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Leaseholders' Rights Bill

I congratulate the hon. Member for Beckenham (Mrs. Lait) on securing a place in the ballot and on introducing the Bill. The regularity with which Bills on leasehold reform turn up—whether it be from the hon. Lady or from my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, North (Barry Gardiner), who is a regular on this issue, or from others—shows the importance of the issue and demonstrates that something must be done. I declare an interest in that I am a leaseholder and I am facing the possibility of a rather large bill coming up in the not-too-distant future, although we will not be particularly affected because proper consultation is taking place. I am minded to support the hon. Lady's Bill, subject to what my right hon. Friend the Minister might say. I hope to speak at less length than the promoter did, which would probably be a record for me on a Friday, but there are a few points that I would like to raise. My initial impression on reading the Bill through was that it was entirely about the private sector, not the social sector. I thought of intervening to ask how the hon. Lady envisaged her Bill applying to registered social landlords, as it appeared to me that the Bill did not deal with them. It seems to deal almost perfectly with the private sector and existing protections, but it is difficult to see how it fits together with problems experienced in the public sector. The hon. Lady's point about mixed tenure is particularly important. In my constituency, problems have arisen primarily in housing estates where some people have bought their homes while others are still tenants. We need to think about how to deal with the difference between the two. As my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, North said in an intervention, problems occur when leaseholders feel that they are being loaded with bills that really belong to the housing revenue account and tenancy side. Sometimes it can be the other way round. That issue must be dealt with at some stage. There is a further problem where the landlord—in this case, the council, or in my area, the arm's length management organisation—has entered into a long-term agreement with one contractor. At present, we are in the middle of an £88.5 million decent homes initiative improvement project, the contract for which has been awarded to Balfour Beatty. A lot of problems have arisen as a result of that. One of the key questions leaseholders will always ask is whether they will get value for money from cosy arrangements—the term "sweetheart deals" crossed my mind, but that might be going too far—between the contractor and the arm's length management organisation. The Bill also fails to deal with major works contracts that may be sufficiently large to require a public notice under the EU procurement rules and advertising in the EU journal. In such instances, a problem arises about how people can get involved in the consultation process and, more importantly, how leaseholders might be allowed to put forward alternative proposals when it is necessary to go through that tendering process required under EU regulations. That issue must be addressed in this process. The Department for Communities and Local Government has done some research on this issue. In 2006, it was recommended that the Department should provide""further guidance on the standards of works to be carried out in flatted accommodation and…clarify the position in relation to the decent homes standard"." I shall cite an example of that important point shortly. It was also recommended that the Department should""provide further guidance in relation to defining hardship"." One issue that confronts leaseholders in social housing arrangements is that they can face big bills that they did not expect to have to pay when they originally bought the property, whether under the right to buy or otherwise. I was a councillor in Westminster in the 1980s when right to buy was introduced, and I remember warning people who bought flats in badly neglected blocks that they would face enormous bills in the future. Many people did not think that that would happen to them; they believed that Lady Porter would look after them, but she looked after them in a rather different way, as we all know. I shall not go into the details of that, other than to mention the "homes for votes" scandal. Part of that scandal was the fact that leaseholders were asked to buy flats—including in my ward—in tower blocks, and were then faced with enormous bills. One problem was that purchasers went ahead without having their eyes open to the possibility of bills. Matters have improved somewhat, and I understand that leaseholders purchasing under the right to buy now have to be given a five-year estimate of possible future costs, but what happens beyond that five-year period? Unfortunately, many elderly tenants thought the right to buy was their way of providing a little nest egg for their children, but they then found that the circumstances were rather different when, as pensioners, they were faced with bills for many thousands of pounds.