This is quite an interesting ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (for which, thanks to Michael Holland): In 2014, the Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint about an ad for a property which stated "Tenure: Leasehold". The complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading because it did not make clear the length of the remaining lease. In its response, the advertiser said they believed that the ad complied with the requirements set out by their industry body, and that … [Read More...]
THE REASONS WHY …
Latest news
LKP’s essential leasehold guide in The Sunday Times … feel free to add
By Sebastian O’KellyIt was good to be able to use a small Q&A article in yesterday’s Sunday Times to offer a mini guide for leaseholders.This is the sort of thing the Leasehold Advisory Service should be putting out, if it were not in thrall to the commercialisers in the sector.Indeed, it was an opportunity to remind the wider public that this organisation has been rebuked by ministers and told to do its job properly.Until its monopoly position as the taxpayer funded … [Read More...]
Slough council takes Nova House leaseholders to tribunal over Grenfell cladding costs
We are only billing leaseholders for the fire marshals not Grenfell cladding removal, says Slough Council is understood to have bought the freehold to the stricken site for £1 - officially, a 'nominal fee' - off freehold investor Robert Steinhouse Liverpool debt collectors JB Leitch to take the tribunal actionLeaseholders at Nova House which has Grenfell cladding are the latest to be taken to tribunal to pay up for the associated costs, this time by Slough Council.The council says … [Read More...]
£3m Grenfell cladding bills fall on residents at Lendlease’s Cypress Place and Vallea Court
The property tribunal last week dumped the cost of removing Grenfell cladding on the residents at Cypress Place and Vallea Court in Manchester’s Green Quarter, which were built by Australian builder Lendlease.And Vallea Court pays for the “waking watch” fire marshals.In addition, the tribunal declined to issue a section 20c order, which means that ground rent speculator Pemberstone will be able to dump its legal costs on the leaseholders as well.The total is thought to be around £3 … [Read More...]
Taylor Wimpey has paid out only £11.2m of the supposed £130m to sort the doubling ground rent scam
... And £30 million to remove Grenfell cladding from the sites it builtTaylor Wimpey has paid out only £11.2 million of the £130 million it set aside to address the doubling ground rent scam it inflicted on its customers between 2007 and 2011.During that period, the plc housebuilder dreamed up highly aggressive ground rent terms and thought the wheeze so brilliant it spread them to leasehold houses.Meanwhile, it is also paying out to remove combustible Grenfell cladding - aluminium … [Read More...]
Is LEASE an institutionally corrupted organisation?
"Institutional corruption is manifest when there is a systemic and strategic influence which is legal, or even currently ethical, that undermines the institution’s effectiveness by diverting it from its purpose or weakening its ability to achieve its purpose, including, to the extent relevant to its purpose, weakening either the public’s trust in that institution or the institution’s inherent trustworthiness." - Lawrence Lessig.Over the years LKP has exposed many problems with LEASE, … [Read More...]
‘The system is rigged against leaseholders’
Jim Fitzpatrick MP now adds to his suggestion that the Property Tribunal "stinks" by suggesting the system is rigged against leaseholders.https://twitter.com/FitzMP/status/1022775338085097472Tribunal President McGrath will no doubt argue the problem due to the law, not her Tribunal. There are some who start to wonder if her Tribunal is part of the problem rather than part of the solution.The reason for Jim Fitzpatrick's ire is the latest Tribunal cladding decision for Cypress … [Read More...]
Select Committee Leasehold reform inquiry launches
On the final day of Parliament before the summer recess, the Select Committee which oversees the work of the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government launched their investigation into leasehold reform.Select Committee Chair Clive Betts MP said "With around four million leasehold homes in England, they make up a significant part of the private home ownership sector. We’ve heard however that leaseholders often come up against significant issues which affect their rights, from high … [Read More...]
