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Solicitors squabble in High Court, while leaseholders face a £30,000 right to manage legal bill

July 31, 2012 by

Solicitor Yashmin Mistry

Residents at the Kingsmere estate in Brighton, who have been left facing legal bills of £30,000 following a disastrous right to manage action, are being dragged into a squabble between rival firms of leasehold solicitors.

Last Thursday (July 26) Yashmin Mistry, the leasehold solicitor with JPC Law who acted for them, was the subject of a High Court action in London as her former employers, Brethertons, argued that she had broken her contract of employment when she left the company last year.

But Judge Richard Seymour upheld an application that the restrictive covenant in her contract of employment was too wide to prevent her, at JPC, from acting for clients who may have initially contacted her at Brethertons.

Brethertons has made other applications, but the case was adjourned until October.

Mistry was approached by the leaseholders at the Kingsmere estate when she was still employed at Brethertons, but she took on the case when she joined JPC Law.

As it became apparent that the freeholder, Anstone Properties, was going to contest the right to manage application, she instructed a barrister, which added to the costs, when the case came before the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in February this year.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, News, RTM Tagged With: , , , ,

Informed leaseholders increase LVT actions by 165 per cent

July 27, 2012 by

This is an informative article by Michael Lee of HML Shaw. The opinions in it are his own. LKP has strong – critical – views of the LVT process and the lacksadaisical quality of the written LVT rulings by some tribunal chairmen. The Ministry of Justice is undergoing consultations on improving the service, which will conclude in the autumn. The service will be  re-named the Property Chamber.

By Michael Lee
Managing Director
HML Shaw

The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) is an accessible, informal, entirely independent and impartial tribunal service that deals with a wide variety of disputes including matters such as the liability to pay and reasonableness of service charges, insurance, the appointment of a property managing agent, lease variations and consultation requirements for major works. It is an expert tribunal with the panel applying their own knowledge and experience and acting judicially and fairly.

There are five regionally based LVT offices in England plus one for Wales. In England the offices and their percentage of the total national service charge disputes heard are: London (50.5 per cent), Southern (21.5 per cent), Northern (11.5 per cent), Eastern (11.5 per cent) and Midland (5 per cent).

The tribunal usually consists of a lawyer, who is often the chairman, and one or two surveyors. In order to make it accessible, proceedings are semi-formal with parties not having to be professionally represented. However, in cases involving substantial amounts of money with lawyers and experts, a traditional court practice is likely to be followed, although where surveyors/property managers are appointed or lessees represent themselves, a softer approach can be taken.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, Uncategorized Tagged With:

Sub-letting leasehold flats should be around £40, LVT rules quoting precedent

July 27, 2012 by

Vanguard House in Hackney, in east London, was built by Barratt which, like many other housebuilders, sold off the freeholds to Proxima GR Properties. The managing agent is Estates and Management.

Leasehold Valuation Tribunals dealing with sub-letting issues are referring to the precedent established in February by the Land Tribunal by slashing landlords’ supposed administration fees.

The fees have long been resented by leaseholders as the consent and registration of a sub-letting are regarded as simply a try-on by landlords, even though a charge of some sort is usually referred to in the lease. £100-135 plus £75 for registration have been routinely charged.

In February the Land Tribunal under George Bartlett, QC, combined four appeals together and ruled that sub-letting fees should be around £40.

Anyone involved in a dispute with a landlord could offer this sort of sum and be in with a fair chance that that would be the end of it.

Justin Hempson-Jones, 33, was more buffed up – legally speaking – than his landlord at the LVT

Justin Hempson-Jones, 33, a civil servant, is the latest to win an LVT ruling on sub-letting fees, and his case is interesting because the tribunal referred specifically to the Land Tribunal ruling, even though he began the action in December last year. The decision date was April 5.

In 2007, Hempson-Jones bought his one-bedroom flat at Barratt’s Vanguard House complex in Hackney, north east London, and let it out last year.

Like many other housebuilders, Barratt flogged off the freehold to the Tchenguiz empire, in this case Proxima GR Properties, the managing agent being the same owners’ Estates and Management Limited.

“When I first saw the fees E and M were asking for I was shocked: after all, what service were they providing other than some very basic administration – a couple of entries in a spreadsheet and a couple of emails?” asked Hempson-Jones.

“When I looked online I realised I was not alone.  Estates and Management, and companies like them appeared to be effectively taxing leaseholders for sub-letting their properties.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: News, Sub-letting Tagged With:

Fraudster managing agent gets 30 months jail for using East Londoners’ cash to fund high life in Chelsea

July 26, 2012 by

Simon van Houten, who was paid a £42,000 salary, used East London leasehold accounts to pay for a “life beyond his means” in Chelsea

Simon van Houten, 31, was given a 30-month prison sentence at the Old Bailey this afternoon after pleading guilty to stealing £122,000 from leasehold service charge accounts held by London managing agent Rendall and Rittner.

