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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...]

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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.

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CentreForum think tank ponders leasehold

April 26, 2012 by

CentreForum invites LKP to contribute to its leasehold report

 

In three weeks time another important report into leasehold is to be published, this time by the liberal think tank CentreForum.

Earlier this month LKP was invited to its Queen Anne’s Gate to offer its contributions to report, which – we are assured – were gratefully received.

CentreForum had been alerted to LKP following its instigation of the House of Lords debate on the desirability of leasehold regulation, which took place last Monday.

Baroness Gardner of Parkes, who invited LKP’s Melissa Briggs and Sebastian O’Kelly to the Lords last month, was behind the move.

CentreForum’ has been researching the issue of leasehold since the autumn. Given that members of LKP have been behind the most outstandingly successful LVT actions in London, winning hundreds of thousands of pounds for leaseholders, CentreForum has wisely decided to ask us over.

Similarly, LKP-accredited managing agent Alan Coates, of HML Anderton has offered to contribute the benefit of his experiences to the report’s researchers.

They have already discussed the issues with Peverel executives at its offices in New Milton, Hampshire, and will undoubtedly benefit from an alternative view.

So far the report appears to be treading similar ground to the London Assembly’s hard-hitting Highly Charged, which was published last month. It is supporting regulation with licensed managing agents and an ombudsman scheme to provide the low-cost redress that LVTs have failed to offer.

The whole issue of LVTs – how they work, the costs, the barristers cleaning up at them etc – is to be examined further by LKP.

CentreForum’s recommendations are still being finalized and LKP is delighted to have had the opportunity to contribute to the report.

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‘You are all barrack-room lawyers with too much time on your hands,’ ARHM president tells complaining pensioners

April 25, 2012 by

At the House of Lords debate on Monday, Baroness Greengross, a Crossbencher peer and the president of the Association of Retirement Housing Managers trade body, caused outrage by claiming complaining pensioners in retirement developments were “barrack-room laywers” with too much time on their hands.

“She has a nerve,” said Julia Scott, who lives in North West London. “Her own organisation has been a fig leaf for rapacious practices for years, with a code of practice with fine-sounding words that are in fact almost entirely discretionary.

“The first question to ask it is: where does its money come from and, then, who pays it? The answer is pretty obvious to all who live in retirement developments.”

Baroness Greengross
Baroness Greengross said many complaints in retirement developments could be dealt with by a mediation scheme, as if the huge sums involved in stealth charges and assorted rip-offs were trifling.
“It is difficult, not least for the providers of schemes, who are dealing with people who are often prepared to spend 12 or more hours a day focusing on those issues and who can make amazing barrack-room lawyers – I do not want to be insulting – because they have so much time to concentrate on that. So it is a difficult as well as an important issue.
“Housing designed for older people whose needs change as they age faces an almost built-in conflict of interest. They need more services as they age, so the costs are going to rise as more care is provided.
“Their income tends to be less over the years. They wish to reduce the cost but they need more services. Older and frailer residents are more costly, so when residents manage the schemes themselves they may wish to sell to active, fit and therefore younger people.
”You could express what you think about this to her at greengrosss@parliament.uk (provided you have the time, that is).
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Lords debate leasehold reform

April 24, 2012 by

Baroness Gardner

Both the Tchenguiz family and Peverel were named in a House of Lords debate yesterday on leasehold service charges.

They were singled out by Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Conservative) – the only freeholders and managing agents named in the debate – when referring to landmark LVT settlements, including the £1 million pay-back to residents at the riverside St George’s Wharf, in Vauxhall, last September.

“In the Charter Quay case [in Kingston, Surrey] against the same landlord, Mr Tchenguiz, in December, the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal found that many interconnected companies were entering into contracts with other Tchenguiz family-owned companies and in that case received an excessive commission of 23.5 per cent for insurance.

“The chairman said: ‘The result of entering these contracts has been extremely damaging financially, because the break clauses are so onerous.’

“Peverel, the management company owned until recently by the Tchenguiz family, had a very poor record of dealings with its leaseholders.

“There are too many cases where intermediate landlords or management responsible for arranging services such as insurance have agreed contracts which mean that they are pocketing money themselves to the detriment of their tenants.

“Transparency is necessary to reveal these situations and stop this abuse.

“The organisation Leasehold Knowledge Partnership is actively working to ensure good practice.”

Rather than supporting regulation as the ultimate solution for the sector, Baroness Gardner urged a consolidation act to bring together the assorted leasehold legislation.

She pointed out that the support for regulation was unanimous in this area, with even the landlords’ British Property Federation in agreement – “yet it is often quoted by Ministers as opposing regulation”.

[Read more...]

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Lords to debate leasehold abuses

March 30, 2012 by

The House of Lords is to debate residential service charges next month.

The move comes from Baroness Gardner (above) following meetings with Melissa Briggs and Sebastian O’Kelly, of the LKP, in February.

Baroness Gardner, a former Westminster councillor who as an Australian comes from a country where English leasehold law was uprooted, has raised the issue of leasehold abuses several times in the past.

She is particularly interested in examples of money being pocketed by freeholders or managing agents – such as insurance and energy commissions (see below) –  without leaseholders’ knowledge.

Baroness Gardner will be raising to wider public awareness the staggering LVT rulings at prime riverside developments in London in recent months.

The £1 million payment residents at St Georges Wharf, Vauxhall, and the devastating LVT ruling against Estates and Management at Charter Quay, Kingston, is likely to form part of of her evidence.

Likewise, the rapacious stealth charges inflicted on pensioners living in retirement developments.

The debate is scheduled for April 23.

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