Eyebrows have been raised in SW1 over Housing Minister Matthew Pennycooks’s attendance at an event hosted by Landmark Chambers last week. Tickets went for £199 + VAT…

Leasehold reform was up for discussion at the event. Four of Landmark Chambers’ team are suing the government on behalf of Freeholders against Gove’s Leasehold Act, which the last Tory government pushed through in washup. Labour went further in their manifesto, pledging to “act where the Conservatives have failed and finally bring the feudal leasehold system to an end.” Since the King’s Speech Labour ministers have kept studiously quiet on the leasehold issue and that pledge…

One Landmark Chambers barrister posted on LinkedIn: “It was a privilege to be able to advocate in favour of saving leases with a Minister in attendance. Let’s hope the plan to abolish the “feudal” system of leasehold is just a sound bite!” Pennycook was directly lobbied…

Leader of the Commons Lucy Powell posted on Twitter over the weekend that Labour is “quickly enacting” leasehold reform. That tweet is now deleted. Curious…

Pernicious lawfare is increasingly dominating in the UK since Labour has come to power. Love-ins with vested interest lawyers won’t do much to reassure the public that Labour is serious on its manifesto pledge…

Landlords are selling up shop amid fears Labour will whack up capital gains tax and and implement further regulation, according to a survey by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS). From May to July, landlords instructing estate agents fell by 16% overall, dropping by a whopping 59% in East Anglia and 39% in the East Midlands. Sell now or pay later…

The survey points the blame of the drop of buy-to-lets at Reeves and her clan’s likely tax rises, coupled with the new Renters Rights Bill, which ends fixed-term penalties meaning landlords cannot make renters leave without clear fault-based grounds. Meanwhile, the number of houses to rent has dropped by nearly half since 2019 – and rent is only going up. Yet again the effects of a so-called ‘pro-growth’, planning reform orientated Labour are coming to light. And this is just landlords reacting pre-emptively… 

Housing is on the agenda today as Labour and the Tories spar with each other and their personnel. Rayner took the time to attack the Tories for watering down leasehold commitments in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill. Guido wonders what Labour has done in the capital city they control…

Sadiq Khan’s 2021 manifesto promised:

“I’ll pilot a commonhold scheme to show how this form of ownership can become the new national standard for new flats.“

That was followed by crickets for three years. Now his new manifesto doesn’t even repeat that last failed pledge:

“I will continue to campaign for an end to the feudal leasehold system and its replacement with Commonhold.“

Meanwhile, Khan slings mud at Gove for the Tories’ failure to fulfil their 2019 manifesto commitment on ground rents. The pot is screaming at the kettle…