7. Will the First Minister make a statement on the regulation of estate management companies on unadopted housing estates? OAQ51876

Yes. This is one of the areas the Minister for Housing and Regeneration will be looking at as part of a wider review of leasehold and service charge issues.  

I'd like to take the opportunity to commend the Minister for Housing and Regeneration on the work done to minimise the leasehold contract. There is one area where leaseholders actually have more rights than freeholders and that is where leaseholders can challenge what they see as unreasonable service charges by estate management companies. Freeholders' rights in this regard are much more limited. Indeed, when a freeholder constituent in my constituency e-mailed an estate management company to complain, they had an e-mail back from the company director of the estate management company telling them to get a life.

I'm introducing a Member's legislative proposal in this Chamber next week to enhance the regulation of estate management companies and to strengthen freeholder rights. I don't expect the First Minister to commit the Welsh Government to support it now, but would the First Minister be willing to meet with me and the Minister for Housing and Regeneration to discuss this in advance of next week?

Yes, the issue he raises is an important one, because, increasingly, what I'm seeing is that new housing estates are built and instead of the local authority adopting not just the roads but the environment, a service charge is imposed on all residents, even though they own their house as a freehold, which they have to pay. Now, it's not clear, of course, what arbitration mechanisms are in place in order to make sure that the amount paid is reasonable. Some developers will insert in the contract of sale that there will be a particular increase in the level specified every few years or so, but that's not universal practice. So, I think the Member has identified an important point here. Usually, we assume that freeholders have greater rights than leaseholders, but this is one area where that doesn't happen. If we are to see a situation in the future where more and more housing developers develop houses on the basis that they say to local authorities, 'Look, there's no cost to you', then the issue becomes more acute, and I'd be more than happy, of course, for discussions to take place with him in order to see how this can be taken forward.