Dr Rupa Huq

Thank you, Mr Stuart. Residential estate management companies are middlemen who sort things out per the lease—or notorious scammers, as our constituents call them. A few weeks ago, residents in Western Circus in east Acton were left without running water—a basic human right—between Friday and Wednesday, so for nearly a week they could not flush the loo, change babies’ bottles, wash their hands or brush their chops. Who was the managing agent? The notorious FirstPort—a word that strikes fear into every MP’s heart. It did not contact residents for over 24 hours. The building is a new build—I remember going to the topping out ceremony in my hard hat and high-viz jacket. Those 329 flats with 400 residents were left without running water, and for 24 hours they were in complete limbo. When the company finally made contact, it was very half-arsed—sorry, that is not parliamentary language. I was on a Zoom call with residents, and it was very “Computer says no.” There was a reluctance to do anything about it, and I think that is shocking. People have talked about fleecehold. I have talked to many FirstPort victims: just the other day at my advice surgery, I spoke to a grieving father trying to sort out his son’s estate. He found all these unexpected charges, because FirstPort hoovers up ground rent and then springs all these nasties on people. Leasehold covers millions of dwellings and is particularly common in London. Reports from the CMA, the Resolution Foundation and Which? have found that people are disempowered and are charged unexpected, unfair fees. People are losing money hand over fist—for what? We do not know exactly. I think my 90 seconds will end any second, so let me just say that MPs and the Facebook group have been decisive, but it is not good enough. We need proper action, so I am glad the Government will introduce a new commonhold tenure to end the neo-feudal tenure of leasehold, which has been there too long. Western Circus is being run by clowns—it needs to stop.