Harry Scoffin @HarryScoffin Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Harry Scoffin

@HarryScoffin

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Housing campaigner and journo. Founder of @FreeLeasehlders . Sometimes tweet on 🇸🇬 and SEA politics. Leaseholder with a story? harry @freeleaseholders .org.uk

London

https://t.co/5mvLbxiVe6

Joined October 2008

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

19 hours

APPEAL TO @RishiSunak In 2018, you told me in Bethnal Green “leasehold is a scam”. A 2nd gen Commonhold is NOT in your Bill despite the 121 @Law_Commission reccies from 2020. Do Share of Freehold on new flats instead. Easy to deliver & stops more lives from being destroyed.

@FreeLeasehlders

Free Leaseholders

@FreeLeasehlders

19 hours

🙏FOR RISHI - LEASEHOLD BANK HOLIDAY DIARY🙏 @RishiSunak , you talk about giving families security. Do that today by improving your Leasehold Bill. Honour the 2019 manifesto: no more leasehold homes. Share of freehold will do! Don’t take our word for it - see @BarclaysUK .

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

I was in a coffee shop and in came @trussliz . I thought to myself what what would @KwajoHousing do? I went up, introduced myself, said I’m gravely concerned by the housing crisis, especially leasehold. My Mum’s service charges have gone up £10k in 5 years in a no-frills block!

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

All the major parties have failed to rid England and Wales of leasehold. But @michaelgove is correct. In the 1990s, Labour promised compulsory commonhold on new-build flats and to delete marriage value. But when they got into power, they caved. Read here:

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

Wow. Massive props to @Keir_Starmer . He’s clarified @UKLabour ’s position on leasehold. He has never talked about this publicly before, but wants the @Law_Commission 2020 reform package that looks to be watered down in the King’s Speech. Big opportunities await for @UKLabour here.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨 Fired up by the abject failure of the Queen’s Speech last year to introduce a Bill to liberate the estimated 10 million existing leaseholders, today we launch @CommonholdNow to force an end to leasehold (and fleecehold) in the King’s Speech this November. (1/5)

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

Leaseholders need to get angry and take control. We’ve had promises of reform for half a decade. We participated in endless govt consultations in good faith. The policies were dropped last year after ferocious lobbying and aren’t in the bag for the King’s Speech in November.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

Memorable day meeting @michaelgove . Housing is a basic human need. Foundation of other needs. Don’t get it right and we have social and economic decline. I said leaseholders and fleecehold householders just want dignity, autonomy and control in our own homes. He strongly agrees.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

. @joedouglas90 ’s Dad pays £200 to insure a four-bed house. Joe pays £1,600 a year to insure a one-bed flat. Should he and his neighbours shop around for a better deal? They can’t. They’re leaseholders! @jburnmurdoch @iankmsmith @KateBeioley_FT @miss_marriage @abby_wallace3

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

If @dannybster ’s car was faulty, or if he’d bought a kettle that didn’t work, the manufacturer would replace it or give him a refund. But for the biggest purchase of our lives – a home – we in England have no such protection. Leasehold and new-builds are destroying lives.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

6 months

‘I’m a cash cow for a billionaire’ says leaseholder paying £33,000 a year in service charges Those words are my Mum’s. Leasehold is a form of legalised extortion. The government can go further on the reforms announced yesterday. Free leaseholders.

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'I'm a cash cow for a billionaire' says leaseholder paying £34,000 a year in service charges

'These figures are shocking,' one leaseholder told i. 'I feel like I'm living under a cartel'

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

11 months

Last week a big one for @CommonholdNow . I had a meeting with @michaelgove where I expressed our concerns that government is losing its nerve on leasehold. I was reassured that he understands all the issues and is following our campaign closely. Leaseholders, let’s not give up!

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

3 months

Mum took one for the team and appeared on @BBCNews yesterday. Her offshore billionaire freeholder dictates she pay an obscene £33,000 service charge. At Commons Report Stage imminently, government will defend keeping medieval forfeiture, which is key to service charge abuse.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

Reassuring to see @michaelgove renew his commitment to bringing forward legislation in the King’s Speech to liberate leaseholders being extorted in our homes by absentee freeholders. He’s right. We must End Leasehold, an essentially feudal & coercive land tenure. Commonhold Now!

