A huge number of households in Plymouth Sutton and Devonport live in leasehold homes which are managed by FirstPort. I have been contacted a number of times over the inadequacy of service, lack of transparency and extortionate price hikes, severely impacting the emotional and financial wellbeing of leaseholders in the city. Similar issues have been raised across the country, and this is why Labour MPs have come together to do everything in our power to hold FirstPort to account.

On Thursday 9th January 2025, the Managing Director of FirstPort Martin King was invited into Parliament to be scrutinised over the service that FirstPort provides, and they agreed to commit to the following:

1. Senior management meetings with residents with Regional Operational Director level minimum, for all developments that request it.
2. New detailed breakdowns of bills that are being rolled out within 6 months to all residents and an elimination of errors. They should be sufficiently granular so residents can effectively challenge rises.
3. Clear key performance indicators (KPIs) for service quality improvements and clear timelines for delivery.
4. To supply information about what compensation FirstPort will pay when there have been failings, MPs to scrutinise whether it is sufficient.
5. FirstPort to provide information and evidence to allow MPs to assess the value for money FirstPort is offering, specifically:
   • Information about fees and pricing on related transactions, particularly relating to insurance.
   • Information about price increases compared to the market to allow us to scrutinise whether FirstPort’s charges have risen far faster than market benchmarks.
   • Underlying costs, such as energy prices, have now or are in the process of falling from their peaks. FirstPort will outline how those falls would be passed onto residents.
6. Provide an MP’s hotline.
7. Most non-complex cases to be provided with a clear commitment on resolution timelines.
8. FirstPort to meet with MPs again in the next 2-3 months to monitor progress.

There are no quick fixes to these issues, but it is important that residents feel supported to resolve their problems. I hope that by FirstPort agreeing to these commitments, it will lead to a better and more transparent service for residents, but we will continue to monitor this over the coming months.

If you are having any issues with FirstPort or other leaseholder management agencies, please get in touch with me by emailing luke.pollard.mp@parliament.uk