Rayner announces crackdown on 'cowboy' leasehold property agents

Leaseholders will be given extra protections from "cowboy" property agents and hidden fees, Angela Rayner has announced.

The housing secretary told Labour's annual conference the government would legislate for a new independent regulator and launch a consultation to cap "rip off" administrative fees.

The changes would cover the estimated five million leaseholders in England and Wales who can be forced to pay a landlord for simple changes to their home, despite having bought it.

Rayner told party activists she had heard of leaseholders being charged £250 for permission to own a pet and £400 to change their front door.

She said people in these situations were "powerless against the vested interests that only take, while giving nothing back in return".

The government is already legislating, external to ban new leasehold flats, described in Labour's 2024 election manifesto as a "feudal" system where people own the right to occupy a property via a lease for a limited number of years from a freeholder, or landlord, who owns the land.

Through the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, ministers want a commonhold system where residents collectively own and manage their buildings.

Now, Rayner is taking aim at the web of management companies that operate between leaseholders and their effective landlords.

She said the sector had many decent businesses which were "undermined by far too many cowboys, crooks and con artists".

People excited at buying their own homes are "tricked" into using in-house services, meaning that "with no transparency or accountability, vultures can take advantage", Rayner added.

"We will legislate for an independent regulation to rein these cowboys in," she said, announcing legislation for an independent watchdog of property agents.

This regulator would be able to set codes of practice, such as standards of conduct and proper complaint handling for those they regulate, and property agents will be required to obtain a licence.

If they fall foul of the required standards, the regulator would have the power to take their licenses away, the government added. It is unclear if estate agents are included.

The government said it wanted to bring forward the changes "as soon as possible".

Rayner also said new legislation would create the power for caps on permission and administration fees leaseholders pay to landlords.

These caps would cover freehold estates and privately managed estates where people can face additional fees for making cosmetic changes to their properties and requesting documents like building safety certificates.

A public consultation will be launched to help decide the rate of caps.

It comes in addition to an already-announced £250 cap on yearly ground rents paid by leaseholders in England and Wales, which had stalled during the change of prime minister over the summer.

The government has said it expects the limit on ground rents - an annual fee paid by leaseholders to their freeholder - to come into force in late 2028, but MPs have called for this to be brought forward to late 2027.

Rayner said she was "capping and then scrapping" ground rents, indicating she may try to go further than a cap.

In her speech, Rayner did not mention the government's housing target of building 1.5m homes in England by the next election. She admitted earlier this month there was only a "slim chance" of hitting it.

Last week, ministers announced a new Your First Home policy to help first-time homebuyers in England with a deposit of 2.5%, similar to the Help To Buy scheme introduced under the Conservatives in 2013.

Rayner also said she plans to strengthen council powers to take over empty homes to meet the need for council houses and tackle homelessness.

But this was criticised by the Tories as a "desperate" attempt by Labour to try to hit its housing target.