Leasehold and Commonhold Reform

It goes a stage further than that. There is a case going to appeal—the Stanley v. Mundy case—where the Wellcome Trust, which bought freeholds from the Henry Smith Charity, has managed to persuade a property tribunal that the rate at which people pay for extending leases should be much higher than at present. In fact, most of the evidence is that it should be lower. Governments should get involved in that and produce a chart that gives fair prices. If freeholders want to challenge that, they should guarantee to pay the costs of the leaseholders—not the other way round.