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We are very sorry to report that Louis Burns, an outspoken and dogged supporter of leaseholders, died unexpectedly at his home last weekend.

He had worked exclusively for leaseholders in the legal field and also put forward in no uncertain terms the case for abolishing this form of tenure which enriches the wealthy and exploits those with more modest means. He set up ALEP to help leaseholders find suitably expert lawyers and worked on fairer formulae for calculating the cost of freehold purchase. He also wrote a very amusing and helpful guide for leaseholders – with a short section on fake freehold near the end. You can buy this on Kindle here.

He was a trustee of Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, and a good friend to our allies at the National Leasehold Campaign who grieve for him at a personal level.

We offer our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Over the last three years of our campaign, there have been plenty of references to problems with the private estate model in parliamentary debates. We are sharing a few quotes taken from Hansard in this article. It is abundantly clear that MPs of all parties have heard from their constituents, and have pressed the government to act. Sadly there has only been consultations and promises of measures based on the already broken leasehold system. Regulation of property agents and redress through the first tier Lands Tribunal are measures which we do not feel tackle the poor quality of new build estates, or the fundamental unfairness of estate residents subsidising leisure facilities for the whole community. We also do not believe they will achieve the government’s stated aim of ensuring fairness and value for money.

It is clear to us that this government is more interested in supporting the construction industry than in ensuring quality developments and a fair deal for home buyers.

We are sold a dream and often find a nightmare on new build estates. One of our members has written this poem which expresses what many of us feel :-