Pickles caps council property repair charges

7 Oct 13
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has announced a cap on the amount councils can charge people who have bought their homes under Right-to-Buy for repairs and improvements, after he accused some town halls of abusing their position.

By Richard Johnstone | 7 October 2013

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has announced a cap on the amount councils can charge people who have bought their homes under Right-to-Buy for repairs and improvements, after he accused some town halls of abusing their position.

Prime Minister David Cameron has today announced restrictions on migrants’ rights to council housing to ensure ‘everyone who comes here pays their way'. Photo: Shutterstock

Image © David Burrows / shutterstock

Pickles said some people who bought property leaseholds under the scheme had been ‘stung’ with huge bills from council landlords for their share of repairs to the building and communal areas. Some charges were as high as £50,000, he said.

Today’s proposal means authorities that receive government funding to help maintain tenants’ homes will only be able charge leaseholders a maximum of £10,000 over a five-year period for repairs, or £15,000 in London.

Pickles said the limit, which is now subject to consultation, would stop those who purchased under Right to Buy or on the open market being used as a ‘cash cow’ by their local council.

A Department for Communities and Local Government statement said ‘ministers believe a number have abused their position, leaving leaseholders with huge bills which they are unable to pay and feel powerless to resist’.

Pickles, who indicated that new protections would be introduced at last week's Conservative party conference, added: ‘There is absolutely no excuse for councils to terrify hard-working homeowners with ridiculous and excessive charges for repairs to their building.

‘While the vast majority of councils behave responsibly, there are some who have utterly failed to maintain standards alongside a common sense approach to charges, leaving their leaseholders crushed by outrageous bills. This is not fair, and where government funding is used we won’t stand by and let leaseholders get pushed around by their council. That’s why we are proposing a cap on leaseholder charges of £10,000 and £15,000 over a five-year period, depending on where you live.’

The restriction will apply to all councils in receipt of funding through the government’s Decent Homes programme, including the forthcoming award of the Decent Homes grant in June’s Spending Review.

 The review provided £160m of funding for 2015/16 for authorities with the largest number of homes that don’t meet minimum housing standards, to ensure no area has more than 10% non-decent stock by March 2016.

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