Taxpayers face a loss of £85,000 on a Help To Buy loan at New Capital Quay after Homes England accepted that a flat blighted by Grenfell cladding was now worth only £50,000.Cecile Langevin, 32, a mother of two, bought her £475,000 flat with a £95,000 Help To Buy loan, savings and a mortgage in 2014.But it has been valued for sale at only £50,000 owing to the Grenfell cladding, which has blighted just under 1,000 flats at New Capital Quay.This valuation has been accepted by Homes … [Read More...]
THE REASONS WHY …
Latest news
Will Law Commission bring in the ‘seismic changes’ that leasehold needs?
Louie Burns, the MD of Leasehold Solutions, has questioned whether the Law Commission’s examination of lease extension and enfranchisement will bring about the “seismic changes” that are needed.Mr Burns has criticised the “vague platitudes” of the Law Commission, which set out its terms of reference at the end of last week for its Residential Law Reform project. The final report expected in 2019.https://www.leaseholdknowledge.com/a-better-dealMr Burns also feared that home owners may … [Read More...]
The Sun / The Times urge caution over leasehold purchases, while The Times / Guardian / Mail report Barratt paying out £2m at Citiscape
The number of articles in the national press on leasehold issues continues to grow. Today sees two articles published, one in The Times where it reports on cladding and one in The Sun.The Sun gives its readers a very sensible cautionary guide to leasehold purchases including a mini guide to leasehold from LKP trustee Sebastian O’KellyThe main article asked: “Are leaseholds all bad?”We would say yes: in almost all cases they are designed to keep the leaseholders in a position of … [Read More...]
Floorweald and ABC Estates – an ARMA ‘good guy’ – overcharged leaseholders £27,000
Floorweald Limited and ABC Estates overcharged leaseholders £27,000, according to the Bristol Live web yesterday.Leaseholders at Grantham Apartments in Two Mile Hill won the tribunal ruling last week over a section 20 major works bill.Leaseholders claimed their management fees had also gone up from £50 to £178 a month, according to the website.Of the £73,799 demanded the tribunal said £27,100 should not be paid.The tribunal also disallowed £4,100 demanded to insure the … [Read More...]
Sesame Apartments: Yet another anonymous Long Harbour freeholder demanding £2.2 million over Grenfell cladding
Labour MP for Battersea Marsha De Cordova is championing the cause of leaseholders facing bills of thousands of pounds at Sesame apartments.She told the Commons yesterday: “Leaseholders are still being left in limbo about whether they will be footing the bill.“But it is not leaseholders who have failed to upgrade buildings or cut corners with safety regulations.“The burden should not fall on them.“The government says it would be morally wrong for leaseholders to be held liable … [Read More...]
Barratt pays out to remove Grenfell cladding at Citiscape
Other freeholders and housebuilders should do the same, says Sajid JavidLast night it was announced by Barratt that it would pick up the £2 million fire marshal and Grenfell fire cladding bill at Citiscape in Croydon.Barratt told LKP this morning: “Following the recent ruling that the costs for necessary recladding at Citiscape will fall on the individual apartment owners, many of whom were originally Barratt customers when it was built in 2002, we have decided that we will pay for … [Read More...]
Complain to Advertising Standards Authority over ‘virtual freehold’ and ‘home ownership’ when the offer is leasehold tenancy
A veteran leasehold campaigner from Carlex earliest days, Susan Wood, has just repeated a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about leasehold tenancies being described as "home ownership" that she first made in 2012.Her first complaint concerned Churchill Retirement. Now she complains about McCarthy and Stone describing their flats in an advert in Saga magazine as "your own privately owned home".Housebuilders and estate agents and conveyancing solicitors and valuers – and … [Read More...]
