Since becoming a councillor one of the most persistent issues I’ve had to deal with is the issue of ‘fleecehold’ private estate management fees. The rising cost of housing is being exacerbated by monthly private estate management fees for services most people quite reasonably assume should be covered by council tax.
The charges are often hundreds or even thousands of pounds each year, they rise without warning and are imposed by companies that residents neither chose nor can meaningfully challenge. In many cases, homeowners have little idea what they are paying for or who to turn to when things go wrong.
Last month, I raised this issue at a Full Council meeting by bringing forward a motion requiring Wokingham Borough Council to formally respond to the government’s consultation on private estate management. The motion called for the council respond to the consultation advocating for: mandatory adoption of public areas on new developments, clearer and higher standards so estates can be adopted without years of delay, and stronger protections for residents who currently find themselves paying twice for the same services.
This matters because private estate charges are becoming the norm rather than the exception. Developers increasingly build estates where roads, green spaces and play areas are left unadopted, allowing responsibility to be handed to private management companies instead of the council. Residents still pay full council tax, yet must also pay extra for basic maintenance. That is double charging, and most people instinctively recognise it as unfair.
What is particularly troubling is who is being hit hardest. Younger people and young families are most likely to move to new developments to make it their home, meaning they are disproportionately exposed to these additional costs. Older residents, who bought homes before this practice became widespread, are often untouched by it. Over time, this entrenches an inter-generational divide, where those just trying to get on the housing ladder are saddled with extra costs through no fault of their own.
This situation did not arise overnight, and it did not arise by accident. For years, Conservative governments were warned about the growth of private estate management fees and the lack of oversight surrounding them. Yet time and again, they failed to act. Management companies were allowed to flourish, and company executives given free reign to exploit residents just trying to get by to line their own pockets.
The Labour government’s current consultation, building on measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, represents the most serious attempt in years to tackle this issue. It looks at strengthening transparency, improving accountability, and reducing the reliance on private estate management altogether. This is not tinkering at the edges; it is about fixing a system that has been allowed to drift badly off course.
But national action must be matched by local leadership. Councils should be adopting roads and public spaces as soon as possible, provided they are built to proper standards. When services are run by the council, residents know who is responsible, councillors can intervene on their behalf, and decisions are made by people who can be held accountable at the ballot box. That is simply not the case with private management companies; they are deliberately designed to lack transparency.
That is why Wokingham Borough Council’s response to this consultation matters. It should be clear, robust and firmly on the side of residents. We should be saying that council tax must mean something, that adoption should be the default, and that developers must stop passing long-term costs onto homeowners.
Local Labour councillors are pushing this issue because we believe housing should offer security, not hidden financial traps. The Conservatives had years to fix this problem and chose not to. Labour is now taking action in government, and in council chambers like ours.
Residents deserve a fair deal and Labour is determined to deliver it.
By Cllr Andrew Gray