Ground rent scandal
MPs turn out in force to welcome leaseholder demonstrators at Westminster
MPs turned out in force this morning to meet leasehold demonstrators organised by the National Leasehold Campaign, most of who arrived by coach from the North West. Sir Peter Bottomley and Jim Fitzpatrick, patrons of LKP and co-chairs of the APPG on leasehold reform, were on hand, as was Justin Madders, the deputy chair who […]
APPG July 11: Robust debate over retirement ground rents and event fees
By Sebastian OKelly, LKP trustee The controversial issues of ground rents and exit fees in retirement housing were discussed at this week’s meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold and commonhold reform. These were the main event in a meeting which also had an insider’s examination of leasehold insurance commissions, and why developers […]
APPG July 11: Taylor Wimpey deserves no praise for its cheating RPI ground rent relief scheme, says leasehold house customer
… What I want what was promised: my freehold for £5,000 Freehold owners are desperate to nobble the ground rent capitalisation rate before reforms By Joanne Darbyshire Speech at APPG on July 11 2018 Jo was also on BBC R4 You and Yours yesterday, which can be heard here at 35 mins in: Treatments for […]
Ground rents are so valid … to pay out £300m bonuses to Persimmon cronies
Yet another example of cronyism at work as 130 Persimmon staff share out a £300 million bonus thanks to spreading leasehold houses around the country. The company’s hilariously mis-named “long-term incentive plan” – short-term fill-yer-boots, would be more accurate – has already seen CEO Jeffrey Fairburn being awarded a £112 million bonus. The company’s regional […]
Retirement housebuilders and speculators plead to be allowed ground rents in the Evening Standard
As government – and the Law Commission – reel from a barrage of special pleading by housebuilders over the government’s proposals to set ground rents as low as zero, their lobbying efforts were considered in London’s Evening Standard yesterday. It featured contributions from the soon-to-be-let-go CEO of McCarthy and Stone Clive Fenton and Spencer McCarthy, […]
McCarthy and Stone and Churchill: are you blackmailing government over the ground rent ban and is your business model broken? Asks BBC R4 MoneyBox
Brilliant interview with outgoing McCarthy and Stone CEO Clive Fenton ‘Problem’ that retirement housebuilders have not been spoonfed profits, like others through Help To Buy Anyway, aren’t retirement housebuilders insignificant given the numbers of pensioners who are downsizing today, asks BBC? Radio 4’s MoneyBox quizzed retirement housebuilders McCarthy and Stone and Churchill Retirement Living on […]
Taylor Wimpey’s snake oil ground rent review scheme makes toxic leases even worse: in my case, £25m worse!
Changing doubling ground rents to RPI allows a quick sale or enfranchisement but loads the freehold with revenues My 250-year lease with doubling ground rents add up to £1.9 million, but RPI ones add up to £25 million! Communities Select Committee needs to haul in the housebuilders By Joanne Darbyshire I bought my home from […]
Leaseholders urge Clive Betts MP to quiz housebuilders over ground rent review schemes
Leaseholders trapped in unsellable homes owing to rip-off ground rents have deluged Clive Betts MP (above) to call in housebuilders to explain their haphazard ground rent review schemes. Mr Betts chairs the Communities Select Committee but declines to intervene in the leasehold scandal whereby 100,000 homeowners are trapped in unsellable properties, according to Nationwide. Mr […]
98% of rip-off lease sales broke consumer protection rules, says Conveyancing Association
The Conveyancing Association claims that 98% of sales of properties with onerous or doubling ground rents broke consumer protection rules. Only 2% of purchasers received information prior to viewing a property, according to a survey carried out with the help of the National Leasehold Campaign and the Home Owners’ Alliance. The Conveyancing Association has reported […]
Gleeson won’t sell leasehold houses, but freehold ones come with ‘fleasehold’ covenants, says Justin Madders
Gleeson, the housebuilder that publicly disapproved of rip-off leasehold houses, was identified in the Commons on Tuesday for introducing a raft of “fleasehold” covenants into its freehold ones. Justin Madders, Labour MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, who is deputy chair of the APPG on leasehold reform, spoke out about how “rancid the whole business” […]
The games they play
Martin Paine sells on Blythe Court, where ground rents reach £8,000 a year
Martin Paine and his wife Anne Kirmond have spent years as landlord causing distress to the leaseholds at Blythe Court and many other sites. LKP first broke the story of the Panie’s ground rent exploits in January 2016 despite warning letters from solicitors Taylor Emmet LLP. https://www.leaseholdknowledge.com/martin-paine Since this story, we have covered the activities […]
Martin Paine resigns from IRPM after leaseholder complaint
Following a complaint to the Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM) Martin Paine has chosen to resign his position as a member rather than face investigation. On several occasions in the last 18 months this site has reported on the exploits of Martin Paine, his FCA regulated wife, Ann Kirmond (Ref no MAK01110), and their […]
‘If I fail to offend anyone, I will do it next time,’ Bottomley tells appalled LEASE annual conference
Leasehold sector insiders were aghast at the address given by Sir Peter Bottomley on Wednesday at the Leasehold Advisory Service “annual conference”. The event was packed with surveyors, valuers, lawyers and property managing agents paying £350 a head to attend what has until now been the most important trade show of the sector. Earlier housing […]
Martin Paine ‘is a crook who is turning sleaze in leases into an art form’, MPs told
Sir Peter Bottomley (Conservative, Worthing West) named the leasehold-gameplayer Martin Paine as a “crook” in the Commons yesterday. “We should not have to rely on the chance action of a campaigning charity such as LKP [the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership] or the Campaign Against Retirement Leasehold Exploitation—or a passing Member of Parliament, to get things put […]
Guardian reports the Blythe Court ground rent scandal
The Guardian newspaper has today reported the Blythe Court ground rent scandal that has left leaseholders with bills of up to £8,000 a year. In 95 years the ground rents can reach £8 million a year for a one-bedroom flat bought for £58,000, says the article, written by Guardian staff reporter Rupert Jones. It quotes […]
ARMA MELTDOWN
Leaseholders are apathetic, apart from the Dad’s Army figures running RTMs and RMCs, says the sector
… But shouldn’t the paid professionals be more than Air Warden Hodges? There can be few industries where it would be felt appropriate to hold a private meeting to consider customer apathy. There can be fewer still that would seek to blame the consumer for that apathy. Yet this is exactly what we face today. […]
RICS fines Warwick Estates £20,000 over lift shaft fatality – after ARMA ‘blocked its regulator from hearing the case’
– Warwick Estates retaliates by resigning from RICS – It is unacceptable that ARMA ignores this issue – Case underlines need for statutory regulation By Sebastian O’Kelly, LKP trustee Property management company Warwick Estates was fined £20,000 last month in a disciplinary hearing of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) – on top of […]
Grenfell cladding crisis prompts the question: what are freeholders actually for?
