Leasehold fees face caps as Government promises property agent regulation
More than five million leaseholders would gain protection from uncapped charges, and every property agent would need a licence under plans unveiled in Liverpool.
The Government has announced plans to cap the fees landlords and managing agents can charge leaseholders, and to introduce independent regulation of property agents for the first time. The measures were unveiled by the Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Tuesday.
The plans would give the Secretary of State new legislative powers to cap permission fees, the charges levied when a leaseholder needs landlord consent for routine requests such as keeping a pet or changing a front door, as well as administrative charges such as fees for providing building safety certificates or for notifying a landlord of a change of mortgage provider.
The Government said the measures would support more than five million existing leaseholders and future homeowners. They would apply both to leaseholders and to homeowners on privately managed estates, where residents can face similar charges for minor alterations to their properties.
We will legislate for an independent regulator to rein these cowboys in.Angela Rayner, Housing Secretary
Rayner told the conference she had heard of leaseholders being charged 250 pounds for permission to own a pet and 400 pounds to change a front door. She said: "We will legislate for an independent regulator to rein these cowboys in."
The proposed regulator would set standards of conduct and complaint handling requirements for property agents, and would oversee a licensing system. Agents would be required to hold a licence and appropriate qualifications, and the regulator would have the power to take licences away from those who fall foul of the required standards.
The announcement goes further than the Government's previous home buying and selling roadmap. A Regulation of Property Agents working group chaired by Lord Best had already recommended an independent regulator, a mandatory and legally enforceable code of practice, and minimum qualification requirements in 2019.
A public consultation will now be launched on which fees should be capped and at what level. Critics cautioned that the measures do not address the underlying system. One campaigner said an administration fee cap was welcome but "a drop in the ocean" compared with the thousands of pounds some leaseholders are forced to pay. The Government has separately pledged to abolish leasehold, and in January announced that ground rents would be capped at 250 pounds a year from 2028.
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