Caroline Dinenage, Member of Parliament for Gosport, has called on Ministers to enact Conservative measures to improve transparency of “unfair and unreasonable” service charges for leaseholders .

Legislation passed in 2024 by the Conservatives to reform the charges leaseholders pay, the services they receive, the major works regime, and the required qualifications for managing agents has not been implemented by Labour.

Instead, the measures have been stuck in Government consultations since last year. The specific consultation entitled “Strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services” has been closed since September 2025, with a note on the page reading “We are analysing your feedback”.

Caroline has received significant number of complaints about property management companies in Gosport such as RMG, Vivid, and FirstPort. Caroline received so many complaints about FirstPort that she coordinated a letter from Conservative colleagues in November 2023 last year demanding that the company improve, culminating in a meeting in Parliament in January, and Chaired a further meeting the following November to track progress.

The Leasehold and Freehold Act was passed by the Sunak Government in May 2024. A press release accompanying the passing of the Act said that it would strengthen consumer rights by:

1. Giving leaseholders greater transparency over their service charges by making freeholders or managing agents issue bills in a standardised format that can be more easily scrutinised and challenged.
2. Making it easier and cheaper for leaseholders to take over management of their building, allowing them to appoint the managing agent of their choice.

Speaking in Oral Questions to the Ministers for Housing, Community and Local Government in the House of Commons, Caroline said:  

“So many of my Gosport constituents are locked into lousy leaseholds, and are so tired of seeing service charges rise while the quality of service falls. Bills are often eye-watering, and are quite often completely opaque. As the Minister said, the Conservatives passed the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act, which gave leaseholders more powers to better scrutinise and challenge those costs.

“However, on the Minister’s watch, implementation is painfully slow. Why the delay? When will leaseholders begin to see the benefits of legislation that was designed to put an end to a practice that he himself has described as “unfair and unreasonable”?”

Responding, Minister for Leasehold and Commonhold Reform, Matthew Pennycook, said: “I fully appreciate the wish of leaseholders in the hon. Lady’s constituency and those across the country to see these reforms introduced. She is absolutely right that the 2024 Act included measures to enhance transparency around service charges, to make it easier for leaseholders to challenge unreasonable service charge increases. Last July, we consulted on how to introduce those measures. It is a very technical consultation and quite a lengthy document—I draw the hon. Lady’s attention to it. We will introduce the necessary secondary legislation this year, so that leaseholders can benefit from those provisions.”

Responding on X to the Minister’s response, Caroline said: “This just doesn’t cut it. There are over 3,800 civil servants working in the Housing Ministry.

“Service charges that are opaque and often eye-wateringly high are causing distress to leaseholders across my Gosport constituency. The Secretary of State needs to activate Conservative measures right away.”

Scrutiny on the Government’s plans to reform leasehold have grown in recent months, after the Prime Minister missed his own target to publish a draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill before the end of the year. (Liaison Committee, Q100)

At Prime Minister’s Questions, the Prime Minister dodged the opportunity to commit to a publication date for his Party’s leasehold proposals.

He said: “We are taking serious action to deliver the homes that the country needs, and to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers and protections. We will publish the draft Bill as soon as possible, and I will update the House.”

As a result, the grassroots campaign group Free Leaseholders said: “Notice how the PM cannot bring himself to say his government will end leasehold, even though the Labour manifesto promises it.”