Serena Laidlaw, a 72-year-old pensioner living near Brighton, says she feels “hoodwinked” after watching her monthly management charges surge by 400 per cent over the past decade.
The pensioner bought her property in 2014, having never owned a leasehold before and bought her one-bedroom flat for £172,000.
When she purchased her one-bedroom leasehold flat for £172,000 in 2014, the fees stood at just £80 monthly. Today, she pays close to £400 each month.
The fees on her leasehold flat have more than tripled in the past 10 years.
Her ground rent has also doubled from £150 to £300 annually, despite assurances from her conveyancer that it would remain unchanged.
Surviving on a state pension of roughly £8,000 per year, Ms Laidlaw told The i Paper: “I can’t afford all these costs plus I want to go and live nearer to my family. I have had to give up all sorts of things I enjoy like going to yoga and choir classes. I can’t afford anything now.”
For three years, Ms Laidlaw has attempted to find a buyer for her property, hoping to relocate closer to relatives.
Her efforts have been repeatedly thwarted since inspectors discovered dangerous cladding on the building following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017.
Mortgage lenders have refused to finance purchases on the property due to the fire safety concerns, causing potential sales to collapse.
“Any interest I have had falls through because once we were told we had inflammatory cladding, none of the lenders would lend for mortgages,” she said.
Mortgage lenders have refused to finance purchases on the property due to the fire safety concerns
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GETTY
With remediation work scheduled for this year, Ms Laidlaw faces a narrow window to complete a sale before scaffolding goes up. She has already slashed her asking price from over £200,000 to £190,000.
“I feel trapped beyond words and very down and desperate about it all,” she added.
Ms Laidlaw’s predicament reflects a crisis affecting approximately 3.8 million leasehold properties across England and Wales, where owners pay ground rent for the right to occupy their homes under time-limited agreements.
Relief may eventually arrive through the Labour Government’s Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, which is now progressing through parliament after delays.
Surviving on the state pension, Ms Laidlaw explained she can’t afford all these costs
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GETTYHousing minister Matthew Pennycook attributed the hold-up to “unforeseen delays” in the legislative process, which prevented the draft bill from being published before the end of 2025 as originally promised.
The legislation includes a cap limiting ground rents to £250 annually from 2028. It will also abolish rules that currently allow homeowners to lose their properties for owing as little as £350 in unpaid charges.
The reforms extend beyond ground rent restrictions, with plans to prohibit the sale of new leasehold flats entirely and establish commonhold as the standard form of property ownership for new developments.
Under commonhold arrangements, buyers would own their homes outright without expiring terms or the need to pay ground rent to a third-party landlord
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PAUnder commonhold arrangements, buyers would own their homes outright without expiring terms or the need to pay ground rent to a third-party landlord. Property owners would join a commonhold association giving them voting rights on budgets and maintenance decisions.
The Government published a white paper in March 2025 exploring this transition, which has been recommended by the Law Commission and operates successfully across Europe, Australia and the United States.
However, Scott Goldstein, a partner at law firm Payne Hicks Beach, cautioned: “The concern is to make sure that the system is ready to cope. Lenders must be encouraged to give mortgages to purchase flats held on commonhold.”