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 months

Thank you @AngelaRayner for speaking up. Feudalism is alive and kicking in 21st century England and Wales. @RishiSunak wants to keep millions of citizens as serfs to rent-seekers, middlemen and extortionists. Enough!

@AngelaRayner

Angela Rayner 🌹

2 months

This latest dithering from the Government on leasehold reform in the face of Tory infighting is yet another sign that Rishi Sunak is too weak to deliver for working people. Over to you @michaelgove

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

25 days

Quite sad, the state of journalism in this country sometimes. Journalists should hold power to account, not act as megaphones for power. This piece has no balancing opinion nor contains quotes from a single insurer or pension fund to evidence a sector lobby line.

@MarkKleinmanSky

Mark Kleinman

@MarkKleinmanSky

25 days

Exclusive: Pension funds believe Michael Gove’s proposed reforms of Britain’s “feudal” leasehold system will cost them in the region of £30bn if he proceeds next week with a £250 cap on ground rents and 20-year transition to peppercorn rates.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

6 months

In March, I was told by well-placed sources that a Leasehold Reform Bill wasn’t locked in for the King’s Speech. But, together, we made it happen. We politicised leasehold and woke up Westminster. Proof will be in the pudding. More campaign news coming up.

@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨 Fired up by the abject failure of the Queen’s Speech last year to introduce a Bill to liberate the estimated 10 million existing leaseholders, today we launch @CommonholdNow to force an end to leasehold (and fleecehold) in the King’s Speech this November. (1/5)

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

Phenomenal intervention from @michaelgove in the Sunday Times today. The Conservatives could actually win the next general election if they follow through on leasehold abolishment and free 10 million households who live under this iniquitous system, a relic of serfdom.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 years

📢 Personal news: After 4 wonderful years at @LKPleasehold with @sebastianokelly and @martinboydlkp , giving voice to ripped-off leaseholders like my Mum, I have exited the leaseholders' charity and wish it all the best as we gear up towards the phase two reforms. Onwards!

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

3 years

. @RobertJenrick @team_greenhalgh @DameJudithH are responsible for a lot of this mess. 4 years of random advice notes and hysterical messaging on risk without any reliable data. They still refuse to do an audit of high-rises like in Oz. @LKPleasehold @EOCS_Official @ukcag

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

7 months

The legalised robbery of leasehold demolished on @BBCTheOneShow tonight. Leaseholders will be betrayed if the rumoured King’s Speech Bill fobs us off with ‘protections’ and more rights to litigate. We need the ability to switch providers and gain control of our service charges.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

10 months

Ecstatic @michaelgove has made the connection between supply and tenure. There’s no point of a glut of flats coming onto the market if buyer confidence isn’t there. We have to end the outdated and extractive leasehold tenure. @CommonholdNow for successful flat and city living!

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

A big moment yesterday for the leasehold liberation movement. Let’s take a breath, stand back and consider the situation. We’re seeing a bipartisan consensus emerge on the need to abolish the fundamentally unfair and archaic leasehold tenure before the GE. (1/11)

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

7 months

For the doubters out there, @AngelaRayner has used her address to party faithful just now to confirm that @UKLabour will end the leasehold system, which she links to the Middle Ages. This agenda fits so nicely with the rest of their retail offer on rental and planning reform

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

6 months

📢LISTEN UP! ANNOUNCEMENT📢 Commonhold may have been dropped by this government. But that doesn’t mean leaseholders shouldn’t get rightful control of their homes, money and lives. Today, we launch @FreeLeasehlders . We won’t stop until every single one of you is truly free.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

7 months

Grateful to Vanessa Feltz on @TalkTV for taking an interest in the leasehold scandal, which is ruining millions of people’s lives and sucking a lot of money out of the real economy. The government’s reforms, as laid out in The Sunday Times, are just not ambitious enough on flats.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

3 months

We are really happy with the response to this video, which dropped on Friday. Nearly 100,000 views and it has cut through in Westminster and Whitehall. The freeholder industry may have all the cash to splash on fancy lobbying and PR firms, but we are truth-telling in style.

@FreeLeasehlders

Free Leaseholders

@FreeLeasehlders

3 months

🐷EXPOSING THE GROUND RENT GRAZERS🐷 This one’s for @BimAfolami , @RishiSunak , @michaelgove , @Lee4NED and @mtpennycook . In a general election year, it is crucial to debunk the sector spin of the ‘ruined granny’ and show who is really behind the protection racket of ground rent.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 months

. @KemiBadenoch , you have shocked so many leaseholders. Your leadership campaign was about truth-telling and you backed leasehold reform. We have the video. Please come clean. What convos have you had with sector lobbyists?

