Read Leaseholder Action’s Liam Spender’s blog on his visit to Parliament to brief MP’s on the Leaseholder Action group claim.
Committee Room 18 is located on the upper committee corridor which runs for much of the length of the Palace of Westminster – that’s the Houses of Parliament to you and me. Stone arches, wood panelling, and views of the Thames are the upside of this grand, if a little tired, venue. On the downside, even on a cool crisp sunny day in March, the room becomes incredibly stuffy when an event is so well attended there is standing room only. I was invited to Room 18 to speak at a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Leasehold and Commonhold Reform.
Present were a mixture of MP’s, Peers, leaseholders, and interested members of the property and insurance industry. On the agenda was the recent consultation on the introduction of permitted insurance fees for landlords, freeholders, and property managing agents. To the uninitiated it all sounds pretty dry – until you consider the reason why the consultation is happening in the first place. That reason is, of course, the gravy train that is the hidden insurance commissions freeholders and their cohorts have been charging for decades. These commissions have been taken out of the pockets of leasehold homeowners – who have been paying up to 60% extra for their building’s insurance. These excessive, hidden, and unlawful commissions are now the subject of the Leaseholder Action group claim. If you’re a leaseholder and you haven’t signed up – do it now!
Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook attended the meeting and to his credit stayed for the entire event. He reiterated the government’s commitment to getting better protections for leaseholders as soon as possible. It will be interesting to see the Ministerial response to the consultation exercise, when it comes. He asked me an excellent question on whether I felt the new rules put in place by the Financial Conduct Authority, on disclosing commissions charged on buildings insurance, were working. I had to tell him compliance is, at best, partial. Opacity is still, sadly, the order of the day. When it comes to revealing which companies have been approached for insurance quotes, and how much commission is being charged, some landlords are still reluctant to play by the rules.
I took the opportunity to give a little speech, giving an overview of the Leaseholder Action case and explaining why we have a ‘proof of concept’. I won compensation for the residents in my block when I took our landlord to court. Some of the MP’s present took a great deal of interest and will hopefully feedback the message of Leaseholder Action to their leaseholder constituents. Unfortunately, future legislation to implement a fair and transparent system for charging residents a commission, on the absolute necessity that is buildings insurance, won’t deal with what has happened in the past. The only way to get redress for the egregious overcharging by landlords, insurance firms, and managing agents is to join the Leaseholder Action claim.
Overall, I think my pitch for Leaseholder Action was well received by many of those present in Committee Room 18. I’ll report back on any developments when I have more news!
