Five years on, the National Leasehold Campaign has recommissioned its leaseholder mental health survey along with the group SOS Silence of Suicide, with a deadline for responses of 22 February 2025
The survey is anonymous and takes 10 minutes to complete
NLC / SOS states:
Sadly there has been no improvement in the situation existing leaseholders find themselves since the NLC and SOS carried out a mental health survey five years ago in 2019.
If anything, the situation has worsened as more and more leaseholders remain trapped in the feudal iniquitous leasehold system with no way out. The increase in numbers may be attributed to tenants in high rise blocks being targeted for building safety remediation costs via their leases post Grenfell.
The National Leasehold Campaign | SOS Silence of Suicide
The National Leasehold Campaign and SOS team up once again for our updated mental health impact survey. Please lend your voice if you are a leaseholder, thank you.
Katie Kendrick, founder of the NLC states:
“The leasehold system continues to have a huge impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing. Leaseholders are left in an untenable position and feel that nothing is going to change anytime soon. This David V’s Goliath battle really is destroying people’s lives. Unfortunately we are aware of suicide cases directly linked to this scandal”
Cath Williams, co-founder of the NLC, states:
“We thought it was important to revisit the survey which is why we have recommissioned it with the help from SOS Silence Of Suicide. We have kept the survey questions the same (with minor tweaks) so we can directly compare the results with the previous one. The outcomes will be passed to Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and local Government Angela Rayner, and the Minister of State for Housing Matthew Pennycook to emphasise why urgent action is needed”
Jo Darbyshire, also co-founder of NLC, says:
“Leaseholders have waited far too long to see any change to the dire situations they are in. Despite endless assurances from governments, past and present, we are yet to see any meaningful change, or even a tangible timeline for reform. What we do see is more misery and heartbreaking stories in the press on a daily basis.”
Yvette Greenway, co-Founder and CEO of SOS Silence of Suicide, says:
“We are delighted to be working with the NLC once again and hope our results, together with their strong voices, prick the consciences of those seemingly lacking any empathy or compassion.
“We are horrified to learn that members of the NLC, and perhaps non-members, are ending their lives because of unscrupulous profiteering by some freeholders, alongside legislation that is outdated and unfair. How many lives are lived in abject poverty and misery each day? How many more suicides have to occur before urgent action is taken?
“SOS Silence of Suicide will continue to support NLC members and followers for as long as we are needed and, in the meantime, we hope the campaign continues to gather increased momentum to drive the urgent changes that every leaseholder deserves.”
The National Leasehold Campaign (NLC) and the charity SOS Silence of Suicide conducted a survey in 2019 of people who had experienced leasehold issues. The survey found that:
- Nearly one in five leaseholders (17%) have had suicidal thoughts because of their leasehold problems. One per cent say the issue makes them feel suicidal daily, four per cent are frequently suicidal and 12 per cent occasionally
- Three per cent of respondents have attempted suicide, with one per cent attempting suicide more than once, whilst nearly one in 10 (nine per cent) know of other leaseholders who have taken their lives
- Nearly three-quarters of leaseholders (72%) are very anxious and worried about their future with nine out of 10 (90%) saying they think about their leasehold problems every day. Only two per cent of leaseholders are not anxious or worried with one in five (20%) saying they are slightly anxious and six per cent of respondents who try not to think about it
- Unsurprisingly, 96 per cent say they feel uncertain about their future because of their leasehold with nearly half (49%) thinking about it every day, over a quarter (28%) frequently and 19% sometimes
- Almost all (92%) have no faith in the legal system to protect them, whilst seven per cent are optimistic that they will be protected
- One in 20 (six per cent) say they have self-harmed because of the issue with five per cent self-harming more than once
- And one in five are taking medication (20%) to help them with mental health issues created by their leasehold situation with a further seven per cent saying they will be seeing a doctor to get help and just under a third (29%) saying haven’t because they don’t want to take medication
Related posts:
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Estate agents say extortionate charges are blighting the lives of 10% of leaseholders
Cladding leaseholders: Please complete survey on EWS for MPs
10,500 leaseholders demand select committee hauls in housebuilders over rip-off ground rents
23% of cladding leaseholders have considered suicide or self-harm, says compelling UKCAG report
Government’s leasehold reform announcement was low key, but this is why we think it will deliver
The Government should actively consider introducing legislation that would include a written health warning on legal documents for those considering entering into a leasehold – fleecehold tenancy agreement in my opinion.
It could read “Leasehold – Fleecehold may result in financial ruin including and upto suicidal thoughts or worse”
The justification for the above is reporyed to be that 94% of those who purchased a Leasehold – Fleecehold tenancy regret doing so.
Over to you RFA?
I live in an Extra Care Community, I own my flat. My Landlord is Methodist Homes.
I pay half my disposable income on Service charge, Wellbeing charge, Ground rent and last year deficit. I have no control over these costs. Not all costs are accounted for! I have tried to challenge why this is so, but no joy.
I am worried as to next year’s costs which are bound to go up after the recent budget. The system is supposed to make living in later life stress free. Not so. I am a 77year old disabled widow. Grrr.
