Last week the issue of Leasehold was prominent in the House of Commons, as the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee examined service concerns regarding property management companies, and Rachel Blake MP presented a Bill on the Right to Manage and Leasehold, which was duly read for the first time.
The HCLG Committee’s one-off evidence session examined property management companies, taking oral evidence from Home Owners Rights Network (HorNet) and Martin King, Managing Director, FirstPort. This session was held following complaints about excessive management fees and transparency across management companies, including a BBC report alleging that FirstPort charged residents £150 for light bulbs that had never been fitted.
Among the witnesses was Lord Best OBE DL, who was the former chair of the Regulation of Property Agents Working Group. His Working Group examined the options available for raising standards across the property agent sector, making recommendations in a report published in 2019 on:
- a model for an independent property-agent regulator, including how it will operate and how it will enforce compliance
- a single, mandatory and legally-enforceable Code of Practice for property agents
- a system of minimum entry requirements and continuing professional development for property agents
- clarifying processes and charges for leaseholders
To date, none of Lord Best’s recommendations have been implemented, despite him warning that billions of pounds of client money and millions of renters’ lives are affected by agents’ performance. He argues that regulation is not only supported by renters and landlords, but by Propertymark and other sector bodies, stating that “those who would be regulated are as keen on regulation as those consumers who would be protected by it.
The other key witness at the session was Martin King, Managing Director of First Port, the largest Property Management Agent in the country, representing 5.8% of the industry. In evidence Mr King made it absolutely clear that he was in support of regulation in the industry and that it is key to have the right people with the right qualifications in place. To support his commitment, he revealed that the entire First Port staff was going through The Property Institute’s (TPI) Level 2 qualification in Leasehold Management as a minimum to start raising the professionalism within the company.
In the Commons, as she presented her motion to bring in a Bill, Rachel Blake MP also had managing agents in her sights as she stated: “One of the most visible consequences of the leasehold system is the scourge of unscrupulous managing agents.”
She went on to talk about several examples of residents ‘suffering at the hands of managing agents as they fail to conduct essential repairs, engage in threatening and abusive behaviour towards residents and even run off with hundreds of thousands of pounds of leaseholders’ money’. She claimed that constituents of hers living in Neville House pay £5,000 a year in service charges for services that have not been delivered for 20 years.
Rachel Blake’s Bill focuses on making it easier for leaseholders to acquire right to manage by lowering the threshold required for a successful right to manage application from 50% of qualifying leaseholders to 35%. The Bill also redefines qualifying tenants during right to manage applications as tenants who respond either positively or negatively when asked to vote. Put simply, it changes the threshold for a right to manage claim from, “Can you find a majority of the flat owners in your building?”, to, “Do enough of the actual leaseholders in your block want this to go ahead?”.
Having now been read for the first time, the Bill will be read a second time on Friday 4 July.
While the Leasehold and Reform Act 2024 is held up subject to future consultations being undertaken, which have not yet been announced, and the ongoing Human Rights challenges work their way through the courts, the Government could easily demonstrate its commitment to the issue now. By focusing on the practice and professionalism of Property Managers and looking at how to implement Lord Best’s recommendations, (actions that would be welcome across most of the sector), the government could start making progress while its hands are seemingly tied on the bigger issues.
If you have a query concerning leasehold property, then please contact the experts at Bishop & Sewell’s Landlord & Tenant team by emailing leasehold@bishopandsewell.co.uk or call on 020 7631 4141.
The above is accurate as at 30 June 2025. The information above may be subject to change. The content of this note should not be considered legal advice and each matter should be considered on a case-by-case basis
