To introduce legislation giving leaseholders the right to compel a freeholder, intermediate landlord or management company to buy back their property at the higher of the current market value or the original purchase price, where a tribunal finds serious breach of lease or mismanagement.

Some leaseholders feel trapped in properties that have lost value because of poor management, building safety defects or unremedied lease breaches. We believe that existing remedies do not restore financial loss or enable exit from untenable situations. A statutory buyback right could protect homeowners from being financially ruined by others’ mismanagement and encourage responsible building ownership and management. The buy-back should be at whichever is higher: market value or purchase price to prevent loss.