There are wide news reports of MHCLG’s announcement that millions of leaseholders are being handed a “massive boost” to fight rip-off service charges from 1 April 2027.
The announcement was backed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who said it was “simply wrong that millions of leaseholders can be hit with unfair charges” - and more “bills just for challenging them”. The PM’s words are featured across national coverage alongside Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook’s, including in The Sun, Mirror, Express and LBC, with the Daily Mail’s This is Money hailing the changes as “hope for flat owners!”.
The Minister’s exclusive podcast interview with the i paper’s Vicky Spratt ran on its front page (and page 6), marking the new powers to help leaseholders “get cheaper bills within months” and stronger protections from landlords’ legal costs. The Minister also highlighted wider plans to reform leasehold and commonhold, describing them as the “most ambitious overhaul of land and property law in a generation”.
To spread the word further, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook was interviewed on national breakfast broadcast programmes on Thursday (12 November). He spoke to Times Radio, Sky News, BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Bauer, Good Morning Britain, ITN and GB News – as well as LBC, where he told presenter Nick Ferrari that he is determined to honour the government’s commitments on leasehold reform.
The BBC’s coverage on Breakfast and Today featured an interview with campaigner Harry Scoffin, founder of Free Leaseholders, who described the government’s action as a "good first start" to tackle leasehold issues. BBC Radio 5 Live spoke to property lawyer Mark Chick, who said the changes would lead to "greater transparency".
Regional coverage reached city audiences including BBC London (TV, radio and social media) and the Manchester Evening News. Other regional reports included ITV News Border and a package that ran across several of the BBC's regional channels (TV and radio), including BBC South, BBC Channel Islands, BBC Newcastle and BBC Merseyside. Local coverage also featured online in the Herts Advertiser, Hunts Post, Bolton Times, Ely Standard, Peterborough Matters, Welwyn & Hatfield Times and Cambridgeshire Times.
The Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said:
“Rapidly escalating and frequently opaque service charges are placing huge financial strain on hard-pressed leaseholders across the country.
“Today, we’re acting to protect them by introducing regulations that will improve the fairness and transparency of service charges so that unreasonable increases can be more easily challenged.
“As we work to dismantle the feudal leasehold system in this Parliament, we won’t leave existing leaseholders behind.”
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