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

Orwell would be ashamed that leasehold, a relic of serfdom, still exists in 21st century England and Wales, causing the wholesale pauperisation of the people. A relief we have @lisanandy on record here pledging to “phase out” leasehold for existing homes in 1st term of a 🌹 govt.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

We’re overpowering the freeloader lobby! Leasehold has skyrocketed up the political agenda in the last 2 weeks. 20 days per session allocated to Opposition days. Puts us alongside pollution of rivers, free school meals and cost of living. @CommonholdNow

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

6 months

🥊RAYNER BOXES FOR LEASEHOLDERS🥊 Leasehold is the last bastion of a class society and has concentrated wealth in the hands of the few rather than the many. @AngelaRayner launches an excoriating attack on the government’s watered down King’s Speech leasehold reform package.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

Important. We are heading for an odds and sods leasehold reform bill. Of course, our politicians have been trying to 'reform' leasehold since at least the 1880s. More sticking plasters won't do it! We need @CommonholdNow for dignity, autonomy and control.

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Plans to abolish ‘feudal’ leasehold system in England and Wales dropped

Row between Michael Gove and No 10 results in end of promise to scrap leaseholds

www.theguardian.com

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 months

Happy Mother’s Day! I’ve been fighting against the leasehold housing scam for all these years because of my Mum who is caught up in it. Her strong sense of right and wrong is imbued in me. Support the work I’m doing to end leasehold. Please donate.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 months

Tomorrow is a BIG day for leaseholders. The unelected House of Lords show their cards. The Lords have historically neutered leasehold reform. This time, voters will be unforgiving to any Party that allows unelected Lords to thwart meaningful change. Millions want this.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

3 months

YO! The freeholder lobby made a MASSIVE strategic blunder by invoking grannies to defend their vile business model. Today, I am thrilled to say a @FreeLeasehlders spin-off campaign, #PensionersAgainstLeasehold , has launched. The elderly do decide elections …

@FreeLeasehlders

Free Leaseholders

@FreeLeasehlders

3 months

According to an @OpiniumResearch poll this month: 💥62% of people aged 65+ want leasehold scrapped 💥65% want all ground rents gone 👴In response, we launch a new campaign group, #PensionersAgainstLeasehold 👵 To “PAL” up, contact pensioners @freeleaseholders .org.uk today.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

25 days

@MarkKleinmanSky No comment from actual insurers and pension funds? @ThePLSA not giving data on the extent to which their members would suffer. The idea of ruined granny and pension fund is just a smokescreen for the freeholder lobby.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

3 months

Great to speak with @Roolockwood on the leasehold scandal and sky-high service charges. Broadcasters generally shun this topic so a big thank you to her for the coverage and for caring. It’s telling that the @RFAssociation couldn’t field anyone to debate us. Not even an intern!

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

6 months

“Documents seen by The Telegraph show flat owners are paying £45,000 a year for a graffiti team, £107,100 for ‘extra lifts’ and £210,000 for the council’s vehicle fleet.” Even councils appear unable to refrain from gaming leaseholders’ service charges!

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Labour council was warned about unsafe balconies a year before collapse

Homeowners say their repeated complaints about safety defects were ignored

www.telegraph.co.uk

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

9 months

🚨KILLING LEASEHOLD🚨 It felt like a seminal moment last night with Jeremy Kyle coming out for @CommonholdNow after interviewing my Mum and yours truly. We are reaching new audiences and waking people up to the biggest organised scam in the UK. Watch it back now:

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

6 months

Govt goes live with consultation on ground rents for existing leaseholders. Reducing ground rents or, even better, scrapping them completely would do wonders to bring down the cost of freehold purchase. Ground rent is the ultimate money for nothing scheme.

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Modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases

This consultation seeks views on capping the maximum ground rent that residential leaseholders can be required to pay in England and Wales.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

7 months

😱Halloween Pensions Panic or Not?😱 The freeholder lobby is putting pressure on ministers and officials to shelve or water down a Bill against leasehold in the King’s Speech on November 7th. They claim pension funds will be wiped out! Commonhold Now brings you the truth 👇🏻

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

3 months

I’m pumped for @BarryGardiner ’s leasehold documentary dropping tomorrow. Earlier this week, he was on @LBC with @IainDale explaining that through positively feudal leasehold, flat owners in this country have no control over their homes, money and lives.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 month

WOW! LibDem London mayoral candidate @robblackie becomes first in the race to prioritise leaseholders’ needs over those of rent-seekers and the failed status quo. He notes @SadiqKhan @MayorofLondon promised commonhold pilot scheme on GLA land in manifesto but broke his pledge.

