Government Responds to Service Charge Petition

The government has responded to an online petition before Parliament calling for a new body to regulate service charges on rented homes.

The petition requests that the body monitor service charges set by private landlords, councils, and housing associations to ensure tenants' bills are fair.

The campaign has surpassed the 10,000-vote threshold that triggers an official response and currently has 11,533 signatures.

In a lengthy response, the Ministry of Housing reiterates previous statements regarding new laws to make service charges more transparent for homeowners. Still, it falls short of announcing a new body to regulate services.

"The Housing Ombudsman Service can investigate complaints about the communication, transparency, and fairness of service charges, but not the amount of the charges themselves. These measures provide oversight and protection for leaseholders and tenants who pay service charges, and we do not consider that there is a need for a regulatory body," said a ministry spokesman.

The petition will be considered for a debate in Parliament if 100,000 signatures are reached by June 19.

Sign the petition

Mortgage relief petition running out of steam

A petition posted by lawyer Fedon Kazantzis urging the government to reverse restrictions on claiming mortgage interest relief for landlords has failed to spark interest.

Although 911 people have signed the petition, only 20 have expressed interest in the past month.

The petition is open until July 19.

If you are a higher rate (40 per cent) or additional rate (45 per cent) taxpayer, you still receive tax relief, but this is restricted to 20 per cent of the interest and is given as a tax credit. Before the tax rules changed, higher and additional rate taxpayers could claim relief at their marginal rate.

The petition argues that restoring the old tax rates would help landlords reinvest in buy-to-let homes and make rents more affordable for tenants.

Sign the petition

Other open petitions for landlords and property investors on the government's petition website include:

Revoke The Selective Licensing of Houses (Additional Conditions) Order 2015 785 signatures

Ban ground rent on all leasehold properties. 224 signatures

Reduce stamp duty for additional property & reinstate multiple dwellings relief 53 signatures

Require rent increases to be based on inflation and salaries, freeze for 3 years 51 signatures

Review the affordability of the rental market 44 signatures

Make it a legal requirement for all landlords to hold valid building insurance 44 signatures

Require providers of temporary accommodation to allow pets 39 signatures

Require RA committee members to reveal conflicts of interest with the Landlord. 31 signatures

Introduce increased regulation of letting agents 28 signatures

Ban insured deposit protection schemes 24 signatures

Exempt properties rented by three unrelated people from HMO rules 20 signatures

Find out more about the government's online petition service, including signing or starting a petition, by clicking here. So far in this Parliament, 92 petitions have received an official response, and MPs have debated 13.