Petitioners Push for Service Charge Regulation

Housing campaigner Suzanne Muna has launched a petition protest in Parliament to establish a new body to regulate service charges paid by tenants.

She wants the body to monitor and regulate private, council, and housing association service charges and impose ‘meaningful’ penalties for unfair, inaccurate, and unreasonable charges.

Ms Muna also wants the regulator to offer free help to tenants facing challenging charges.

Service charges are payments made by tenants or leaseholders to cover the costs of maintaining and managing their buildings and estates. They can include repairs, maintenance, insurance, and management costs.

Some 3,427 people have supported the petition. If the pledges receive 10,000 signatures, the government must offer a written response.

The petition is open for six months (until June 19).

Ms Muna has held numerous roles as a social housing regulator and member of the Unite union.

Call to outlaw extortionate service charges

Another pro-tenant petition has garnered nearly a thousand signatures, calling for the government to cap property management fees and service charges.

The petition claims some landlords are charging ‘extortionate’ fees.

Added by Tiffany Gale, the petition says: “Property management companies managing privately owned properties have some regulations. However, we think they are insufficient as some leaseholders and tenants are charged fees, which we believe are extortionate as there is no maximum they can charge.”

The petition explains that current rules allow landlords to charge reasonable fees, which are too open to interpretation.

“With cost of living pressures, many people might be unable to fund the fees management companies charge. We feel the charges are often nonsensical. If the people could retain these funds, they might use them in a more beneficial way to support the country's economy,” says the petition.

The petition closes on May 26.

Let landlords claim full mortgage interest tax relief

Barrister Fedon Kazantzis has opened a petition calling for the government to allow buy-to-let landlords to claim 100 per cent tax relief on mortgage interest payments.

Full relief was available until 2017 but gradually whittled down to a 20 per cent tax credit by April 2020. For example, landlords claiming mortgage interest relief of £10,000 a year in 2017 saw tax relief dropping from £10,000 to £2,000.

The petition has 135 supporters and runs until July 17.

The petition says: “We believe removing it may entice landlords back to the market, increase availability and make rents more affordable. Landlords provide an important service, and this unfair tax has caused many to leave the sector, resulting in a shortage of rental properties and an increase in rents and homelessness.”

Property petitions seeking support

Other landlord and tenant petitions include:

• Establishment of minimum standards for student housing (91 signatures)
• Reduce stamp duty for additional property and reinstate multiple dwellings relief (35 signatures)
• Require rent increases to be based on inflation and salaries, freeze for three years (32 signatures)

AT 10,000 signatures, the government makes a written response to a petition, while at 100,000 signatures, the petition is considered for debate in Parliament.