Van Houten carried out the fraud for two years between 2008 and 2010 by issuing invoices for a bogus maintenance company, “London Decorating Services”, which he subsequently approved and paid.

Thirty payments were made with amounts varying from £2,100 to £7,300. VAT was also added, with Van Houten using the VAT number he had lifted from a legitimate company.

By plundering the accounts of 1,400 units under his management in east London, Van Houten was able to live the high life, “beyond his means”, in Chelsea. Although the fraudster did not use the cash for any single large purchase, none of the money has been recovered.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: IRPM, News Tagged With: , ,

We won’t protect leaseholders’ funds even after Van Houten’s theft because … that was the last government’s idea

July 23, 2012 by

Minister Baroness Hanham said the Government would not introduce Section 156 of the 2002 Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act to protect leaseholders’ money and the voluntary regulation of the sector at present was sufficient

The House of Lords was told today that key clauses in the legislation that would help protect leaseholders’ funds that are controlled by managing agents won’t come into force because this was the Labour government’s policy.

This was the explanation from Baroness Hanham, Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government, why the key Section 156 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 would not be introduced.

As soon as Grant Shapps came into office with the coalition government this vital piece of pending legislation was dumped.

Baroness Gardner of Parkes, a Conservative, had demanded to know whether the government would introduce protections after the conviction last month of managing agent Simon van Houten, 31, for stealing £122,000, who faces a jail sentence at the Old Bailey on Thursday.

“Does [Baroness Hanham] not think that the nearly three million leaseholders are entitled to the protection called for by the voluntary accreditation bodies, Leasehold Knowledge Partnership and the Association of Residential Managing Agents, and supported by the British Property Federation?” asked Baroness Parkes, who had provided Baroness Hanham with LKP’s report of Van Houten’s conviction.

The government minister replied that the law provides sufficient protection for leaseholders.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: House of Lords, News, Parliament Tagged With: , , ,

Leaseholders’ meeting in Worthing this evening (July 25)

July 23, 2012 by

John Fenwick and Sebastian O’Kelly

John Fenwick, who won the £137,000 LVT action at Oakland Court in Worthing, and Sebastian O’Kelly, director of Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, are to address an open meeting for leaseholders on July 25.

The event takes place at 6.15 on Wednesday evening at the Chatsworth Hotel and all are welcome.

Fenwick, 65, will tell how he managed to mobilise the other residents and successfully fight his landlord over £137,000 paid in notional rent for the house manager’s flat.

The dispute, which is shortly to be settled, was a fantastic and inspiring Leasehold Valuation Tribunal case for all leaseholders.

Sir Peter Bottomley, the local MP criticised the “legal torture” the pensioners faced at the hands of lawyers who had used every stratagem to prevent the case being heard. He said of Fenwick that he deserves a “community medal”.

Sebastian O’Kelly says: “The Oakland Court case shows what can be achieved by residents, many in their eighties and some in their nineties, if they co-operate and fight back.

“It was marvelous that this result was followed by the £11,500 victory at Strand Court, in Rye, where Eric Matthews, aged 94, a former wartime squadron leader with fighter command, and Archie White, 87, made a stand.

“I think the tectonic plates are shifting. Grant Shapps is set against regulation of managing agents, but there will be reforms of the Leasehold Valuation Tribunals. The Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has taken an interest in this dysfunctional area of his ministry, Shapps, too, has hinted at reform and the Ministry of Justice is undertaking consultations to reform the LVT process.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ,

Baroness Gardner calls for leaseholders’ money held by managing agents to be protected

July 20, 2012 by

Baroness Gardner wants leaseholders’ money to be protected

Following the conviction of fraudster Simon van Houten, 31, the Rendall and Rittner managing agent who will be jailed for stealing £122,000 next Thursday, Baroness Gardner of Parkes is calling for leaseholder funds to be protected.

On Monday in the House of Lords, she is to ask the Government to introduce a transparent scheme, similar to the deposit protection scheme in short-term tenancies, to protect monies paid by leaseholders and held by managing agents.

The Van Houten case clearly illustrates the vulnerability of leaseholder funds held under no regulatory supervision by managing agents. Although none of the money was recovered, Rendall and Rittner “immediately reimbursed the small number of clients involved”.

Van Houten used a bogus company to invoice Rendall and Rittner for repair and maintenance work that was never carried out.

