An Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigation into residential property management services has been widened to include local authority freeholders according to a report in LG News.
The OFT decided to widen its study after seeking views on its scope last year.
Senior responsible officer for the study, Rachel Merelie, said: ‘Service charges for the maintenance of a building can be substantial and we want to make sure that leaseholders are getting a fair deal.
‘We are concerned that management agents and freeholders may not be incentivised to keep maintenance costs down and that leaseholders may not receive value for money.
‘We will look at whether there is sufficient competition in the market generally, as well as taking a close look at specific areas that have been brought to our attention, including services provided to retirement properties.’
A final report will be published before the end of the year.