Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help tackle disparities in leasehold maintenance charges for residents living in self-contained bungalows who are charged for communal amenities they cannot not use.

The government is committed to ensuring that leaseholders, including those living in self-contained bungalows, are protected from unfair practices, including in relation to service charges.

Individual leases set out what services leaseholders may expect to receive and areas they can access, and what they should pay for.

Overcharging through service charges is completely unacceptable.

By law variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to works or services, the works or services must be of a reasonable standard.  Should leaseholders wish to contest the reasonableness of their service charges, they may make an application to the appropriate tribunal.

Leaseholders may also access free, independent advice from the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE), which is funded by the Department and offers a range of online resources, as well as telephone and email support.

We intend to consult in the very near future on the measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 designed to drive up the transparency of service charges and to make them more easily challengeable if leaseholders consider them to be unreasonable.