Homeowners living on a newbuild estate in Wigton, Leicestershire are being charged £9,000 a year by private management company FirstPort for grass cutting and terrorism insurance. Residents of Waterside Gardens feel “fleeced” by the charges, which also include contributions to maintaining a balancing pond on the estate. Karen Stokes and her partner Tony have been challenging the charges for the past eight years, negotiating lower fees for all 120 homes on the estate. The latest bill came to £9,031, equivalent to £75 per household, with only a small portion going towards actual maintenance work.
Freehold estates, like Waterside Gardens, are private or mixed-tenure estates where shared areas and facilities are not owned or looked after by the local authority. This model, known as “fleecehold,” is becoming more common as local authorities seek ways to cut costs. Approximately 1.7 million homes in the UK are managed as part of private estates, with 80% of new homes sold by major builders subject to estate management charges. In the case of Waterside Gardens, the majority of the annual fee goes towards management fees, with a portion allocated for terrorism insurance which residents like Karen find questionable.
Despite FirstPort justifying the terrorism insurance as common practice for managed developments, critics like Sebastian O’Kelly of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership charity question the necessity of such coverage for a small pond. Karen Stokes now spends weeks negotiating charges on behalf of the entire estate, while former parish councillor Pete Murray set up a committee to assist residents dealing with FirstPort. The management company has faced criticism for charging fees to residents selling properties on estates it manages, with fees covering evidence of managed areas and insurance required by buyers’ solicitors.
More than 30 MPs have written to FirstPort after constituents raised complaints about rising service charges. The company attributes the fee increases to industry-wide trends and regular fee reviews. However, residents like Karen and Tony feel frustrated by the perceived lack of transparency and value in the charges imposed by the management company. Despite efforts to negotiate lower fees and challenge questionable charges, homeowners on freehold estates like Waterside Gardens continue to struggle with high annual bills for maintenance and insurance, prompting calls for greater accountability and fairer practices in estate management.
