Residential Estate Management Companies

Jayne Kirkham Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd April 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) for securing this debate. Since I first wrote on social media asking my constituents whether they had been affected by fleecehold, I have had hundreds of messages, showing how much of a problem this is across the country. The way we build, own and manage homes these days has become incredibly complex. It is frustratingly difficult to unravel it, or to hold anyone to account.

I spent Tuesday taking officers from FirstPort around the Cornish properties that the company manages. It gave the residents a good chance to ask questions about repairs that had not been done and service charges that they felt were not transparent. The officers dealt with queries openly and constructively. However, it is frustrating that it took my intervention for that to happen.

On Wednesday, I visited a relatively new estate in a village in the middle of the constituency, to look at—among other things—broken drains. The drains were not made to withstand cars driving over them, yet they are used in parking bays. The gulley does not drain and is blocked. Neither the builder, freehold owner, managing agent, housing provider nor council has accepted responsibility.

Adoption is an issue. One resident I met had been living on the estate for 13 years. The developer, Persimmon, finished the estate in 2012 but, as I understand it, because the school included in the plans was not finished, the estate is regarded as unfinished. The developer continues to own the roads and some green spaces, and remains the residents’ managing company. Residents are stuck in limbo, unable to take on the freehold ownership, and have no control over the managing agents. Residents have spoken to me about yearly service charge increases, ranging from 16% to 30%. They get a letter from the managing agent with a breakdown of costs, which are very general, lacking any explanation of why they are going up.

Procurement is also an issue. Residents of an estate in Truro were charged more than £12,000 in advance of felling a tree. That was the only quote obtained at the time and was added to residents’ bills as the maximum they could expect to pay, with the difference to be refunded in following years. That still has not happened, although that occurred about three years ago. Communication is a real issue: emails regularly go unanswered, property managers are unavailable or uncontactable, and owners’ meetings have not been held.

I would like to end by quoting one of my constituents, who lives in a fleecehold property:

“Overall it’s their lack of engagement and their attitude towards us that annoys many. They do what they want and charge us what they like and we simply have to pay up. There’s no regulation and virtually no way residents can complain…other than a potentially complex and expensive legal process.”

I am hopeful that this environment will begin to change with the implementation of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 and the introduction of the leasehold and commonhold reform Bill. The Government are committed to ending the unjust practice of fleecehold and will hopefully consult this year on how to reduce the prevalence of private estate management arrangements. I am sure that will be welcomed by my constituents and others across the country.