Being a leaseholder with Southwark Council as the freeholder can be beyond frustrating sometimes.
One aspect is to make changes to your property you need Southwark Council to give their permission. This can be a costly and time consuming process.
This table gives an idea of how the backlog of such requests grew over time:
| 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | |
| How many leaseholders requests to improve their properties? | 39 | 213 | 208 | 266 | 228 |
| Max. charge per request? | £203 | £213 | £325 | £341 | £368 |
| How many refused? | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| How many agreed? | 12 | 100 | 98 | 109 | 75 |
| Outstanding/backlog | 27 | 140 | 250 | 407 | 560 |
| Total money charged? | £20,235 | £19,920 | £24,908 | £26,379 |