Leaking roofs, broken fire doors and huge price hikes - residents in despair over 'broken fleecehold' system

Councillors are calling for an urgent change in the law to protect residents trapped in a 'broken' system. Senior councillor Jo Harding told a meeting leaseholders of homes in Trafford are faced with leaking roofs, broken fire doors and huge hikes in service charges.

"This government is presiding over what is now commonly referred to as fleecehold. Ministers must act now," she told the meeting.

Leaseholders have a temporary right to land or property from the owner or 'freeholder'. The leases are usually long term - often 90 or 120 years and can be for as long as 999 years, but can also be short, for example, 40 years.

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Coun Harding is the executive member for finance, change and governance and represents the Urmston ward. She paid tribute to the ‘tenacity’ of some of the residents in central Urmston, on Eden Square, who she said she has been supporting, ‘but with not much effect, it saddens me to say’.

Coun Harding said: “I have walked around the Eden Square development and spoken to the residents who in all good faith purchased their properties that were meant to be in a premium town centre location.

“I have witnessed the leaking roofs, the broken fire doors, the damage to the walls, the shoddy repair work. I’ve met with residents over several years now - it really has been going on that long - as they struggle to get any clear communication, no clarity on huge hikes in service charges, and little or no response when it comes to getting repairs.”

She said that ‘the whole rotten system of leasehold is broken’.

The motion passed by the council calls for the government to introduce an alternative to leasehold called