Enhanced protections for homeowners on freehold estates

For too many homeowners, the experience of living on a newly developed housing estate has been tainted by the hidden and enduring consequences of unadopted infrastructure. Roads, sewers, drains, green spaces, and other amenities that historically would have been maintained by the local authority or utility companies, are instead now routinely left to be managed by private estate management companies, often with little transparency or accountability.

In many cases, the quality of the amenities on such freehold estates is inferior to those adopted by the relevant public authority and falls far short of what people have a right to expect. Residential freeholders across the country frequently report open spaces not fit for purpose, roads left unsurfaced; and drainage systems which are often little more than open ditches. These issues blight people’s lives and with few of the rights to redress found in other markets and no ability to control the management of the estates on which they live, residents feel like they are treated as second-class homeowners. 

This government believes that homeowners living on freehold estates deserve a fair deal. That is why we pledged in our manifesto to act to bring the injustice of ‘fleecehold’ private housing estates and unfair maintenance costs to an end. 

Our objective is clear. We are determined to reduce the prevalence of private estate management arrangements, which are the root cause of the problems experienced by many residential freeholders. At the same time, we want to provide those who currently live on privately managed estates with greater rights and protections so that the fees they pay are fair, transparent, and robustly justified.

Alongside acting through primary legislation to ban the use of the draconian remedies available for nonpayment of rentcharges and working with the Law Commission to explore how homeowners on freehold estates might secure greater control over the management of their estates, we intend to bring into force the new consumer protection provisions in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.

These provisions allow for the creation of a new regulatory framework that will make estate management companies more accountable for how homeowners’ money is spent. They will provide homeowners who pay an estate management charge with better access to information they need to understand what they are paying for; the right to challenge the reasonableness at the First-tier Tribunal; and the right to go to the tribunal to appoint a substitute manager. 

This consultation seeks views on how we implement this new framework effectively and to the benefit of all homeowners. We invite individual homeowners, estate managers and managing agents to share their views, with suggestions for improvements, and how they can be made.

Matthew Pennycook MP
Minister of State for Housing and Planning