Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to cap Management Companies raising fees on new developments without the explicit consent of residents on the development.

The Government believes very strongly that fees, such as service charges, should be transparent and communicated effectively, and that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong.

The law is clear that service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to work or services, these must be of a reasonable standard. Leaseholders may make an application to the First-tier Tribunal to make a determination on the reasonableness of their service charges.

The Government believes Permission fees and administration charges should only be used where necessary and should only cover any reasonable costs incurred.

The Government established an independent working group chaired by Lord Best to raise standards across the property sector, which also considered how fees such as service charges should be presented to consumers and the circumstances under which permission fees and administration charges could be justified, and whether they should be capped or banned. The working group has published its final report to Government and suggested that Government should consider introducing a prescribed list of acceptable fees. We are considering the report’s recommendations carefully and will announce next steps in due course.