'My service charge has left me in despair'

Audra Woods says the mounting fees are "ruining her life"

"I just feel desperate and something has to be done," says Audra Woods, who owns one of London's 1.3m leasehold properties.

She and her neighbour Alice Brown, have each run up debts of more than £20,000 in three years in management company fees that they say are not justified.

They are among more than 1,000 people who contacted BBC London following an investigation into the operation of leaseholds that was published in November.

The government says it plans to improve leasehold transparency, simplify self-management and introduce a draft reform bill in 2025.

Ms Brown says: "We just got a bill yesterday which included £3,500 in maintenance with no breakdown of what that is. We are yet to see them do any maintenance on the property but they just keep upping it."

Ms Woods and Ms Brown own the only two flats in their block near Richmond, south-west London - but not the freehold. The management company that organises the maintenance of their block was appointed by the freeholder.

Among the many items they have been billed for are several building surveys, each costing about £1,000, which the pair say haven't taken place.

Ms Brown questions why they have a management company at all as there are no internal communal areas and no communal assets like a lift or garden.

"Basic questions like, 'What are you doing with this money?', we can't get answers for, and there seems to be no right of recourse on this - we have no power," she adds.

"Every time I think of £20,000, I'm thinking, 'that's my pension'," says Ms Woods. "They are taking my life, they are ruining my life - it's criminal."

Audra Woods and Alice Brown say some of the fees are "ridiculous"

Tabitha Sudbury, a leaseholder in Coulsdon, south London, says she is facing similar charges.

Under a different management company, she is one of 16 homeowners in four blocks of flats collectively owing £10,000 in fees.

Ms Sudbury tells the BBC that she and her neighbours "don't know why" they are facing these bills.

Tabitha Sudbury wants reforms that will allow her to reclaim money from unwarranted fees

They have been told it is "because of work that was apparently meant to be done", she says. "Which we don't understand because we've never seen a plan of works, we've never seen anyone here doing any work."

Ms Sudbury called for stricter oversight of managing firms, emphasising the need for mechanisms to recover misspent funds.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook told BBC News in November: "We know that rising service charges are placing a considerable - and in some cases intolerable - strain on leaseholders across the country."

He said the government's first steps would be to "switch on" provisions within the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act, introduced by the Conservative government, that are aimed at increasing transparency around service charges and making it easier for leaseholders to challenge them.

Matthew Pennycook says the Labour government will eventually end the leasehold system

Pennycook said they need to "take the time to get things right" and ensure any new reforms were "watertight" following what he called "serious flaws" in the last government's reforms.

Over the course of this Parliament, he added the Labour government would end the "feudal" leasehold system and make commonhold the default tenure.

'Degree of caution'

Mark Chick, from the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP), which represents experts who help with buying freeholds or extending leases, said several initiatives were set to be introduced in 2025.

Among them are:

• A start on provisions to remove the two-year rule, allowing homeowners to extend leases or purchase freeholds earlier

• Implementation of "right-to-manage" provisions to simplify self-management

• Consultations on service charges and legal costs

• Publication of a draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill

Mr Chick says freeholders and leaseholders both want certainty with the measures to come into force and any further legislation introduced.

He says while the reforms will benefit leaseholders "quite significantly", the "administrative burden" put on those managing properties means they need time to adjust.

"There's a degree of caution around that. Making sure that what comes in works properly," he adds.