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‘Secret ombudsman schemes are so much better for leasehold than licensing managing agents,’ says DCLG

April 15, 2013 by

The Lords amendment by Baroness Gardner that would see leasehold managing agents required to have a licence will be sabotaged in the Commons tomorrow.

Instead, the Department of Communities and Local Government wants to insist managing agents belong to an ombudsman scheme.

Ombudsmen are widely popular among the vested interests in the status quo of leasehold – such as Peverel – that they are part of their complaints procedure. They give all the appearance of redress without any of the discomforts.

The reason is that ombudsman rulings are confidential.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: News, Parliament

Sorry leasehold right to manage is ‘somewhat daunting’ says junior minister … but I’m not going to do a thing about it

February 9, 2013 by

DonFoster2Junior minister Don Foster (left) has defended his remark that the elderly and the vulnerable find exercising leasehold right to manage as “somewhat daunting”, which some leasehold residents find somewhat insulting.

Foster, who was made a parliamentary under secretary of state for the Department for Communities and Local Government in September 2012, says: “As this is a concern which a range of leaseholders have themselves expressed to me and to my colleagues, I cannot share the view that this is an insulting remark and it was certainly not intended as such.”

Foster’s remarks are made in a letter to fellow LibDem MP David Laws, who is the constituency MP of Carlex activist Brian Reeves.

Many leaseholders are indignant that right to manage, which was introduced by the Labour government in 2002 as an important protection for leaseholders, is being thwarted by freeholders using every legal stratagem possible to frustrate the process.

Often the most belligerent freeholders also own or have an interest in the property management and are busily monetizing the asset with stealth commissions from insurance, energy suppliers, kick-backs from suppliers such as builders … as well as outright loaded service charges.

These abuses have been successfully challenged repeatedly at Leasehold Valuation Tribunals. This is why the leaseholders at St George’s Wharf in Vauxhall, central London, were repaid £1 million. It is why the leaseholders at Charter Quay, Kingston, received £500,000 in four LVT rulings. It is why Strand Court in Rye, a retirement complex, got back £11,500 from Peverel, which received stinging criticism in the ruling last year.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: News, Parliament, RTM Tagged With: ,

Bottomley demands meeting over leasehold with Housing Minister Mark Prisk after LKP / Carlex conference

October 30, 2012 by

Sir Peter Bottomley chairs meeting for leasehold reform at his Westminster offices this afternoon

Sir Peter Bottomley is to calling for an urgent meeting about leasehold issues with Housing Minister Mark Prisk, following the Leasehold Knowledge Partnerhsip / Carlex conference at Westminster this afternoon.

“It is quite clear that pensioners and other leaseholders are facing serious issues and this need to be addressed,” Sir Peter told a gathering of 20-30 including interested MPs and Lords.

Many of those attending, such as Caroline Spelman, MP for Meriden in Birmingham, had been contacted directly by Carlex suporters and urged to attend.

“There are desperately serious problems facing elderly constituents about service charges and the systems of redress,” said Spelman, who has asked LKP / Carlex for a dossier of information on the fraught issue of retirement leasehold.

The meeting was also addressed by veteran leasehold campaigner Baroness Gardner of Parkes, who is raising the issue of commonhold and the need to build more of it in the Lords on November 19.

“Being born Australian and owning a flat there I know full well that commonhold is a far less complicated form of property tenure, and less susceptible to abusive practices,” she said.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: News, Parliament Tagged With:

Speakers at next week’s MPs meeting on leasehold

October 24, 2012 by

The line-up of speakers at next Tuesday’s Leasehold Knowledge Partnership / Carlex  meeting at Westminster for MPs and Lords, which is being hosted by Sir Peter Bottomley (left), MP for Worthing West, has been finalised.

They will include the authors of three key reports on leasehold which have been published this year.

The event, which is to be chaired by Sebastian O’Kelly, Carlex chairman and director of LKP, is anticipated to attract about 20 MPs or Lords who have an interest in this sector.

The speakers include:

Chris Paterson, of the think tank CentreForum, whose much publicised report ‘A New Lease of Life’ was published in August. It urges a £2 a leaseholder levy to fund an independent regulator – unconnected with any of the existing trade bodies.

Steve O’Connell, a member of the London Assembly, who chaired the report ‘Highly Charged’, which was published in March this year. It stated that 500,000 London leaseholders pay more than half a billion a year in service charges. Leasehold complaints have risen sharply and with many more leasehold properties likely to be built, there is going to be growing pressure for reform.

Mark Spall, of AgeUK, is a long standing advisor on retirement residential issues. He will discuss the charity’s report ‘Making It Work For Us: A residents’ inquiry into sheltered and retirement housing’, which is to be published on October 31.

Martin Boyd, of Carlex / LKP, is a leaseholder at Charter Quay in Kingston, Surrey, who has orchestrated four Leasehold Valuation Tribunal victories against his landlord, winning back more than £500,000 in over-paid service charges. The cases amount to devastating criticism of current leasehold practices.

Robert Plumb, chief executive HML Holdings plc, an LKP accredited managing agent, who has been conspicuous for calling for higher ethical standards in the leasehold sector. Plumb has stated that leaseholders must be informed if managing agents have joint ownership with their freeholder.

Sir Peter Bottomley and Baroness Gardner of Parkes, who have instigated the three debates in Parliament on leasehold this year will also address the meeting.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: News, Parliament

Progress report on our Houses of Parliament briefing

October 16, 2012 by

There is exactly two weeks to go before the LKP/Carlex briefing at the Houses of Parliament things are moving along at a pace.

  •  All MPs and Lords have now received a formal invitation to attend from Sir Peter Bottomley MP.
  • Our speakers are lined up.
  • Key members of staff from the Ministry of Justice and Department of Communities and Local Government have been invited.

In the mean time please keep writing to your MP to encourage them to attend.

Filed Under: London Assembly, News, Parliament

LKP organise leasehold briefing at the Houses of Parliament

October 10, 2012 by

Things have been quiet on the LKP site for a few weeks because we have been a little busy behind the scenes.

LKP and the Campaign Against Retirement Leasehold Exploitation (Carlex) have been organising a briefing meeting on leasehold issues for both MP’s and Lord’s at the Houses of Parliament. The meeting is due to take place at the end of the month and will set out the issues faced in the leasehold sector and some of the potential ways forward. Representatives from various organisations will be attending to give MP’s a broad spectrum of views.

For many years MP’s have somehow been persuaded they need to do nothing in the leasehold sector. Grant Shapps spent two years convinced there is already “balance” even though he had no information on which to base his claims..

Please urge your MP go along on the 30th October at 3PM. MP’s will have received their invite and details of the event in the next few days. It may help if you could remind your MP why leasehold issues causes you a problem.

More news to follow as we get closer to the date of the meeting.

Filed Under: News, Parliament

Any idea why this lot paid for Grant Shapps’ office?

September 24, 2012 by

If anyone has any helpful suggestions about why this odd collection of companies paid for Grant Shapps’ office when shadow housing minister, please do get in touch:

Filed Under: News, Parliament 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: , , ,

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: , ,

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.

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

‘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).
Filed Under: ARHM, Carlex, House of Lords, News, Parliament Tagged With: , ,

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...]

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