On Wednesday 18th July, HorNet reps joined the National Leasehold Campaign demo outside parliament and later walked with them to 10 Downing Street where they handed in their petition to abolish leasehold. It was great to join such a spirited and well organised demo and to meet with people face to face.
A number of MPs came out to see us all in support including Sir Peter Bottomley and Jim Fitzpatrick co chairs of the All party Parliamentary Group on Leasehold and Common Hold reform. That great champion of exploited home owners, Justin Madders, John Healey, Shadow Housing Minister, and Catherine McKinnell who is very supportive of her HorNet member constituent.
Since our campaign is about estate management, you might wonder what we were doing there when it was a leasehold issue. We believe that all these ways of monetising land and property are interlinked, and that ordinary home owners are being exploited in a number of ways. Many leaseholders also live on managed estates, so even when successful in purchasing their freehold in most cases it will be “fake freehold” with charges attached. They will still not be free of a landlord and own a true freehold.
Stealing a phrase from the NLC campaign “don’t polish – abolish!” we who live on privately owned estates with public open spaces should be demanding compulsory adoption of these areas. Apart from resolving all the injustice and extra hidden costs for the home owners, this would also drive up standards of estate construction, which are currently abysmal and will eventually lead to blight.
So
- Adoption for estates with public open spaces
- Common hold for exclusively private estates
- Abolish leasehold across the board in favour of common hold
Are the things we should be demanding!
