According to the latest investigation report by British media Sky News (February 2, 2024), a number of leasehold owners in the United Kingdom are trapped in dilapidated houses with rough workmanship, not only greatly damaged their physical and mental health, but also spent a lot of money to repair their properties and fight lawsuits with developers.
Sky News甚至刊出标题：'Buying a flat ruined my life': Leaseholders plead for tougher legislation against home ownership 'scam'——“英国买房毁一生：”租赁产业业主呼吁更严监管房屋陷阱
There are two types of property rights in the UK: freehold and leasehold. To put it simply, a freehold owner is both an owner and a landlord, while a leasehold owner is only the owner, not the landlord, and the buyer has ownership of the house itself, but the ownership of the land within the occupied area of the house is owned by the developer or the government and other landlords.
It is important to note that leasehold owners are required to pay ground rent (which has been cancelled for new homes), strata service fees and maintenance fees. In other words, if the house has a leaking roof and peeling off the wall, the developer can pass on the maintenance fee to the owner through the property service fee.
The latest British media report pointed out that Manchester owner Chris Hayes bought his first apartment in 2017, but the roof of the house began to leak less than a year later. As the house is leasehold, the insurance company refused to pay and he is now facing £170,000 in repairs.
At the same time, the house purchased by London leasehold owner Dan Bruce faced the fate of being demolished due to irrational structure, cracks in the exterior walls, leaky ceilings, and rotting wood.
Although the UK government issued a rectification notice to the developer, since the house is leasehold, the developer can charge Dan for the owner to repair the shoddy works at his own expense.
Over the past five years, he has spent £300,000 in legal fees battling with developers, contractors and insurers to recover compensation for his house. At present, Dan has not received a penny in compensation, and the huge pressure has unfortunately caused him to suffer from psoriasis.
UK leasehold owners, represented by Chris and Dan, said their experiences showed the deep-seated inequities in the UK title system. They are calling on the UK government to adopt tougher reforms to prevent property owners from paying for defective works in their homes, and to put more regulation on strata companies and crack down on unreasonable fees.
The UK case comes at a time when the UK government's Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill is being approved by Parliament.
Key provisions of this legislation include allowing landlords to more easily extend leaseholds, purchasing freehold titles and allowing landlords to more easily manage their homes. At the same time, the bill will also introduce standardised strata fee clauses to prevent landlords from paying sky-high strata fees and protect leasehold owners from having to pay high legal fees when challenging high strata fees.