Background

Redress is a widely used term meaning “to set right, repair, or rectify a grievance or complaint”, and within housing, access to appropriate redress when things go wrong is a key concern for policymakers and all of society.

Given the broad nature of the term, it is important to be clear about the scope of this project. We have focused on leaseholders in England who are seeking to challenge and set right issues with the management and maintenance of their property.

When leaseholders experience issues with the management of their property, there are a series of potential bodies and organisations they can refer to. Each has distinct jurisdictions, regulatory bodies and codes of practice. This infrastructure has been developed iteratively by the government and the sector over time and is continuing to evolve. Within this paper, we refer to this as the “redress system”.

The project has explored where leaseholders can go when things go wrong, whether that consumer journey is coherent and what potential challenges and barriers may exist to prevent them from getting satisfactory redress. Throughout this, the leaseholder perspective has been a key consideration of the study, focusing on what makes sense to the consumer as opposed to the sector or officials.

To develop this work, we have drawn on a range of resources, including:

• analysis of publicly available materials, including policy documents, organisational policies, and policy reports
• analysis of LEASE’s enquiry database, including detailed analysis and mapping of 200 recent cases
• interviews with LEASE’s expert legal advisers
• engagement with stakeholders from across the redress system at both leadership and working levels – this engagement included meetings, workshops and strategic roundtables
• survey of 247 leaseholders conducted between 29 October and 6 November 2025

These activities provide insights from a range of perspectives within the sector who operate within and experience different parts of the system. It also allowed us to access the direct experiences of leaseholders in order to understand not just how the system worked for them, but also their priorities and expectations for redress.

Finally, it draws on the wealth of experience of LEASE advisers who are uniquely positioned to understand both the legal and technical frameworks of the redress sector but also the consumer perspective, given their daily work supporting leaseholders to navigate the system.