Shapps Rules Out Leaseholder 'Exploitation' Laws

The housing minister has ruled out legislation to protect leaseholders despite a television documentary suggesting councils are profiting from repairs deals. Channel 4’s Dispatches programme suggested leaseholders were being overcharged for repairs works and local authorities were pocketing the left over cash.  But Mr Shapps said while landlords should act responsibly ‘more and more red tape’ was not the answer.  ‘The vast majority of the country’s three million leaseholders are satisfied with the service they receive from their freehold landlord,’ he said.  The programme was shown on the same day liberal think tank CentreForum released a report arguing that regulation for the leasehold sector was ‘urgently needed’.  ‘The number of leasehold properties will increase significantly in the coming years, precisely because of other government policies – both the right-to-buy and the housing strategy to increase the supply of homes,’ the paper A new lease of life says.  ‘The government must therefore seek to integrate policy so that reform of the leasehold system [is] pursued alongside the development of new houses.’ Download a copy of the paper from the CentreForum website.