He operated the scam for more than two years, until November 30 2010, before suspicions were raised – initially by leaseholder Susan Stuckey, see below –  about the massive bills.

Baroness Parkes prompted the Lords debate on leasehold reform last April, following representations by the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Filed Under: House of Lords, News, Parliament Tagged With: , ,

Van Houten abused trust of clients and colleagues, says Rendall and Rittner

July 19, 2012 by

Simon van Houten can expect ‘custodial’ sentence next week

The property management company Rendall and Rittner has made a statement to LKP about its former executive Simon van Houten, 31, who faces jail next week after pleading guilty to stealing £122,000 at the Old Bailey.

A spokesman for the company said: “Mr Van Houten abused the trust of both clients and colleagues. Rendall and Rittner Limited immediately reimbursed the small number of clients involved and we are delighted that the police have successfully prosecuted the case we presented to them in 2010 and that justice has now been done.”

Scroll down for full report

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ,

OFT to make ‘substantive announcement’ on exit fees in August

July 19, 2012 by

A letter to a Carlex activist (the Campaign Against Retirement Leasehold Exploitation) reveals that the Office of Fair Trading, whose seemingly interminable investigation into exit fees on sale of leasehold retirement properties has lasted three years, will be making a “substantive announcement” in August.

The news comes in a letter of July 11 from Martin Harvey, of the “Retirement Homes Investigation Team”.

But there have also been heavy hints from Housing Minister Grant Shapps that he anticipates some action from the OFT. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Exit fees, News Tagged With: , ,

Rogue managing agent, who stole £122,000, claimed to be MIRPM qualified … and helped colleagues pass the exams

July 18, 2012 by

Simon van Houten pleaded guilty to stealing £122,000 before his trial started at the Old Bailey last month

Simon van Houten, 31, the Rendall and Rittner executive who stole £122,000 from leaseholders’ accounts, passed himself off as a Member of the Institute for Residential Property Management and helped other employees at the firm prepare for the examinations.

As a result of the case, IRPM is considering a rule change to make public the information that a member has had membership terminated.

Susan Stuckey, a leaseholder at the Mill Quay Estate, in east London, and a former director of one of its residents’ management companies, expressed reservations about the conduct of Van Houten before his arrest. Van Houten pleaded guilty to fraud on the day that his trial was to start at the Old Bailey last month, and will be given a custodial sentence next week.

Stuckey received the following in a letter on August 10 2010 from director Matt Rittner:

“Simon is a competent Property Manager and is MIRPM qualified. Internally, Simon trains my staff in the months leading up to the IRPM examinations. I am unsure why you seem to have a negative view of Simon.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: IRPM, News Tagged With: ,

Sort out LVTs and keep on exposing leasehold ‘legal torture’, Sir Peter Bottomley tells the Commons

July 17, 2012 by

Sir Peter Bottomley wants ministerial statement on LVTs by September

Sir Peter Bottomley, Conservative MP for Worthing West, praised those who have been exposing leasehold abuses in a statement to the Commons this afternoon.

He also called on the government to examine the process of Leasehold Valuation Tribunals and asked for a written ministerial statement on their workings to be provided in September.

He cited the case of his constituent, John Fenwick, who won the LVT action over £137,000 notional rent paid on the house manager’s flat at Oakland Court dating back to the Eighties. This issue may now be coming to a resolution.

‘Legal torture’ of pensioners

“I described what was happening to people who, in the majority, are frail and elderly people in their 80s and 90s—those who are still alive since the case began—as, in effect, legal torture, to which they were subjected as they tried to get into the leasehold valuation tribunal proceedings.”

Fenwick and the Oakland Court leaseholders were represented by the Bar Pro Bono unit.

“[But] they were confronted by demands from solicitors and a barrister [for the landlord] to the tribunal ‘to decline jurisdiction and…to dismiss the whole of the application as being frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of process, having no prospect of success.’

“If it takes two or three goes to get in front of a tribunal and the application costs, say, £350, there is a major problem that needs dealing with.

“My issue is about the inequality of arms that leads to oppressive behaviour by managing agents or freeholders. If leaseholders are faced with a freeholder or managing agent who has associated companies in which they do not declare their interest, we end up with the situations disclosed in leasehold valuation tribunal judgments, whereby each leaseholder may be asked to pay insurance costs of £6,000 or £7,000 when the appropriate cost is about £2,000.

“There are scandals that need exposing. We need publicity and better adoption of rules and guidance and, if necessary, the law—although I suspect that the registration of managing agents would do far more —so that many vulnerable and elderly people do not suffer.”

