Service charge transparency and protection of essential services for leaseholders

That this House notes with concern reports that leaseholders in privately managed residential developments can continue to pay substantial service charges and communal utility charges while lacking timely annual accounts and clear information on how those funds are held and applied; further notes recent serious cases in Brent and Hackney in which residents at developments linked to the same development group have experienced the loss of essential utilities following historic unpaid supplier debts; recognises that leaseholders may have no contractual relationship with bulk utility suppliers and limited ability to prevent disconnection where landlords, freeholders or other intermediaries control the relevant accounts; welcomes the Government’s commitment to introduce standardised service charge accounts, annual reporting and stronger rights to obtain information; believes that transparency must be matched by effective enforcement and accountability; and calls on the Government to ensure clear enforceable deadlines for annual service charge accounts, effective access to underlying financial records, clear responsibility for enforcement when landlords fail to comply, appropriate protection for monies collected for communal utilities, and robust safeguards against residents losing essential services because of debts or management failures outside of their control.