Exciting news!
On November 14th Helen Goodman MP (Bishop Auckland) will table a 10 minute rule bill in parliament calling for:
- Measures to regulate the fees charged to homeowners by management companies
- Measures to ensure shared facilities are of an adequate standard
- Provision for the self-management of communal areas by residents, should they wish.
This is a major step forward in raising awareness of the issue in parliament, and we hope more generally as well.
It is not expected that a ten minute rule bill will be enacted, but it can do much to lay the foundation for government action, as Justin Madders successfully did with his bill around doubling ground rent leasehold issues.
The more support the bill has from MPs the more likely further action will arise. We urge all HorNets to email/write to their MP asking them to support the bill. Helen Goodman has provided a letter template, which you can use or customise if you wish.
Letter Template Estate Charges
HorNet are not too concerned that the title of the bill refers to freehold homes, we expect that any future legislation will cover estate charges for all tenures, and in all circumstances, not just new build estates. We will continue to promote the message that estate charges on peoples homes are the problem and fight for their abolition.
I read the letter and clicked on the embedded link to Helen Goodman’s Site but there was no mention of the 10 minute bill anywhere!
Thanks for the heads up. Looks like she hasn’t got the article published yet. Will feed this back. In the meantime, no reason not to use the template. If you are uncomfortable about sending a broken link, just delete that paragraph.
Tried to complete template but it says read only so cant fill in details. Can you advise please? It opened in word, via chrome, if that makes a difference.
Thankyou.
You need to download/save it onto your device rather than opening it in your browser. The template is also available to download from the files section on our FaceBook group.