@robblackie

Rob Blackie 🔶

1 month

Rogue landlords and freeholders are squeezing leaseholders for every penny with unfair service charges. As Mayor I would set up a support hub to challenge unfair service charges...

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

7 months

❌No commonhold ❌Not even a promise to mandate share of freehold on future flats for basic resident control ❓A radical proposal to abolish ground rents but not clear will be in this legislation - yet another consultation! The fight is NOT over 💪🏻

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All new houses to be freehold in plan to phase out ‘feudal’ leaseholds

All new houses in England and Wales will have to be sold as freehold properties as part of sweeping government reforms to phase out the “feudal” leasehold system.

www.thetimes.co.uk

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

6 months

Ground rent is inherently illegitimate and has no place in a modern economy or housing market. It has to go. Please respond to the government consultation and urge that they turn existing ground rents into a ‘peppercorn’, which is zero financial value.

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Ground rent reforms to save thousands for leaseholders

Consultation launched including a number of options to cap ground rents for existing leaseholders.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

8 months

. @michaelgove uses @ukonward Future of Conservatism event to decry leasehold, saying homebuyers are being “bilked” as a result of “private equity gangsters” who own the freeholds. “We need to liberate them [leaseholders] from that.” The Bill must be as radical as the words!

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

6 months

Superb editorial from The Observer. They understand leasehold is the ultimate form of rentier capitalism, allowing developers and landowners to extract almost unlimited amounts of cash from homeowners. Any government serious about the housing crisis must dismantle leasehold.

@soniasodha

Sonia Sodha

6 months

The Observer view on leasehold: let’s abolish this antiquated and unfair system

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

8 months

Wowsa. @LibDems have made abolishing leasehold party policy. @EdwardJDavey ’s finger prints all over this. As co-founder of the all-party group, leasehold is an issue close to his heart. It’s smart politics, too. 63% of Blue Wall voters back leasehold replaced with commonhold.

@CommonholdNow

Commonhold Now

8 months

🚨 @LibDems COMMIT TO LEASEHOLD ABOLITION, OUTFLANKING @Conservatives AND @UKLabour TO WOO THE 5 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS🚨 Just now, Liberal Democrats voted at their conference to commit the party to leasehold abolition as they continue to love-bomb critical Blue Wall voters. (1/8)

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

10 months

@duncanrobinson Commonhold flats

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

@Liv_Lever @trussliz @KwajoHousing Sorry, we live in a democracy. She was good natured and was humouring people with selfies later around Pret and Waitrose.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

Leaseholders are throwing off their feudal chains. Collective action works. The scale of overcharging, fraud and power abuse in this scandal will make Wirecard look like an innocent misdemeanour. Keep it up @iankmsmith @KateBeioley_FT @miss_marriage @FT !

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‘It’s just outrageous’: UK leaseholders face down landlords over insurance costs

Recent legal victories likely to trigger more challenges as service charges soar

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

@agw1437 @trussliz @KwajoHousing You go into politics to help people and change lives. There was a lot of warmth from Ms Truss. I apologised for intruding and said I will be quick and didn’t want to sabotage her evening out with her daughter. She took it very well and was interested to hear what I had to say.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 months

Lots of people invest in BTL, some retired, for their pension income but they don’t call themselves pensioners, they’re called landlords. It’s disingenuous for freeholders to call themselves pensioners when they’re not old ladies going to the post office to collect their pennies.

@LBC

LBC

2 months

'There are some very powerful people who have managed to pump this fake news into No 10.' @HarryScoffin tells @TomSwarbrick1 that the government referring to 'buy to let landlords who happen to be elderly' as 'pensioners' is 'very wilful distortion'.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

On Friday, I spoke to @BBCWorldatOne about the govt u-turn on leasehold abolition. I make no apologies for not wanting scraps. My Mum's service charge has skyrocketed £10,000 in 5yrs. Our freeloading freeholder is offshore and one of Britain's richest men. We need @CommonholdNow !

