I am proud to be standing in the Hampstead & Highgate Constituency as an independent community candidate on a leaseholder rights platform.

Full statement

David Lloyd George’s remarks at Limehouse in July 1909 following his famous People’s Budget that “this system is not business, it is blackmail” still rings true today.

As a result of leasehold issues, I was a mortgage prisoner between 2021 and 2023 which resulted in an actual failed completion during an attempted remortgage and for part of that time I was also classified as being vulnerable by my lender. I am standing on this issue to ensure that all leaseholders are properly protected.

I am the only independent candidate standing in Hampstead and Highgate. All the other candidates are representatives of political parties and are beholden to greater or lesser extents to vested interests.

This election is an opportunity to send a clear message for real change and there can be no better way of doing so in Hampstead and Highgate than by voting for me – the only independent candidate - to bring an end to this feudal system with its roots dating back to medieval times.

Commonhold - a system that puts all homeowners in control - must be made mandatory for all new build flats and this must be introduced during the next parliament.

As an interim measure, I am demanding that the new government takes immediate action and announces a bill to protect leaseholders in the King's speech on 17 July to protect leaseholders and combat exploitation by:

1. Ending forfeiture, whereby freeholders can seize an entire property as a result of arrears as low as £350 resulting in a leaseholder losing their equity in full (i.e. not limited to the amount of any arrears owed);

2. Outlawing predatory lease terms such as escalating ground rents with no service in return;

3. Bringing forward the effective dates for the recently passed Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act so that the new laws would apply from later this year;

4. Making service charge fraud a criminal offence and so providing additional protections to leaseholders from the risk of financial abuse;

5. Streamlining the enfranchisement process, so more leaseholders can benefit from a share of freehold ownership; and

6. Giving stronger rights to leaseholders wanting to renovate their homes and so help meet net zero targets.

Leaseholder issues remain significant in Hampstead & Highgate with many voters having had issues of financial abuse due to the lack of fair and reasonable protections. Over 75% of residential property transactions in the predecessor Hampstead and Kilburn constituency were leasehold and so ranking it as the 13th highest proportion across England and Wales (Source: House of Commons Library, 2022).

I am asking voters to send a message to the incoming government about the importance of leasehold issues by lending me their vote on the 4 July.