Prince Charles’s £1bn Duchy of Cornwall estate is facing a rebellion by residents who claim they are subject to an unfair ban on buying the freeholds to their homes.

Residents in the historic duchy-owned village of Newton St Loe, near Bath, and in the Scilly Isles off the tip of Cornwall have urged the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, to scrap a unique ministerial undertaking that for decades has denied them the right to buy homes outright because they are part of the duchy, which provides Charles with a £20m-a-year private income.

Charles is the sole beneficiary of the duchy’s property and investment portfolio, which among other things funds the upkeep of his Gloucestershire mansion, Highgrove, the lifestyles of Princes William and Harry and even Prince George’s £18,000 preparatory school fees.

As well as large parts of Cornwall, it owns the Oval cricket ground in London, most of Dartmoor and land in Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset.

The residents are making use of a government consultation that closes next week on ministers’ proposals “to tackle unfair and unreasonable abuses of leasehold”.

It is primarily aimed at housebuilders retaining freeholds of new homes, but the duchy tenants argue there is no reason they should be treated differently to any other British homeowner just because Charles is their landlord.

Leaseholders in the rest of the country have a legal right under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 to buy the freehold of their house if they meet certain qualifying criteria, but an exemption has been made for some duchy property.

The ban on them becoming freeholders “is a real injustice and unfairness that should not be allowed to stand”, duchy residents have told Javid. They complain they are unable to sell their homes because the leases have run down and they cannot borrow against their properties to pay for care fees for themselves and loved ones.

“The current practice smacks of outdated feudalism,” said Jane Giddins, a former parish councillor who has lived in a historic home in Newton St Loe for more than 20 years.

She said the arrangement had had “a massive effect on my family and neighbours”. She has told the government the law must be changed “to reflect the open and democratic society, with equality and fairness at its heart, that that we believe our country to be”.

She said her home could not be sold because the lease was too short, and she wanted to buy the freehold.

The Duchy of Cornwall states on its website that following a ministerial undertaking “the duchy does not accept applications to enfranchise in certain specific geographic locations … the off-islands and the Garrison area of the Isles of Scilly, parts of central Dartmoor and in the village of Newton St Loe.”

In addition, in Kennington, south London, leaseholders who want to buy freeholds on duchy properties are subject to “enfranchisement tests”.

A spokesman for the duchy said there were no plans to change the system. “The current consultation has been set up to focus on possible issues around new buildings rather than heritage properties,” he said. “In the case of the Duchy of Cornwall, it was granted exemptions from certain leasehold legislation along with other land-owning organisations including the National Trust and the church in order to ensure its buildings with special architectural or historic identities could be protected and preserved. The need to protect and preserve these buildings and their surrounding natural environment for future generations remains and there are no plans to change the approach taken to doing so.”

This has been dismissed by residents who argue that sufficient other safeguards to historic buildings, including the listing regime, are already in place.

Alan Davis, who lives with his wife in a duchy bungalow on St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly, said: “The situation is feudal, unfair, lacks transparency, removes the legal rights of individuals, and ignores equality.”

He said that several years ago when Charles visited Scilly a number of residents raised a petition about the matter and presented it to him with a bunch of flowers while he was on a walkabout. They later received a letter informing them that the duchy had no intention of selling them the freeholds, he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly. Photograph: Rob Lea

‘We are not looking to make a quick buck’

Jane Giddins has lived in Newton St Loe for two decades. She is one of at least five Duchy of Cornwall leaseholders in the Somerset village, which lies five miles west of Bath. She has previously campaigned successfully against a proposal by the Duchy of Cornwall to build 2,000 new homes on sites close to the village and is working in co-operation with duchy leaseholders in the Isles of Scilly to win the right to buy freeholds.



She believes Prince Charles and the duchy are “treating tenants as if feudal laws are still in place”, and argues that despite the duchy’s claim that it is protecting the historic importance of buildings, “there can be no rationale other than a commercial one for the ban on enfranchisement”.

“My husband’s ancestors are buried in the the graveyard of the church next to our house,” she said. “My three children have been born and grown up in the house. When we bought the leasehold the house and garden were completely derelict, with rain coming through the roof, no electricity and no heating. We are not developers looking to make a quick buck. We are an ordinary family who wanted to make a home for our children to grow up in as part of a village community.”