Law Commission sets out how it hopes to create a better deal for leaseholders – and look at alternatives
Law Commission sets out today how it proposes to come up with a better deal for leaseholders and will look at alternatives to this system of residential tenure, that is unique to England and Wales.Today it set out the terms of reference for its work on enfranchisement and commonhold reform, agreed with government.The Law Commission's document can be read here PUBLISHED Residential leasehold terms of reference - 180418Although Law Commission documents tend to be quite dry and … [Read More...]
Ground rent scandal
Housebuilders ground rent scandal compo schemes ‘must go further and faster’, says housing minister
… And they should include homeowners trapped in re-sales, too Housing minister Heather Wheeler has declared that housebuilders schemes to the doubling ground rent scandal – which has made 100,000 properties unsellable – “must go further and faster”. Buyers of second hand properties need to be included, and the housebuilders’ ex-customers need to be “proactively […]
£19,200 a year ground rents at Crawford Building are not our problem, says Redrow
… And we’re not going to do anything, either Eye-watering doubling ground rents at Redrow’s prime City tower block Crawford Building have been bluntly brushed aside as a concern by the developer that has profited from them. A leaseholder has contacted Sir Peter Bottomley and Labour MP for Bethnal Green & Bow Rushanara Ali stating […]
Telegraph reports case of Taylor Wimpey pensioner who has paid £38,000 for his freehold … and now won’t help him
‘Not brilliant entrepreneurialism and wealth creation to leg over a 79-year-old pensioner’ – LKP The case of Trevor Nowell, 79, the former head teacher, 79, who paid £38,000 to buy the freehold on his £320,000 Taylor Wimpey house was published in the Telegraph yesterday. ‘Our freehold cost £38,000 – now we’re being denied compensation’ Leaseholders […]
John Lewis Partnership Pensions Trust tells leaseholder it will ‘disinvest’ in doubling ground rents
Portfolio managed by the Tchenguiz interests The John Lewis Partnership Pensions Trust has told a leaseholder that it will ‘disinvest’ in doubling ground rents, which were brought to its attention by ‘a lobbying group’ – LKP. Sean Greenwood, whose wife bought a Taylor Wimpey flat in Dudley, West Midlands, with doubling ground rent raised the […]
E&J Capital Partners ‘compelled’ to sell freehold to Taylor Wimpey house to pensioner for £38,000 (plus £4,000 costs)
Ground rent speculators E&J Capital Partners were “compelled” to sell pensioner Trevor Nowell the freehold to his Taylor Wimpey leasehold house for £38,000. Once Mr Nowell, 79, began the enfranchisement process, the valuation of the property’s freehold was decided by the professional advisors employed for both sides (which Mr Nowell ended up paying for, as […]
Pensioner paid £38,000 for Taylor Wimpey freehold to ground rent speculators E&J Capital Partners
(… and he paid another £4,000 in fees) A 79-year-old pensioner in Clitheroe paid £38,000 to buy the freehold to his Taylor Wimpey leasehold house to ground rent speculators E&J Capital Partners. He also paid out another £4,000 in legal and other fees: his own, and E&J’s. Now he has been told by Taylor Wimpey […]
Has Taylor Wimpey done just enough to avoid being successfully sued?
Taylor Wimpey’s deal with Adriatic Land to vary doubling ground rents to those linked with RPI are the minimum it could do to prevent being sued. Extending the deal even to those who have bought these leases on resale – ie not directly from Taylor Wimpey – covers that issue as well. But one hitch […]
Taylor Wimpey and Long Harbour deal to defuse toxic lease scandal … after 11 months!
