Bill Tackling ‘Fleecehold’

Emma Foody, Labour and Co-Operative MP for Cramlington and Killingworth is to co-sponsor a Ten Minute Rule Bill brought forward by Alistair Strathern, the Member of Parliament for Hitchin.

The Housing Estates Bill will seek to make a number of changes to benefit residents on new build/unadopted estates including the right to manage for freeholders, minimum standards for public amenities on new housing estates and the enforcement of the standards, as well as provisions to work towards adoption by local councils of new housing estates.

In October, Emma Foody MP held a debate on the adoption of new housing estates in the North East and has asked the Deputy Prime Minister about the delivery of infrastructure alongside new housing estates.

Following the introduction of the Housing Estates Bill, Ms Foody commented:

“Residents on new housing estate estates are frequently left for years without the delivery of basic infrastructure including roads, pavements and communal areas, whilst at the same time, too often they are paying excessive and opaque estate management or service fees, and there is little residents can do to challenge

“It simply doesn’t seem right that a developer that has not met its promises to homeowners can profiteer from those same homeowners for years without delivering basic infrastructure.

“I want to see stronger protections for residents over these charges, and stronger guarantees on when and how estates will be adopted, with the appropriate delivery of infrastructure alongside this.

“I’ve written to residents across my constituent on new and unadopted estates and this is a matter that they care deeply about, and the Housing Estates Bill is another step in addressing this issue and seeks to address the issue”.