Leaseholder Report Update

I recently posted on the outcome of an investigation into leaseholder charging in Southwark. The scrutiny committee which I chair has been investigating possible improvements to the rules and systems used by the council to charge its leaseholders for major works and services. For some time there has been a feeling among the 13,500 leaseholders in the borough that more could be done to provide them with information and to ensure they were getting value for money. Recommendations included new individual online accounts for leaseholders to check what they are being charged for and a new option for leaseholders to pay a fixed service charge (as opposed to a variable service charge). You can see the full report here.

Last night this report went before Southwark's full Overview and Scrutiny Committee to decide whether or not the recommendations should go forward to Southwark's Cabinet. I'm really pleased that the cross party committee unanimously agreed to let the report go forward.

It just so happened that Labour's Cabinet Member for Housing, Ian Wingfield, was at the meeting. He also gave a positive reaction to the recommendations, although he will need to discuss the report with Cabinet colleagues before giving a full, formal response. We'll have to wait until the next Cabinet meeting to see if the report's recommendations are adopted in full.

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