“Worry and stress”: life as a leaseholder in London

A London Assembly Housing Committee report, “Worry and stress” – life as a leaseholder in London, highlights the increasing costs associated with leasehold in London. To help Londoners facing soaring costs, the report calls for the Mayor to commit to capping service charges for new shared-ownership homes and include “designing down service charges” as part of his updated London Plan, due to be published next year.

Key recommendations in the report include:

• The Mayor should work to improve transparency in leasehold service charges in London. This should include updating the Leasehold Guide for Londoners and the Service Charge Charter.
• The Government should legislate to give social renters the same rights as leaseholders in terms of access to full service-charge statements and invoices.
• Developers should be required to submit to their local authorities steps they have taken to ensure maximum lifespan of building components and maximise whole-life value for money for leaseholders.
• The GLA should conduct research on potential models for capping service charges in its new-build shared ownership.