Seema Malhotra
Main Page: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Mr Betts
There are circumstances where leaseholders can do that—ultimately, they could move to a form of commonhold, although that requires substantial agreement among themselves, and many elderly leaseholders might not want to go down that road without lots of explanation and help. One of our concerns was that there is not much help or publicity about that process, and that issue could be looked at. Service charges are often terribly opaque, and proper information is not provided. The right to challenge is not explained, and challenge through a tribunal is difficult. Another thing that would help is a simpler housing court system, which we hear the Government are going to introduce. The quicker they do that, the better.
Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)
I congratulate my hon. Friend and the Select Committee on the report, which is incredibly hard-hitting. My constituents, such as Pamela Rose Canales and other Camellia House residents who contributed evidence, greatly appreciate it. I believe the report is a game-changer. This issue has been bubbling away in this House, and we now have a real opportunity to fundamentally review and change legislation in this area. May I pick up on three very brief recommendations he has made, and ask how quickly he thinks they could be taken forward?
The first relates to the prevention of the ability of landlords to recoup their legal fees from those against whom they lose their case. Secondly, in my experience, paying the service charge has not been the issue. People are happy to pay a fair service charge. As my hon. Friend says, the issue is the lack of transparency and justification, and the unpredictable nature of additional charges that can just appear throughout the year. Perhaps with the housing court that he mentioned, changes could come in quickly.
Finally, how quickly could the Law Commission be asked by the Government to undertake a comprehensive review, bearing in mind that it could take 12 to 18 months? We want the legislative changes to be introduced as quickly as possible.
Mr Betts
On the first point, if a leaseholder at a tribunal asks at the beginning for a ruling that, if they win, costs cannot be passed on to the freeholder, the tribunal can so rule. The problem is that many leaseholders do not know about that requirement. The Government could do an awful lot immediately to publicise that.
Secondly, on service charges, we recommend that a standard format should be brought in, so that all leaseholders know what to expect and all information is given to them in a proper manner. The Government could publish guidance without having to wait for primary legislation. We hope that they will look at doing that very quickly.
On the Law Commission, I do not know how long it would take it to report, but the Government could make an immediate decision to ask it to produce a report. However, the Law Commission made it very clear to us that it currently does not have the resources in its budget to do that. It would need the Government to offer, and provide, sufficient funding.