Taylor Wimpey and the anonymous speculators in the Long Harbour ground rent fund have agreed to vary double ground rent leases to ones linked to RPI, it was announced this afternoon. The announcement comes 11 months after LKP managed to get this issue to national attention. The deal has been extended by Long Harbour, whose […]
MailOnline forensically examines Taylor Wimpey couple stuck in leasehold house with £590pa to Adriatic Land
MailOnline features a couple who bought a £150,000 house off Taylor Wimpey who were promised the freehold at ten times the £295 annual ground rent. But now the price has soared and Andrea, 35, and Roi Millward, 30, at Speakman Gardens, Prescot, Merseyside, cannot afford the freehold. Evidence provided by MailOnline indicates an error may […]
Ground Rents Income Fund plc offers help to leaseholders … in order to keep this grisly show on the road
The publicly quoted Ground Rents Income Fund plc says it will help some leaseholders with doubling ground rents. The initiative is a desperate effort to get government off its back and to ensure speculation in the freeholds of ordinary people’s homes can continue. Its statement is here 11 per cent of the fund, which has […]
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
Could paying off Help To Buy loans on blighted homes force government to act over Grenfell cladding … and doubling ground rents?
My £475,000 home with Grenfell cladding is worth £50,000. So I’ll now pay off my Help To Buy loan, please … But taxpayers would lose millions A young mother has made an intriguing intervention into the dilemma of those whose new flats are blighted with Grenfell cladding. And it may prove a tempting get-out […]
McCarthy and Stone: Ground rents are not the future of retirement housing
By Sebastian O’Kelly, LKP trustee The retirement house builder McCarthy and Stone says that it is struggling, the newspapers are reporting. Profits are down more than 50 per cent for the first half of this year. And it is worried about the long-term implications of the government’s undertaking to reform ground rents, setting them as […]
Sky told ground rent scams were ‘a bit more cash’ for beleaguered housebuilders
The former PR of the British Property Federation, Andrew Teacher, who runs his own property PR outfit Blackstock Consulting, downplayed the ground rent scandal on Sky News today. Described by Sky as a “PR consultant” and “housing expert” – although he has no track record as an independent commentator – he said that the doubling […]
Countryside Properties plc and Long Harbour to offer deal to end ground rent scam at Silver Point
Countryside Properties plc, which was selling now unmortgageable properties with rip-off doubling ground rents as late as last summer, has come up with a deal with Long Harbour over Silver Point, in Edmonton. Leaseholders, whose lives have been on hold since the doubling ground rent scandal erupted at the end of 2016, are to be […]
Sajid Javid tells BBC why his leasehold and lettings regulator is a good idea
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid appeared on BBC R4 You and Yours yesterday to explain his lettings and leasehold regulator. Sebastian O’Kelly, LKP trustee, was asked who should be the regulator: “Somebody who is completely outside the leasehold system. So none of the terracotta army of lawyers and chartered surveyors who depend on the leasehold system […]
Government announces regulator to protect leaseholders and their £4 billion in service charges
The government has chosen Easter Day – also April Fool’s Day – to announce a regulator for the leasehold sector and other major changes. New crackdown on rogue agents to protect renters and leasehold homeowners Independent regulator and code of practice for letting and managing agents Easier way to help leaseholders challenge unfair fees and […]
Oxford Council leaseholders have repair bills slashed from £50,000 to under £4,000
Oxford Council leaseholders who were each facing bills of £50,000 each have seen the bills slashed today – to just under £4,000. A judge ruled today that the eye-watering bills were “unreasonable”. The council had tried to pass off major refurbishment to five tower blocks as repairs, which would have been paid by the leaseholders. […]
National Trust abandons ground rent rises of up to £8,000 a year for its rural leaseholders
The National Trust has abandoned today its attempt to rack up ground rents for leaseholders who faced massive hikes owing to what the Trust’s property managers termed “modern ground rents”. Around 300 National Trust leaseholders – who bought long-term tenancies to often dilapidated estate houses, many of no particular historic worth – faced the increased […]
Sajid Javid calls for Grenfell cladding round table with developers and freeholders … and LKP will be invited
Communities Secretary Said Javid called today for a Grenfell cladding round table with developers and ground rent speculators … and LKP will be invited to attend. Mr Javid also repeated to the Commons his hope that freeholders and developers take more responsibility for the cladding, which is threatening financial ruin to thousands of families. The […]
