By a Twenty-Twenty Resident
Twenty-Twenty House A is an attractive, modern apartment block in the trendy Mabgate area of Leeds. Twenty-Twenty A houses 30 apartments, most of which are occupied by homeowners with full or shared ownership leases of (initially) 99 years.
On a first take, everything at Twenty-Twenty A looks sharp: it is in an impressive city centre location boasting affordable designer apartments, roof gardens, off-street parking, CCTV security, a friendly residents’ community and so-on.
But here’s a clue that Twenty-Twenty A is not quite living up to its early dream – the building hasn’t been redecorated in years, despite residents paying high service charges. And complaints to the two management companies in charge of its maintenance just fall on deaf ears. Nevertheless, you’d think: ‘surely, only a fool would not want to live in this urban palace!’
Think again!
The homeowners of Twenty-Twenty A apartments have been fooled into signing (eventually worthless) leases by dubious housing association ‘charities’ and unscrupulous freeholder landlords.
Here’s why: a 99 year lease depreciates year on year – a secure 999 year lease, which doesn’t depreciate, is possible but not offered to leaseholders. Also, ‘ground rent’ charges which double every ten years have been inserted into leases. There are huge, non-returnable ‘sinking funds’ levied on each leaseholder with no transparency about the interest they accrue or their beneficial owner(s).
Opaque service charges that don’t stack up also abound, for example, double management fees and double insurance policies taken out with no indication of who may be getting commission fee rewards. All service charge accounts are ‘rubber stamped’ by auditors who are paid to do no more than sign off on what the managers present. In short, it stinks of corruption.
The upshot is that the apartments into which Twenty-Twenty A residents invested their life savings will, in time, be worth nothing. In return for trying to secure a home for themselves and their families, they will all end-up owing money to the property villains who set-up these crooked leases. This is why we – and thousands of others – need a change in leasehold law.
Several Acts of Parliament (in 2002, 2022 and 2024) have tried to curtail the exploitative practices of freeholder landlords. But each reform has been torpedoed by the influence and money that freeholders can bring to bear in the corridors of power. And it doesn’t help justice to have many MPs supplementing their meagre £92k a year salaries by being landlords themselves.
Failing something like the 1790s French solution, the only way property injustices can be addressed is by every leaseholder in the country having a clear vision of what a just and fair future looks like, and lobbying your MPs to put your, not their, interests first.
2 July 2025
If you have a WordPress account, get notifications about new articles by subscribing below:
Well said. It’s time for a revolution.
Excellent summary of the situation and its problems caused by unscrupulous landlords
Yes – I have 2 flats in different locations managed by RMG and they are fleecing all flat owners, I’ve battled for years with many issues which have not been put right, corruption in the UK in this sector is rife and it’s getting worse, people with money have no heart or respect in this management business they are crooks getting away with murder