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

4 months

Why I keep fighting to ensure that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill hands rightful control to leaseholders. We need self-rule. It is our homes, our money and our lives, after all. Rip-off service providers must be easily sackable. #FreeLeaseholders

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‘It’s so cold’: leaseholders left without central heating in London block

Man in 80s and mother of baby among residents hit by cold conditions amid dispute over who is responsible for repair

www.theguardian.com

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 years

There's a price to be paid at the ballot box for elected officials' fealty to property insiders. Young people don't want to go from rental tenancies to leasehold ones. Feudal leasehold prevents people from living honestly and autonomously. Me for @ConHome

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Harry Scoffin: Abolishing leasehold for flats can revive the Tory dream of a property-owning...

Thanks to this outdated system of feudal tenure, the link between work and reward has again snapped.

conservativehome.com

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

Most campaigners don’t do this for fame or money. We’re driven by what’s happening at home! Seeing my Mum as a financial hostage has radicalised me, changed my outlook on life and seen me spend half a decade fighting to free her and millions of others.

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Leaseholders slam government's decision not to abolish 'feudal' system

EXCLUSIVE: Retired bank clerk Anna Scoffin pays a £32,000 service charge for her three-bedroom leasehold apartment in East London.

www.dailymail.co.uk

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

6 months

🗳️ @RishiSunak @MichaelGove , this specially commissioned political ad is one YOU need to watch 🗳️ @FreeLeasehlders brings you the voters this Government has to hold onto, to have any chance in the GE – Blue Wall Tories. (1/2) #FreeLeaseholders

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

4 months

Super positive @UKLabour and Mr Pennycook are moving to mandate all new flats come with RMCs and, crucially, the freehold. This ends the grubby trade in other people’s homes going forward while clearing the path for 2nd generation commonhold to really take off. #FreeLeaseholders

@mtpennycook

Matthew Pennycook MP

4 months

There is only so much we can do with the government's limited Leasehold Reform Bill but amendments Labour are pushing include: ✅enhanced leaseholder rights and protections ✅abolition of forfeiture ✅mandatory RMCs + share of freehold in flats ✅regulation of managing agents

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

Reassuring @michaelgove used his first major speech since being reappointed housing secretary to note the scandal in newbuild homes that is finally coming to light. Here’s hoping he and his team have read this horror story, which is by no means a one-off:

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

3 months

“We must live up to our 1995 promise. It is our duty to abolish leasehold and finally put An End to Feudalism.” Superb advocacy by @BarryGardiner in @LabourList . The @UKLabour manifesto must promise to dismantle leasehold and a mass shift to commonhold.

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‘Tory leasehold reform won’t fix this feudal system – here’s how Labour can’ – LabourList

“An End to Feudalism” was the promise our party first made to leaseholders in 1995. It was the title of a pamphlet authored by Nick…

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

3 years

@pollymackenzie The building safety crisis, where innocent consumer homebuyers are on the brink of bankruptcy because they bought dangerous leasehold flats in good faith and the so-called party of home ownership doesn’t want to upset developer donors by making them pay.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 months

GET IN!! Finally, someone gets it. Real leasehold reform means dignity, autonomy and control. Homeownership. It is NOT about technicalities. It’s about people’s lives and finances. @RishiSunak can still do the right thing and @FreeLeasehlders .

@ShaunBaileyUK

Shaun Bailey

2 months

LEASEHOLD REFORM CAMPAIGN UPDATE: A message to @RishiSunak - strengthen the Bill so that every one of us can have control of our home, our money and our lives 💪🏾 Homeownership should mean freedom: it’s a British thing!! 🇬🇧

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

3 months

Psyched to read this. @michaelgove knows reforming leasehold out of existence is what any serious govt has to do if it wants to deal with intergenerational inequality. My generation will rise up if the housing crisis remains! @jburnmurdoch @PricedOutUK

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Michael Gove: If the young can’t get housing, they will abandon democracy

Restoring young people’s dreams of a roof over their heads will give the Conservatives — and democracy itself — hope of survival, says the housing secretary

www.thetimes.co.uk

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

This had to happen. The everyday fraud in leasehold is indefensible. But leaseholders need to place the policy and control our service charges. For as long as we are captive consumers, the other side will innovate into new scams. It’s like Whac-A-Mole.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

21 days

A £250 cap on ground rents is a win. It means leaseholders can sell up and get on with their lives. 20 years to peppercorn is not ideal, but if @UKLabour @AngelaRayner @mtpennycook wish to make a counter-offer, leaseholders and journos will be all ears.

