|
|
 |
| |
Candidate attacks bills ‘horrors’
THE plight of Islington’s 10,000 leaseholders – many faced with crippling service charges – is being used as evidence in a new Private Members Bill due to have a second reading in Parliament next month.
Beckenham MP Jaqui Lait’s Leaseholders Rights Bill aims to provide more consultation before work is undertaken and a right of the resident to get alternative quotes from other builders.
Evidence from Islington’s leaseholders, who can owe anything from £10,000 to £30,000 for repairs or construction, is being provided by Antonia Cox, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Islington South and Finsbury.
Ms Cox attended Wednesday night’s Islington leaseholders meeting at the Town Hall and received examples of residents struggling to pay bills. “Many are threatening legal action or telling harrowing stories of building horrors and huge bills,” Ms Cox said. “Islington has among the highest numbers of leaseholders in the country. If you are very elderly and you are faced with a £10,000 bill, how are you ever going to pay?”
She added that she thought “unexpected” bills of £10,000 and more, with only 24 months to pay, are a frightening experience for anyone – and “particularly when the work done is so often poor”.
* Ms Cox said – unlike MP Emily Thornberry – if elected she wouldn’t take the £7,000 annual London Allowance. offered to local MPs as an alternative to the Second Homes Allowance. |
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
