While Labour basks in the glow of the Renters’ Rights Act, the housing minister quietly lobs a political Molotov cocktail at another group of desperate tenants: leaseholders.

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Last week, housing minister Matthew Pennycook, under mounting pressure over a stalled manifesto promise, made a case for freeing leaseholders in a speech to the Institute for Government. It comes as insurgent Green leader Zack Polanski and the Liberal Democrats are mobilising voters against government foot-dragging on ending leasehold to cannibalise Labour’s core support in leasehold-heavy cities.

Leaseholders are homeowners chained to landlords by a quirk of English property law rooted in feudalism. Service charges imposed by these freeloaders can spiral, leaving the leaseholder’s home unmortgageable and unsellable.

This is a warning to renters aspiring to homeownership: do not be seduced by falling prices, as you’ll end up in bondage to a far more powerful landlord. Pennycook and Labour have confirmed that leasehold homes will........

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