Sir Peter was praised by Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield, for raising the issue. Sheerman has been active on behalf of beleagured leaseholders in his constituency.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

Shapps: ‘I have not ruled out making changes to leasehold’

July 17, 2012 by

An exchange of letters between Grant Shapps and Kenneth Clark are the clearest insight to date of the Housing Minister’s thoughts on leasehold reform

Housing minister Grant Shapps has ruled out statutory regulation of the leasehold sector, but may well introduce measures to improve Leasehold Valuation Tribunals.

Furthermore, an announcement on the fraught issue of “exit fees” in the leasehold retirement sector, which are payable when a flat is sold, can be expected soon. These have been the subject of a prolonged inquiry by the Office of Fair Trading, which is due to make an announcement on the issue in mid-August.

Shapps says of leasehold: “I am therefore thinking about the issue and have not ruled out making other changes where I am able.”

His views are expressed in a letter to Kenneth Clark, the Justice Secretary, who raised the issue on behalf of a pensioner in his Nottingham constituency. The exchange of letters took place last month.

They are the clearest indication of the current thinking of the Housing Minister on leasehold issues.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Exit fees, News Tagged With:

HML group with 33,500 units under management joins LKP

July 11, 2012 by

The Leasehold Knowledge Partnership is delighted to welcome managing agents HML Holdings plc, which has today joined the accreditation service.

The AIM-listed company, which comprises HML Anderton, HML Hathaway, HML Hawksworth and HML Shaw, has 33,500 units under management, predominantly in London and the South East.

The largest element of the group, HML Anderton, joined LKP at the beginning of the year and has already won renown among leaseholders for taking over the management of Charter Quay in Kingston.

In May, HML Anderton, the court-appointed managing agent, helped secure another £90,000 in repayments from the landlord and his out-going managing agents. This brought the total re-payments to leaseholders at Charter Quay to more than £500,000.

The other three companies applied to join LKP last month, providing details of open and regular accounting. A random selection of references from among the residents was also taken up to gauge their views of the service.

“The accreditation of HML Holdings is a game-changer for LKP,” said Sebastian O’Kelly, director of Leasehold Knowledge. “To have a company of the stature of HML sign up to the elementary, consumer-oriented ethos that we advocate is a hugely positive step for leasehold management.

“It is a call for other large managing agents to do the same. The old gig of back-stratching trade bodies, with their omertà vows of silence in the face of persistent and inexcusable conduct by their members, is busted.

“HML Holdings, under its chief executive Robert Plumb, has an excellent record of speaking out against this (more here), helping initiatives such as the London Assembly’s Highly Charged report and the forthcoming leasehold study by the centrist political think tank, CentreForum, which comes out next month.”

Commenting on the accreditation, Robert Plumb said: “We at HML have always practised an open, honest and transparent approach to property management and are fully supportive of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership’s drive to make our industry more accountable.

“We recognise that leaseholders have a right to know how their money is being spent and to be treated with respect. Sadly, residential management has received negative publicity and harsh criticism, some of it fair and appropriate, and some of it as a result of misunderstandings that arise from poor transparency.

“We welcome LKP’s initiative to encourage openness and accountability.”

For more information about HML Holdings  see www.hmlholdings.com or contact 020 8439 8529.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ,

Head of Peverel Retirement quits

July 11, 2012 by

Keith Edgar, head of Peverel Retirement, is leaving the controversial company, which has been criticised by Leasehold Valuation Tribunals for inter-company contracts and hidden commissions.

In April it was named in a debate in the House of Lords.

Edgar’s resignation is the first indication that chief executive Janet Entwistle, who arrived in March, will clear out the top levels of the company.

This is from Edgar’s statement on the Peverel website:

“After almost 20 fantastic years at the Peverel Group I have made the difficult decision to move on to a new challenge. It’s been a great two decades with much to be proud of.

“With its new owners in place the Peverel Group is unquestionably in excellent shape, and with Janet Entwistle at the helm the business has the right person to move it forward. Janet’s commitment to customer service means these are exciting times for everyone connected with the Peverel Group.”

Filed Under: News, Peverel Tagged With:

Walton & Allen joins LKP and issues rallying cry to leaseholders

July 9, 2012 by

Nottingham-based Walton & Allen is a battle-scarred veteran of struggles where residents have wrested control from unwelcome landlords and their agents.

Leasehold Knowledge is delighted to welcome the company into the fold as an LKP accredited managing agent.

Walton & Allen was once a member of ARMA but has lost faith in that organisation.

“We are not afraid of ‘the establishment’ having resigned from ARMA membership in 2011 as it became evident that its Council is controlled by those very managing agents whom leaseholders want removing from their buildings,” said Walton & Allen. “We felt that this was an unworkable and conflicted situation.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: ARMA, News Tagged With:
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