72% of property transactions in the Sheffield Central constituency in 2025 were on a leasehold basis. The average across England and Wales in the same timeframe was 22%.
Campaigning for a fairer leasehold system is vital for Sheffield, that’s why I’m asking for your support in a campaign for fairer leaseholder management.
Leaseholders are facing rising costs, poor accountability from property management companies and complex legal barriers when trying to take control of how their buildings are managed. These problems are not isolated, they are systemic. I’m launching a campaign to ask the government to implement three asks, to reset our existing leasehold system.
1. Fairer Home Insurance
Leaseholders should be confident that insurance decisions are made in their best interests, not for profit.
Many property management agencies currently arrange buildings insurance through arm’s-length companies that they themselves control. This means any premiums or commissions are woven into leaseholder bills. Simply put, it’s more money for the managing agents.
I want the Government to regulate this practice and prevent managing agents from using insurance companies where they benefit financially.
2. Simplify Right to Manage
Lowering the threshold for Right to Manage would make it easier for residents to organise and ensure buildings are managed in the interests of those who live there.
Leaseholders should have the right to take control of how their building is managed when the service provided is poor. However, the current Right to Manage (RTM) requires that over 50% of leaseholders agree, but leaseholders in apartment buildings often sublet, sometimes from overseas. This makes it nearly impossible to get the agreement you need.
We are asking the Government to simplify the RTM process so that 35% of qualifying leaseholders can trigger the right to manage.
3. Stronger Accountability for Managing Agents
When managing agents fail, leaseholders must be able to hold them to account. We need a single, compulsory regulator.
At present, property managers are effectively unregulated. When agents fail leaseholders, you often have no clear route to resolve problems.
We are calling for a single regulator with real enforcement powers for property management agents. This regulator should provide a streamlined complaints and enforcement system and membership should be compulsory for all managing agents, ensuring consistent standards across the sector.
These changes would help create a system that is fairer, more transparent and more accountable for the people who actually live in and pay for these homes.
If you support these proposals, please consider signing and sharing the petition. The more Sheffielders who sign, the stronger my voice will be in Parliament.