Taxpayers will have to intervene over cladding, by issuing loans, to prevent hundreds of leaseholders losing their homes. But the crisis shows the pointlessness of current leasehold landlordism. What do they actually do, apart from having all the power over ordinary people’s homes and raising revenue for themselves? The Grenfell cladding crisis demonstrates to an […]
Fractures in ARMA’s efforts to regulate the leasehold property management sector
Last year we reported on weaknesses in the Ombudsman redress system and ARMA regulation. In the case of ARMA the changes introduced after their regulator, former Labour minister MP Sally Keeble, resigned. https://www.leaseholdknowledge.com/armas-self-regulation-disarray-member-sues-organisation-sally-keeble-resigns After the resignation, ARMA has decided to turn itself into a secondary regulator. Rather than allow leaseholders to initiate a complaint directly, […]
Telegraph reports rip-off leasehold sales packs
The Daily Telegraph has reported the issue of rip-off sale packs when leasehold properties are sold on. Personal finance reporter Sam Brodbeck writes: “The packs are required by housebuyers’ conveyancers, and because they can only be produced by freeholders, the seller is forced to pay whatever price is demanded – or risk the sale falling […]
DCLG shakes up leasehold team … but what about Southam, LEASE and the Mundy case, asks Bottomley
Oh … and there is YET ANOTHER review, this time on ombudsmen services The DCLG has shuffled the civil service leasehold team: perhaps ahead of making some important changes to the sector. Perhaps to steel themselves for the fallout if little or nothing is done. In any case, the current incumbent ¬– who demonstrated very […]
Companies like ARMA member SDL Bigwood are ripping off homeowners in private estates, Parliament is told
SDL Bigwood tried to dump its debts on ‘services that residents did not see being implemented’, claims MP Kelly Tolhurst Hyde Housing Association raised ‘service’ charges from £85 to £128 a month London and Quadrant Housing ‘tried to charge for street lamps and street cleaning provided by Medway Council’ Housing minister wants to ‘make it […]
The Property Ombudsman fines agent for selling house as ‘virtually freehold’. (Don’t worry ARMA members: it was only £200)
Annual Report: freehold vs. leasehold Whose responsibility is it anyway? This case summary looks at a tenure dispute – find out more about the complaint and the Ombudsman’s ruling after the agent claimed long leaseholds amounted to ‘the same thing’ as freehold. The buyer in this case explained that they told the agent that they […]
More farce than Blackadder’s court martial: ARMA claims its regulator ‘retired’
Self-regulation has failed at both ARMA and RICS ARMA has responded to Sally Keeble’s statement that she resigned owing to interference in her regulator’s role by declaring that the post was ‘retired’ instead. Further, ARMA says that the decision arose because ARMA only receives around eight complaints a year. It is astonishing that ARMA is […]
ARMA regulator Sally Keeble outlines five areas where statutory regulation is needed in leasehold
The former ARMA regulator Sally Keeble, who resigned her post last month claiming unacceptable interference in her independent role, outlines for LKP five areas where statutory regulation in leasehold is required. The full reasons for her resignation are given here In her article below, it is clear that Mrs Keeble – a Labour MP for […]
LEASE: Beyond repair?
