😠 Housing Estates

Commons Chamber

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Alistair Strathern introduced a Bill to tackle the “fleecehold stealth tax” affecting new homeowners on unadopted housing estates, aiming to set minimum standards for public amenities and enforce their adoption by local authorities. He highlighted the financial burden and lack of accountability faced by residents, who often pay high service charges for basic services that should be covered by council tax. The Bill proposes giving freeholders the right to manage their estates, potentially reducing exploitation by private management companies. It also seeks to ensure new housing developments meet adoptable standards, addressing the growing issue of unadopted estates across the UK.

Summary

  • Alistair Strathern introduced a Bill to address issues with unadopted private housing estates often referred to as “fleecehold” estates. The Bill aims to grant freeholders on these estates a right to manage, set minimum standards for public amenities, and facilitate adoption by local authorities.

  • He highlighted that many new homeowners are facing a “fleecehold stealth tax,” paying private management companies for services that should be covered by council taxes. This has led to significant financial burdens, with some residents paying hundreds or even thousands of pounds annually.

  • Strathern shared a personal anecdote from his holiday in Scotland about a family friend who faced harsh repercussions for missing one bill payment, including charges being added to their mortgage and damage to their credit score.

  • The Bill proposes measures to prevent new estates from remaining unadopted by mandating minimum adoptable standards for developers and setting adoption timelines for local authorities.

  • To address the immediate needs of residents currently trapped in fleecehold arrangements, the Bill would empower them with a right to manage, giving them control over the management of their estates and the ability to potentially replace exploitative management companies.

  • The discussion underscored the broader issue of housing in the UK, including the broken leasehold system, house supply problems, and the need for affordable social rented and secure private rented housing.

  • The Bill was ordered to be read for the second time on Friday 13 June.

  • Additionally, an Allocation of Time Order was set for the Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Bill, scheduling various stages of its parliamentary process within tight time frames on the same day.

Divisiveness

The transcript provided does not show any significant disagreement among the participants in the parliamentary session. The session was primarily a presentation by Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab) for a motion to introduce a bill concerning housing estates. The content of the speech focused on the need for the bill without any interruptions, questions, or counter-arguments from other members of the House. The only recorded action following the speech was that the question was put and agreed to, indicating unanimous or near-unanimous consent without any recorded debate or disagreement. The subsequent part of the transcript deals with procedural matters regarding the ‘Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Bill’, and again, no disagreement is shown in the text provided. Therefore, the disagreement level in this session is minimal, justifying a rating of 1 on a scale of 1 to 5.