At Full Council on 28th February Councillor Jim Weir led a petition calling on all local authorities to lobby the Government to abolish the current system of Estate Management Charges and put in place a fairer and more transparent scheme.

Many people who have brought freehold houses on private housing estates have been crippled by extortionate Estate Management charges which are not always revealed until buyers are ready to sign on the dotted line.

The fees are supposed to cover the costs to maintain shared community amenities and spaces yet residents report they are being charged for lights that do not work, repairs that never occur and for the upkeep of open spaces that have been left to rot in a dismal state.

These charges have slowly crept in over the last 20 years and are now the industry norm as Governments of all colours have been unable to address the issue. 

Councillor Jim Weir has continued to spearhead local efforts to tackle this abuse as he builds on mounting evidence which has been presented to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Councillor Weir commented,

“For too long residents of my ward and across Bedford Borough are being exploited by extraordinarily high “Estate Management” charges without any recourse to challenge them.

Residents in these communities have been left feeling angry at the way they are being ripped off and mistreated.

Richard Fuller MP, Councillor Sarah Gallagher and I have been working together non-stop to gather data which has now been used to raise questions in Parliament – thank you to residents for all the feed-back. Following the latest meetings Richard is pushing for a debate in Parliament and for the issue to be part of the Kings Speech to tackle what he calls Estate Management fees abuse.

I am glad my fellow councillors from all parties agree that this issue has gone on long enough and will work with me to champion our resident’s causes with the Government to get the legislation changed for future developments and a redress system for existing developments already trapped in this dreadful system”.