Living with leaseholds

Available for over a year

Sue has lived in her one-bedroom, ground floor flat in Worthing for 11 years. In 2019 her service charge was about £750 a year. That's the bill for maintaining communal or exterior areas of a building. By last year, Sue's bill had risen to £3,198; an increase of 320% in four years. New laws are going through Parliament to force building owners to make the bills more transparent, but many campaigners say they don't go far enough, and the system is being abused. For 5 Minutes On, the BBC's housing reporter, Tarah Welsh, has been to meet Sue and has been finding out what the companies involved have said about the increase in her bill. Image credit: BBC