anymore... you’re paying for someone else to live there. Then there’s the bigger hit: Up to £15,000 for major works, due now… …and another ~£5,000 in legal costs likely later this year. So what are people supposed to do? One neighbour’s got £55k left on their mortgage with five years to go. Can’t sell - the service charges and Section 20 have flattened values. Currently renting it with a guaranteed loss every month. Still expected to find tens of thousands on demand. Plus the tenants she's been forced to take, are not exactly ingratiating themselves with their fellow neighbours. That’s the reality. And it doesn’t just affect a few people, it drags everything down with it. People forced into selling, prices dropping, others stuck because they can’t move without taking a hit. The whole "property is security" thing starts to feel like a bit of a joke. It’s not flexible. It’s no longer a fallback. It’s a liability you have to keep feeding, whether it works for you or not.

Absolutely terrifying.