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Continuation of ground rents ‘disappointing’, CIH says

The Chartered Institute of Housing has said that reports of leaseholders having to pay ground rents for another 20 years are “disappointing”.

www.insidehousing.co.uk

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

23 days

The devil will be in the detail, as always. On face value, an immediate £250 cap for all existing ground rents is a win for leaseholders. 20 years is not great — but it’s a compromise. We need to see the way the amendments are worded. There must be a clear end date.

@HarryYorke1

Harry Yorke

23 days

Exclusive: In face of intensive lobbying by pension/insurance funds, Gove has won partial victory on leasehold reform PM has now overruled HMT. £250 cap on ground rents will be announced, with a 20 year* transition period to peppercorn 1/4

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

8 months

Great to speak today to compliance pros, insurers and officials from @TheFCA on leasehold buildings insurance and the bribes and kickbacks now endemic in this sector. Leaseholders are captive consumers who are forced to fund freeloading freeholders. This must end. @CommonholdNow

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 months

@AngelaRayner @michaelgove Thank you @AngelaRayner for speaking up. Feudalism is alive and kicking in 21st century England and Wales. @RishiSunak wants to keep millions of citizens as serfs to rent-seekers, middlemen and extortionists. Enough!

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Harry Scoffin

9 months

The campaign breaks into broadcast. Tune in to @TalkTV ’s Jeremy Kyle Live tonight at 7-8pm to hear from my Mum and yours truly about the effect leasehold is having on us. Jeremy was lovely and gets it. Hopefully other channels will follow with coverage. We need @CommonholdNow .

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Harry Scoffin

2 months

Leasehold has just gone box office with @Kwajotweneboa coming out for 5.3 million households trapped in this rip-off system.

@Kwajotweneboa

KWAJO- Social Issues Campaigner

2 months

So many Leaseholders and being shafted. We live in a time where Freeholders say jump and at the mercy of them, Leaseholders are expected to respond ‘how high’. Freeholders use forfeiture as a weapon similarly to how section 21 is used in the private sector, and think it’s…

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

@rcolvile @michaelgove @CapX But the property developers have ample money to cough up. They profited from these death-trap flats. Better than burdening the taxpayer even more.

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Harry Scoffin

1 year

@Fox_Claire @trussliz @KwajoHousing I said now she can speak more freely on the backbenches, would she join the leasehold rebellion and lobby for the phase two reforms to help fix our broken housing market? She laughed. (She has a rural constituency in Norfolk with little to no leasehold.)

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Harry Scoffin

1 year

We want homeownership to leave landlords behind. We want it for dignity, autonomy and control. But leasehold robs us of that. A fab speech from @Fox_Claire last night. Angie Jezard of @CanaryRiverside rightly deserves special mention for lifting the lid on the insurance racket.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

10 months

“With issues such as hefty service charges, soaring ground rents and cladding costs blamed for preventing homeowners from remortgaging and selling, leasehold has been placed firmly on the political agenda.” We need real homeownership with @CommonholdNow !

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Why buying a leasehold property might be the worst mistake you’ll make

Telegraph Money reveals how to avoid getting trapped in an agreement you’ll regret

www.telegraph.co.uk

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

“Margaret Thatcher used her final days in office to propose a draft bill which would have replaced leasehold with commonhold, and both John Major and Tony Blair initially made similar pledges.” Will @RishiSunak @michaelgove finish the job? Let’s do this!

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Leaseholders are trapped in property purgatory

It’s over 100 years since the Scottish Unionist MP Noel Skelton coined the term ‘property-owning democracy’ – yet for young people, the dream of home-ownership feels like something from a far-off...

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

7 months

. @AngelaRayner tonight confirms a Bill against leasehold tenure within first King’s Speech of a @UKLabour govt. This is unfinished business for the party which introduced Commonhold, the fairer pro-homeowner system, after years of Tory dither and delay.

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Labour would oversee ‘biggest boost in affordable housing in a generation’

Exclusive: Deputy leader and shadow housing secretary Angela Rayner says party would get tough on developers

www.theguardian.com

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

3 months

Disturbing that while retirement housebuilders were rightly forced by law to stop inserting ground rents into new homes, they are now being given the green light to prey on the elderly by flogging them new leasehold houses despite a leasehold houses ban.