Martin Boyd should be the chair of LEASE
By Sebastian O’Kelly, LKP trustee There is only one outstanding candidate to be chair of LEASE and that is Martin Boyd. He is the only person involved in leasehold activism with the knowledge and abilities that will hold credibility with the sector. He is respected on this subject by ministers, MPs and civil servants. As […]
LEASE chair Roger Southam resigns
The taxpayer-funded Leasehold Advisory Service, LEASE, has announced this evening that its non-executive chair, Roger Southam, has resigned with immediate effect. No explanation for the resignation is given, but it follows calls from the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership that he resign, questions in the Commons from MPs such as Justin Madders and LKP patron Sir Peter […]
National Leasehold Campaign tells Roger Southam to resign from LEASE
UPDATE: Has Roger Southam resigned from Savills? His LinkedIn profile suggest his employment there discontinued at the end of last month. He is now associated with the Eighty Nine Consultancy, which has no website and may be self-employment. The National Leasehold Campaign Facebook group today urged Roger Southam to resign as chairman of the […]
LEASE chair Roger Southam launched complaint to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner against Sir Peter Bottomley and Jim Fitzpatrick (and LKP, naturally enough)
‘Why was I left out?’ asks Sir Ed Davey Roger Southam, the chairman of the Leasehold Advisory Service, issued a complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner about Sir Peter Bottomley and Jim Fitzpatrick He added LKP in the official complaint, in its role as secretariat of the All Party Parliamentary Group. “I am disappointed not […]
Thanks LKP for raising Grenfell issues. Now we are giving yet more money to LEASE, says housing minister
The housing minister Alok Sharma has thanked LKP for raising Grenfell cladding issues in private apartment blocks. We have intervened in a number of these cases, and will continue to do so. Our intervention at Blenheim Centre / Reflexion on behalf of leaseholders resulted in freeholder Legal and General agreeing to pay the £165,000 a […]
News archive
Parliament told the Property Tribunal ‘stinks’: it lets down leaseholders again and again
In the last debate before the summer recess, MPs considered the role of the Property Tribunal. MP Jim Fitzpatrick set out an extensive list of failings which he put at the door of the Tribunal saying that a number of his constituents found the system “stinks” “The first-tier tribunal is supposed to offer a simple, […]
Did Trowers & Hamlins try to stifle Parliamentary debate?
Yesterday, 24th July 2018, saw the extraordinary step of international law firm, Trowers & Hamlins, trying to intervene in a Parliamentary debate on leasehold issues. In a point of order raised on the last day in Parliament Jim Fitzpatrick MP for Limehouse and Poplar, advised the House of Commons: ” I believe that yesterday Mr […]
LKP response to Law Commission on leasehold houses
LKP’s responses to this have come courtesy of the Guardian: Radical plans to end huge costs of buying a freehold unveiled Millions of homeowners caught in the so-called “leasehold trap” may be able to buy their freeholds at a fraction of the price currently demanded by ground rent companies, under radical proposals from the Law […]
APPG hears agony of Grenfell cladding on private sites, while Lendlease sites head to tribunal to get leaseholders to pay
In the absence of anyone else doing anything, LKP organised the first meeting of private leaseholders in blocks with Grenfell style cladding … but developers like Lendlease stayed away. The meeting was the first opportunity for leaseholders in 297 tower blocks to meet and exchange information and support. No developers, warranty providers or freeholders turned […]
APPG July 11: Retirement event fees ‘align interests of buyers and operators’, Michael Voges tells meeting
By Michael Voges, executive director ARCO Retirement event fees – a term used to describe exit fees on re-sale – align interests of buyers and operators and are the business model for retirement housing in New Zealand, Australia and the US, said Michael Voges, executive director of the trade body the Association of Retirement Community […]
APPG July 11: The case for ground rents from McCarthy and Stone
By Clive Fenton, CEO McCarthy and Stone Mr Fenton was interviewed on this subject on BBC R4 You and Yours yesterday at 37 minutes in: Treatments for depression, Debt collection, Widebeam canal boats, You and Yours – BBC Radio 4 NHS treatments for depression and the bailiffs demanding payment of someone else’s debt. Hello, my […]
APPG July 11: Retirement fees whether ground rents or event fees need to be for defined services not open-ended profits, says AgeUK
And grounds cannot be set to zero but maintained in the retirement sector By Joe Oldman, AgeUK Age UK strongly supports extending the range of housing options available for older people – so we want to see a significant expansion in good quality retirement schemes and villages. We also recognise and appreciate the efforts of […]
NHBC accepts Grenfell cladding bill at Galliard’s New Capital Quay
UPDATE JULY 11: The Times reports that the NHBC caved in days after 220 leaseholders began legal proceedings to force the controversial warranty insurer to pay out. Leaseholder Nigel Pickford, 71, who spoke at our APPG in April and who lives in a £1 million apartment on the top floor of one of the blocks, […]
Leaseholders to demonstrate in Westminster on July 18
The National Leasehold Campaign has organised a demonstration to take place outside Westminster on Wednesday July 18 at 11am-2pm. Katie Kendrick, founder of the NLC, states: “It’s such a crucial time in the campaign. As decisions are being made about our futures in Parliament we feel it’s paramount government do not forget existing leaseholder’s who are caught […]
