Commonhold and Leasehold Reform: Managing Agents

Matt Rodda Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Matt Rodda (Reading Central) (Lab)]

I thank the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi), for all her work on this issue. I also thank the whole Committee and the experts who testified. I would like to speak in favour of the Government’s proposals, and will briefly describe the situation in my constituency and the wild west of management agents, as described by my hon. Friend.

Too many of my residents face deep frustration, even anger, because of the actions of these companies. In many cases, people have worked extremely hard to get a foot on the housing ladder. They bought an attractive flat in what they thought was a nice development, only to be let down extremely badly by these companies, who treat them in an appalling way, offer a very poor service, and charge high costs.

I will mention two case studies. The first is an attractive development in west Reading, for which Remus is the managing agent. It is near to a large Tesco and some parks. It is an attractive redevelopment of a hospital site, with low and medium-rise brick buildings that fit the built environment. Many young families live there. It should be a pleasant place to live. However, there are problems with antisocial behaviour, and Remus has persistently failed to respond to very reasonable inquiries and requests by residents. For example, it has failed for months to repair the shutters on the entrance to a car park, and has allowing antisocial behaviour to creep into the car park under residents’ properties. It also failed to restore hot water, which was unavailable in some of the flats.

There has been a whole series of other problems. For example, Remus expected residents to pay for the upkeep and closure of a park in which there was some antisocial behaviour. There are related issues involving other management companies, such as parking problems on some roads. This is all causing extreme stress for residents in the area. I had a public meeting with a number of residents recently, and they explained that very clearly to me. Rightly, residents are outraged by the behaviour of these companies.

The potential for reform is very clear, as my hon. Friend and others pointed out. In one of the blocks in the area, residents have gone through the extremely lengthy process of getting commonhold. That has led to a 50% reduction in the fees that the residents have to pay. That is a very clear indication of both the necessity of reform and the difficulties that some face in achieving it.

I realise that time is pressing, so I will try to pool together several other case studies, from Reading town centre and other parts of our town, relating to failures by FirstPort, Moreland Estate and other management companies. Companies have allowed antisocial behaviour to take place in stairwells, which leaves residents intimidated, and have had a poor response to fire and remediation issues. This is some years after the Grenfell disaster. There is also a series of other difficult problems.

Again and again, residents are being put under pressure. In one case, a resident rightly used the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to demand a breakdown of the payments that they were due to be charged, but the managing agent did not respond by the statutory deadline. That is the level of poor service that some of my residents and colleagues’ residents face. I urge the Minister to continue taking action on this important matter.