Leasehold has turned the dream of home ownership into a nightmare. It’s time to end it.
We’re a grassroots group of leaseholders fighting for true home ownership. Together, we are raising our voices to take back control of our homes, our money, and our lives.
Leasehold is a long-term tenancy agreement where you pay for the right to occupy the property you live in, but you don’t truly own the flat itself or the bricks and mortar.
When you buy a home, you shouldn’t gain a landlord. But that’s the case for 5.3 million households like ours across England and Wales. We’re subject to ground rent to stay in our homes, crippling service charges, the constant threat of forfeiture if we don’t pay up, and have no control over how our homes are managed.
The leasehold system has turned our dreams of home ownership into a nightmare.
It dates all the way back to 1066 – and it doesn’t exist in most of the world and where it used to, they’ve worked out it’s no longer fit for purpose.
But for decades, governments have been pledging to abolish it but each time they’ve given in to pressure from powerful lobbies that benefit from leasehold.
That’s why leaseholders across the country are coming together - we need to be louder than the vested interests. Together, we can call on politicians to stand their ground and end this broken system once and for all.
WHY?
WE ARE CALLING:
For leaseholders to be freed from the threat of forfeiture and crippling costs
For every leaseholder to have control over how their homes are managed
For commonhold, which is true home ownership, for the 5.3 million households trapped in leasehold
OPEN LETTER
Sign the open letter calling on Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook to start taking action immediately to free leaseholders.
Dear Matthew Pennycook,
At the election, leaseholders voted for change and an “end to the feudal leasehold system” – a key Labour Party manifesto commitment.
At the King’s Speech, your insurgent government of delivery promised to act “quickly” in commencing the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (‘LAFRA’).
In opposition, you were right to attack the Conservatives for their slow delivery and a 2025/26 timetable for action against leasehold.
That’s why we are calling for you to:
1) Activate LAFRA before Christmas to give leaseholders a vital lifeline.
2) Publish your draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill – promised for this 2024-25 parliamentary session – before Christmas.
3) Release the results of the last government’s ground rent consultation – and outline Labour’s plans to crack down on this money-for-nothing scheme.
Millions of leaseholders up and down the country – many of whom voted for Labour for the first time in their lives in 2024 – are waiting for your response. We do not have the time, money or stamina to wait 4 to 5 years (at a minimum) for the government to liberate us. We have already endured decades of dithering and broken promises.
Our housing experience is a cost of living crisis.
Now is the time for Operation Warp Speed, not more technocratic legalism and delay. What we care about are outcomes, not process. All we want is control of our own homes.
The fate of this agenda is a litmus test of whether the government can restore politics as a force for good.
Please bring us good news before Christmas.
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