THE plight of people in Portishead trapped in a “fleecehold” has been debated in Parliament as North Somerset MP Sir Liam Fox has called for the law to be changed.

About a thousand people who own homes — both as leasehold and freehold — in the Port Marine development, where some communal parts are managed by property management company FirstPort, are facing “daylight robbery,” Dr Fox told the House of Commons on Wednesday, May 15 in an adjournment debate he brought on the issue.

The development on the former site of Portishead Power Station is now often considered one of the most desirable locations in North Somerset — but Dr Fox warned that people were in an “unacceptable position” with both a variable service charge and an anachronistic rentcharge paid to FirstPort.

He said: “The situation is increasingly being described […] by what it is — namely, a fleecehold.”

Constituents initially contacted him because they believed the service charge — intended to pay for the maintenance of communal areas — had been increased to an “unreasonable” level.

Dr Fox said: “Residents have complained that the amount they are paying does not match the amount of land being managed by FirstPort or the level of the work they undertake on the Port Marine estate.”

He added: “We found that very small areas of the estate are managed by FirstPort, for which they charge at least £440 per annum, which seems particularly high.

“This produces around £220,000 of income per year for FirstPort.”

But he added that residents were also having to pay a rentcharge, a “historical anomaly” from around the turn of the 20th century, when landowners would sell land to a developer at a reduced price as freehold, but retain a legal interest to allow them to charge an annual rentcharge forever.

Dr Fox said: “While many rentcharges have fallen dormant, others have been bought up by property companies, who are now ruthlessly enforcing payment.

“The rent owner is entitled to recover any sums due, but does not have to send a reminder to the freeholder and, as I understand it, is legally entitled to impose a penalty after 40 days — when the account inevitably falls into arrears — usually by taking out a statutory lease on the home as security.

“That would then make the property almost impossible to sell unless the freeholder pays thousands to redeem the lease. And this, Madam Deputy Speaker, is outrageous.”

He said that in 2011 FirstPort had reduced the rentcharge — which is meant to be nominal — from the £100–£150 a year it had been charging to £1, after being told to by Crest Nicholson, the development’s original landowner. But he said that FirstPort had announced in December 2023 it intended to charge between £100–£150 again.

Dr Fox said: “Recently, under pressure from residents, Crest Nicholson and myself, FirstPort agreed to keep the fixed rent charge to £1 per annum, providing residents entered into a deed of variation.”

But he warned that FirstPort were charging a fee — initially quoted residents £300 plus VAT — to enter into this deed of variation, and that this was presented as a discounted rate from a usual cost of £500.

Dr Fox said: “In other words, this was a bargain that my constituents should jump at so that they would not be forced to pay £150 a year. They could pay FirstPort £500 as a one-off payment to prevent this happening in the future.

“I think many of us would regard that as extortion.”

Dr Fox said: “We have a variable service charge which can be raised and enforced without any clear and transparent links with services actually being undertaken.

“Then, we have the truly horrendous situation in which rentcharges, which have no relation whatsoever to any service being provided, can effectively be raised and applied effectively with the threat of making properties unsellable and the only means of escape is for residents to enter into deeds of variation at a price determined by — guess who — FirstPort.

“Let me be clear, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I regard this as daylight robbery — a historical anomaly which has no place in our modern society.”

He called for the law to be changed and rentcharges consign rentcharges to the “dustbin of history” as the government plans reforms in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.

Lee Rowley, the minister for housing, planning, and building safety, said: “I am grateful to my honourable friend from North Somerset for highlighting the particular issues that he has experienced, and I am very sorry to hear about Port Marine and the challenges that the residents there have been facing.”

He added that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill would give people more information on variable services charges and allow them to claim legal costs if they take a landlord to tribunal and win, as well as a framework to hold estate management companies accountable for the services they provide.

In a statement, a spokesperson for FirstPort said: “We have been in regular communication with our customers at Port Marine regarding their queries around service charge costs and services provided.

“We recognise the importance of providing value for money and this includes looking at where we can reduce costs for our customers.

“In particular, we have been able to secure a 12% reduction in this years’ service charge at Port Marine.”