Ex-housing secretary Angela Rayner has called for the government to regulate managing agents as part of leasehold reforms.
As it stands the reforms will cap ground rents from leaseholders to freeholders at £250 per year, as well as ban the sale of new leasehold flats.
However, managing agents can still charge steep service charges, which pay for the management and maintenance of a building
Rayner, speaking to MPs on the Commons Housing Committee, said the lack of regulation was “a real problem” and urged the government to “go further and harder” on Lord Best’s 2019 proposal to introduce an independent regulator.
Jo Ironside, partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter, agreed that the current lack of managing agent regulation leaves too much room for poor practice and little accountability.
She said: “While managing agents perform a complex and often undervalued role, the current lack of regulation leaves too much room for poor practice and little accountability.
“Leaseholders may not appreciate the pressures managing agents face but that doesn’t change the reality that consumers deserve transparency, fair charges and a management industry that is properly trained and properly overseen.
“An independent regulator, mandatory qualifications and clear rules on service charges and insurance transparency are long overdue.
“Raising standards may increase costs, but the answer cannot be to maintain a system where leaseholders continue to pay high bills for services they don’t understand and cannot scrutinise.
“If the government is serious about rebalancing power in the leasehold market, it must deliver meaningful consumer protections as part of this bill, not leave them for another decade.”
Rayner was previously housing secretary, until she resigned in September last year after it emerged that she didn’t pay enough tax when buying a flat.
