Property Management Companies - Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee examine service concerns
On Tuesday morning, the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee holds a one-off evidence session examining property management companies, looking at how the sector is responding to concerns around excessive service charges, poor communication, and unresolved maintenance problems.
Meeting details
MPs will question witnesses including from the Home Owners Rights Network (HorNet) and Martin King, Managing Director, FirstPort. This follows complaints about excessive management fees and transparency across management companies.
The BBC reported (in December 2024) on allegations of FirstPort “residents being charged £150 for light bulbs that had never been fitted”.
MPs will hear from Lord Best OBE DL, Former Chair of the Regulation of Property Agents Working Group (see their final report from 2019), and also from the Competition and Markets Agency (CMA), who produced a report on the housebuilding sector (2024) that included an examination of the issue of consumer detriment arising from the private management of public amenities on housing estates.
Details of further witnesses are included in the full witness list below.
The cross-party Committee are expected to ask questions on topics including concerns around a lack of transparency on how charges are spent, the restrictions placed on the title deeds of properties, and a lack of homeowner control over how the estate is managed.
The Committee is also likely to explore issues around so-called ‘fleecehold’, including where homeowners, despite owning the freehold of their home, do not have the equivalent rights to leaseholders in terms of information about charges and the right to challenge the level of the charges.
The Committee are also expected to examine issues relating to the implementation Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.