“致全国数百万租赁权持有人，我向你们保证。你们被榨取每一分钱的日子即将结束，”安迪·伯纳姆在工党大会上表示。就在几小时前，他的住房大臣安吉拉·雷纳宣布，政府将立法设立一个新的独立监管机构，并启动咨询以限制“宰客”式的行政费用。虽然这些无疑是朝着正确方向迈出的步伐，但它们距离工党宣言中承诺的“最终终结封建租赁权制度”还差得远。
“To the millions of leaseholders across the country, you have my word. The days of you being squeezed for every penny are coming to an end,” Andy Burnham told the Labour party conference. Only a few hours earlier, his housing secretary, Angela Rayner, had announced that the government would legislate for a new independent regulator and launch a consultation to cap “rip off” administrative fees. While these are undoubtedly steps in the right direction, they are miles away from Labour’s manifesto promise to “finally bring the feudal leasehold system to an end”.
在其现代形式下，英格兰和威尔士的租赁权制将住宅变成了自由保有权人的收入来源。它应该被废除。存在强大的既得利益集团——亿万富翁、贵族和大企业——会反对这一举措。但服务费制度正在扼杀住房市场，因为其高昂的成本让潜在买家望而却步。英格兰和威尔士公寓的平均年服务费现已达2405英镑，自2020年以来上涨了32.6%，十年来上涨了55.6%。伦敦高层公寓的业主每年支付的服务费超过7000英镑。难怪首次购房者越来越倾向于避开公寓。
In its modern form, leasehold in England and Wales turns homes into income streams for freeholders. It should be abolished. There are powerful vested interests – billionaires, aristocrats and big businesses – that would oppose this move. But the system of service charges is crippling the housing market because its exorbitant cost puts off prospective buyers. The average annual service charge for a flat in England and Wales is now £2,405, up 32.6% since 2020 and 55.6% over a decade. Owners of flats in high-rise blocks in London are paying service charges of more than £7,000 a year. Little wonder that first-time buyers are increasingly bypassing flats.
现行制度要求房主签署长期租约，每年须向地主支付费用，且费用可能迅速飙升至极高水平。政府提议将现有住宅租约的地租上限设为每年250英镑，并限制养宠物等申请的相关费用。部长们正在征询意见，探讨居民是否能以更低成本买断产权。但对于由远程公司决定的年度维修服务费，目前尚无整治迹象。去年，英格兰和威尔士37%的公寓服务费超过其房产价值的1%——这使得这些房产难以抵押和出售。
The current system sees homeowners enter into long-term leases in which they must pay sums annually to freeholders. These can rise quickly to very high levels. The government proposes a £250 annual cap on ground rents for existing residential leases and limits on fees for requests such as keeping a pet. Ministers are consulting over whether residents could pay less to buy out freeholds. But there is no sign of action on annual service charges for maintenance costs determined by distant firms. Last year, 37% of flats across England and Wales had a service charge that exceeded 1% of their value – making them hard to mortgage and sell.
房主难道不应摆脱高昂的“买断自由”代价，也不应长期承受一个其实无力改变的管理体系的收费？
Surely homeowners should not have to buy their freedom at an outrageous price while being charged for years by a management system they cannot realistically change?
租约制问题已成为霍尔本和圣潘克拉斯补选的竞选焦点。去年该选区售出的七套住房中有六套为租约制。竞选议员的绿党领袖扎克·波兰斯基将此议题作为检验工党公信力的试金石。绿党将废除租约制与租金管制、平价住房捆绑，主张终结“宰客英国”，指责工党偏袒开发商。工党予以否认，但部长们深知住房是政治火药桶，已在柏林和西班牙各地引爆。
The issue of leasehold has become a campaign flashpoint in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection. Six out of seven homes sold in the constituency last year were sold as leasehold. The Green leader, Zack Polanski, who is standing to be the MP, has made the issue a concrete test of Labour’s credibility. The Greens have paired leasehold abolition with rent controls and affordable housing as part of their claim to end “rip-off Britain”, accusing Labour of favouring developers. Labour denies this, but ministers know that housing is a political powder keg that has already exploded in Berlin and across Spain.
值得注意的是，尽管预计在下届大选前将出台禁止新建租赁产权房产的立法，但该法不太可能在大选前生效。据称，部长们担心会被永久业主告上法庭。但政府在为迈克尔·戈夫的住房法案辩护时，已在法庭上战胜过他们。政府面临的问题是，拟议的改革是否能为现有500万套租赁产权住房的业主提供一条摆脱依赖的可行之路——还只是规范他们持续的从属地位。
It is remarkable that while legislation banning new leasehold properties is expected before the next election, it is unlikely to come into force until after it. Ministers are said to be afraid of being taken to court by freeholders. But government has already won against them in the courts when defending Michael Gove’s housing bill. The question for the government is whether the proposed reforms give the owners of the existing 5m leasehold homes a credible route out of their dependency – or just regulate their continued subservience.
部长们必须展示，如今被困境束缚的租赁产权持有人未来将如何夺回控制权——通过获得物业管理权、购买永久产权或转为共有产权。如果部长们仅提供另一套投诉机制，他们就将背弃终结这一不公的承诺。
Ministers must show how a leaseholder trapped today will in the future take back control – by obtaining the right to manage property, being able to buy the freehold or converting to commonhold. If ministers offer just another complaints mechanism, they will have broken their promise to end an injustice.