Oh so true that we need more transparency. I own an apartment in a McCarthy Stone development. I have lived here for some 15 years.
Numerous times I have had to request services to be carried out according to our lease.
This is my first experience of leasehold property management initially with Perverel (now Firstport) then McCarthy and Stone then McCarthy Stone owned by Loan Star.
I have had cause to approach Management very recently re service charges although polite less than helpful.. I am 86 years old having had to complain about things in the past my energies have diminished . I am not sure whether to continue the task?
As I have mentioned previously always eventually replied to in a courteous manner but lack of transparency.
May I also stress this has affected my mental health & have mentioned this to my nurse practitioner- but fortunately support from our residents has helped me to understand our situation . I have been extremely depressed with many situations here but fortunately not suicidal I didn’t want medication although tempted.
Thank you for reading this sincere statement.
Ann, you are not alone. We are leaseholders in a Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Retirement complex, It comes under the Social Housing heading and it is supposed to be Affordable Housing..
We are currently paying £565.00 month service charge, there is no longer a Ground Rent.
This is far more than the basic State Pension.
Believe it or not MTVH do provide invoices to back up these charges but some are very difficult to follow as they are charged to the Company as a whole and get broken down into the different Complexes by a sometimes inefficient Finance Department.
Because we are on Communal Heating and Power we have to use expensive uncapped Business Gas which is very expensive. And the much upgraded fire precaution and warning systems installed since Grenfell and very expensive to maintain. and continually break down.
So we are completely at the mercy of the Landlord/Manager to keep these costs down, and as they also provide Extra Care to many of our very elderly nobody wants to rock the boat.
So this so called Affordable Housing seems to be a thing of the past.
Michael,
I sympathise with the situation that you and your neighbours find yourself in.
We are a residential apartment block built for the over 60’s. We are not a retirement block or independent living which are terms often used in property sales literature for reasons best known by the authors?
We currently pay less than £200 per Month in service charge which may or may not increase in future years. You may recall from my previous posts how we achieved this.
I genuinely believe that the Government should introduce legally enforceable regulation of all property managing agents with the objective of ensuring that the elderly and vulnerable are not being ripped off, I believe that many of us are on a industrial scale.
Have you seen the post £750 to change a light bulb?
It is no wonder Leaseholders and especially we, the elderly despair about what the future may hold. Too much talk and not enough action by Government in my opinion.
I bought 2 Flats 17 years ago, one to live in, They were signed of by the Council as complete and occupied, Building Control could not and should not have signed them of. It was mandatory the Fire service were engaged back then, and it was up to the Council to notify them, they did not. I have paid 3 section 20s of which 2 ,no work was done and I lost the money. The insurance was £4,100 on a 2 bed flat ! I paid £125,000 for each flat the Bank then reposed this year and sold them at auction for £45,000 each. The Council have always said they did nothing wrong, but obviously they did not carry out the legal checks required. This has probably cost me about £500,000+ The FTT is not fit for purpose, Building Control is not fit for purpose, Leasehold is not fit for purpose. DO NOT BUY A LEASEHOLD FLAT, as Mr Bates says “we are the little people and don’t matter”. The Government want us to work hard, pay tax, and die quickly. They need to be told we don’t give a damn about their 5 or 10 year plan, FIX THIS B—-Y scandal NOW.
As a 73-year-old long leaseholder, dependent on a State Pension, living in a 1-bedroom apartment in rural Norfolk bought in 2014, my Landlords (fellow leaseholders and direct neighbours) have increased the service charge from £4,000 to £5,000 per annum. They took legal proceedings against me last April because I had delayed payment, instructing a Nottingham-based firm of Solicitors, without complying with the standard protocol.
It is perfectly understandable why so many leaseholders feel their position is overwhelming, that there is no hope of resolution, and as a consequence, consider taking their own lives.
The system of leasehold, governed by Landlord & Tenant legislation requires complete revision, but is such an unwieldy and complex subject this is not practically possible, the timeframe alone means this would not be viable. Short of the Government issuing a directive for leasehold to be ‘quashed’ in its entirety – and that will not happen because there is too much revenue at stake for them – the only option to bring about ‘change’ is for leaseholders to collectively withhold payment of service charges, a coordinated national campaign adopted by every leaseholder across the country. But that won’t work either. Why? Because some people will be afraid of the legal repercussions, while others can afford to pay and don’t actually care
those that can’t afford to pay will take their own lives. Like it or not, a catch 22 situation.
It takes courage to stand up to the Establishment and frankly most people don’t have any.
My personal circumstances equate to a fight to the death, as I will be without a home ( out in the street) if Landlords get their way, since I simply cannot afford these service charges.
Under the present law I will have no choice but be in breach the terms of the lease by failing to pay the service charge, enabling the Landlords to pursue forfeiture.
But I am determined to fight my corner; suicide is not an option, not a way out, for me.
Jonathon,
Are you receiving any assistance, support or guidance from anyone regarding the dreadful situation that you find yourself in? If you are not, I am more than happy to help you in anyway that I can. The Editor has my email address and may share it with you if requested to do so.