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Anti-leasehold bill contains loopholes for developers, say campaigners

Clauses in Michael Gove’s bill include exemptions for properties in a retirement village or on land where a lease has already been granted

www.theguardian.com

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

9 days

This is why forfeiture must be abolished. It permits everyday extortion of leaseholders. Despite ministers saying we will get positive news on this soon, nothing came forward at Lords Committee stage. Time really is running out. What’s happening @michaelgove @Lee4NED ?

@richard_jm

rj

10 days

🚨leaseholders🚨 I’m honestly too furious to write coherent tweets on this right now but you can read for yourself. Their response: £5729.77 to be paid within 10 days or I’m taken to court & my flat is forfeited. No direct reply to my email querying the service charge.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

26 days

. @BarryGardiner has our backs He is 100% right. Rentierism is fuelling inequality. These crooks use the language of buccaneering capitalism to defend vulture-like practices. Ending leasehold is for the many, not the few. And it is pro-homeownership, too!

@PoliticsJOE_UK

PoliticsJOE

@PoliticsJOE_UK

26 days

"This government has failed on housing so comprehensively that it's difficult to know where to start." Labour's Barry Gardiner slams Tories' Michael Gove for backing investors and failing homeowners on leasehold.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

5 years

@CharlotteCGill Yes, and the ruling party has literally nothing to say to them. Other than shared ownership and leasehold scams.

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Harry Scoffin

2 months

Important story by @BBCNews @beckyrmorton . It’s vital to note leasehold forfeiture is NOT like repossession. If you’re a leaseholder, you have no right to a balancing payment. You don't get the equity back less the debt. The freeholder makes a windfall.

Moves to make it harder to repossess leasehold homes over unpaid charges

Forfeiture means leaseholders can be threatened with losing their home if they do not pay service charges.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 years

Just saved a young Hongkonger from “buying” a shared ownership / leasehold flat. She says there’s an immense rush to get a property in London among BNO passport holders making a new life here. She had no idea service charges are variable and aren’t controlled by the flat owners.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

10 months

“Leaseholders do not want to know by how much they are being ripped off, they just don’t want to be ripped off in the first place.”

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Briefing: FCA surprised at high commission levels for ...

It seems the ship has well and truly sailed on the sector effectively self-regulating on this issue

www.insurancetimes.co.uk

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

10 months

If govt won’t end leasehold on existing homes, paying leaseholders must have control with a Universal Right to Manage. End goal of @CommonholdNow remains commonhold for real homeownership on existing and future flats. But control better than no control.

The Times & The Sunday Times

News and opinion from The Times & The Sunday Times

www.thetimes.co.uk

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

From today, I’m going to be touring the country speaking to real people + capturing their shocking stories. If you’re a flat leaseholder/shared owner or householder on a private managed estate (‘fleecehold’), I want to hear from you. Get in touch👇 (5/5)

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

6 months

#CommonholdNow Goes Live With Policy Report, Misaligned Incentives, to Liberate Flat Leaseholders @RishiSunak told me over 5 yrs ago in a Bethnal Green living room that “leasehold is a scam”. But The Sunday Times report suggests flat leaseholders will keep being scammed! (1/9)

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Harry Scoffin

4 months

Mobilising enough leaseholders to hit the 50% participation threshold to buy your freehold or secure Right to Manage. #FreeLeaseholders

@beyoncegarden

𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆🫧💚

4 months

name something harder than this😭

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Harry Scoffin

19 days

Mary! You don’t know what you are talking about. Scotland and the rest of the world all use commonhold-style systems. England and Wales are international outliers for persisting with landlord-controlled leasehold tenure to organise private flat ownership.

@marydejevsky

marydejevsky

19 days

#PMQs @AngelaRayner clearly has no understanding of #leasehold . Of course, new houses should not be sold leasehold, but flats have to have a way of sharing common costs. No lawyer would advise buying freehold flat. Ppl need to understand this.

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Harry Scoffin

10 months

Powerful speech from @jeremycorbyn . He understands that leaseholders must be given control over their homes, charges and lives. It is a shame free marketeer Tories are not coming out against toxic monopolies and abusive cartel behaviour in leasehold. Capitalism this is not.

