‘Property is theft!’, declared Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in 1840. That was a tad extreme at the time, and even fewer people would agree with the French anarchist now.
So who could possibly cavil at the formation of ‘Justice for Property Rights’? This is yet another vanilla-sounding lobby group that has popped out of nowhere pledging to root for ‘ordinary people’ against dastardly legislators.
Very noble, I’m sure, though its object – nobbling radical leasehold reform – is shared by many who are distinctly out of the ordinary.
JPR says it is a ‘200-member-led campaign comprising small investors, retirees, and regular families who could be seriously impacted by blanket changes to existing property rights’. The group ‘exists to reshape the narrative that ground rent and lease extension expropriation only impacts large institutions or wealthy estates’.
A red flag – though not of the Proudhonite kind – generally flutters into shot whenever an organisation says its cause is ‘protected by the (sic) Magna Carta’. Still, it’s a perfectly arguable cause, so I fired off some questions to the group’s City PR firm Spreckley.
Who formed Justice for Property Rights? None of its members is named in the press release, nor does the organisation seem to be incorporated. Who are they? Who funds and runs the group? Who is paying Spreckley’s doubtless hefty fees?
One constituency JPR purports to represent is ‘other individuals with lawful existing interests’.
Does this include major landowners? The Duke of Westminster (net worth £10bn) and Earl Cadogan were among several who unsuccessfully argued in the High Court that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 was incompatible with their human rights (they’re appealing). Most of the act’s provisions are not yet in force but Labour now has its own draft bill before MPs. There is still an awful lot to play for.
So what more can I tell you about Justice for Property Rights? Not much. JPR says it is not funded by major landowners and we must take them at their word – but Spreckley still didn’t tell me who does run and fund it, or send me a list of members.
I am, alleged Spreckley hurtfully, ‘fixated’ by dukes and earls. Which reminds me, I must renew that Tatler subscription.
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