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Harry Scoffin

3 years

. @michaelgove throws shade at @RobertJenrick : "Some people have said to me, 'oh you know it's a case of caveat emptor', and I think that's rubbish. People bought these flats in good faith, now they're suddenly being landed with bills that are grossly disproportionate."

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Harry Scoffin

1 year

For those unable to go beyond the paywall, I have to share! I hope YIMBYs appreciate the point that if we want to really address the housing crisis, we should build commonhold flats. No more wealth-eroding, misery-inducing leasehold tenancies. Real Homeownership with Commonhold.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

A wow @FT letter today by my friend @ClausVistesen on why England and Wales haven't embraced apartment living. @jburnmurdoch sympathetic to the leasehold tenure thesis. It is holding back the flats market, urban development and high-rise housebuilding.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

2 years

We’re not a first-world country when it comes to property. It’s the Wild West out there. Working on this story with @melyork made me really angry. And I am still angry! I think you will be, too, when you’ve have a read.

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Harry Scoffin

14 days

See you in court. Ground rent grazers have already lost in the court of public opinion. It is perfectly legitimate for a government to abolish or cap an income that provides no service or benefit to the consumer. Especially if it was promised in an election manifesto.

@jamesriding10

James Riding

14 days

The Pensioners for Ground Rent are back, saying they will sue the government for “breaching their human rights under the European Convention” over the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill

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Harry Scoffin

13 days

Important piece in the @Telegraph tonight. @EOCS_Official research finds leaseholders are paying an additional £600 in service charges because of the Building Safety Regulator. This must be a wake up call for those urging a Regulator for managing agents.

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Homeowners hit with thousands in charges for new building safety rules

Michael Gove’s building safety reports add ‘unacceptably high charges’ to bills

www.telegraph.co.uk

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

13 days

“Exclusive polling seen by Sky News shows that scrapping leaseholds is a popular policy. Among UK voters, the majority want to see them gone altogether, and for Tory voters the number is higher at 65%.” Will it be left for @UKLabour to #FreeLeaseholders ?

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Tory MPs threaten to rebel against government over leasehold reform

Backbenchers are unhappy with the government, and want to see ground rents on leasehold properties scrapped.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

1 year

“Our leaseholder system is broken. Labour will end the sale of new private leasehold houses, replace existing leasehold flats with commonhold and give greater powers to residents in the interim over the management of their homes,” says @elliereeves MP.

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@HarryScoffin

Harry Scoffin

20 days

🚨HEAR WE GO AGAIN🚨 @hmtreasury colluding with Big Freeholders to thwart the will of the people and sabotage a Conservative manifesto pledge? Nothing is in the bag until it is in the bag. Leaseholders, brace yourselves for the great betrayal.

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@e_casalicchio

Emilio Casalicchio

20 days

🌪️ IN PLAYBOOK PM TONIGHT ... 🫀 All the stuff that happened in Westminster today ... plus reporting from Berlin via @Stefan_Boscia ☄️ Oh and ... a revelation (for some) about the infamous DD for me pic. 🦤 Read online and subscribe (for free) here:

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Harry Scoffin

2 years

Superb news. Gove is acutely aware that the Conservative Party has no future if they continue allowing a cartel of property developers and other iffy interests to set housing policy. He made them sweat buckets over cladding and is violently opposed to anti-capitalist leasehold.

@10DowningStreet

UK Prime Minister

@10DowningStreet

2 years

The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP @MichaelGove has been appointed Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Minister for Intergovernmental Relations @LUHC . #Reshuffle

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Harry Scoffin

7 months

Me to Vanessa Feltz on TalkTV Govt unleashing demons. The package briefed to The Sunday Times will NOT cut the mustard for those of us being extorted in leasehold flats. We need freehold purchase and commonhold conversion made easier and cheaper. And all new flats commonhold.

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Harry Scoffin

1 year

Got some good news for ya! @KayBurley got it out of @lisanandy this morning - we will see legislation “to finish the job” on leasehold within the first 100 days of a @UKLabour government. I’m not a Labour voter, but may very well lend them my vote at the next GE because of this.

@GameSetOllie

Oli

1 year

@lisanandy When? Sick of hearing “we will do something”. It never happens

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Harry Scoffin

3 years

"What we can't have is a situation in which ordinary homeowners, ordinary people living in their own home, suddenly faced with an unexpected and unreasonable cost to put in a heat pump," says @BorisJohnson to Liaison Committee. What about lessees facing ruin now? @EOCS_Official

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