Self-regulation and codes of conduct have failed. Bring in commonhold and end the leasehold rip-offs. APPG pays “public tribute” to the work of LKP in revealing these abuses “LKP have helped hundreds of leaseholders keep their homes and continue to do so with very limited resources,” it says. Leasehold Sector 'cannot be trusted'All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold and commonhold reform has today published its uncompromising response to Communities Secretary Sajid Javid’s … [Read More...]
THE REASONS WHY …
Latest news
Ground rent speculator in leasehold homes laments losses in FT
One does not wish to be unfeeling ... but you would need a heart of stone not to laugh at the misery of ground rent punter David Stevenson in the FT (given the litany of miseries faced by leaseholders in terms of ground rents, permission fees, threats of forfeiture, David and Goliath battles in the leasehold tribunal etc etc etc ...)He is an investor in the Ground Rents Income Fund plc, which thanks to the furore over the doubling ground rent scandal is warning of a £6 million hit, with … [Read More...]
BBC Radio Manchester wades into the leasehold houses scandal
Excellent case studies and another disastrous public airing of Taylor Wimpey’s woes on BBC Radio Manchester earlier this week.Doubling ground rents, lucrative “permission” fees from freeholders and management charges for common parts to estates are all covered.The interviews are in two places: 7am-7.30am and 8am-8.30amChanges in Manchester, Alison Butterworth and Phil Trow - BBC Radio ManchesterAlison and Phil chat to ex-pats about how Manchester has changed since they left. … [Read More...]
Parliamentary group for leasehold and commonhold reform now has 114 members
Current number of members 114 + 5 friends Updates this month: 01/09/17 Viscount Astor joined as the 100th member of the group 01/09/17 Sir Vince Cable MP for Twickenham and Lib Dem Leader joined 01/09/17 Nick Brown MP for Newcastle East joined 01/09/17 Bob Niel MP for Bromley & Chislehurst joined 01/09/17 Dan Carden MP for Liverpool, Walton joined 01/09/17 Marsha De Cordova MP for Battersea joined 01/09/17 Tim Farron MP for Westmorland & Lonsdale joined 01/09/17 Marcus Fysh MP … [Read More...]
Civil Justice Council says don’t ban leasehold houses
Civil Justice Council The CJC is an Advisory Public Body which was established under the Civil Procedure Act 1997 with responsibility for overseeing and co-ordinating the modernisation of the civil justice system. We meet at least three times a year to discuss and agree formal responses to consultation papers.The Civil Justice Council, an advisory body chaired by master of the rolls Sir Terence Etherton, said the prohibition of leasehold sales should be a ‘last resort’ and it urged the … [Read More...]
Countdown to take part in Sajid Javid’s consultation
Leaseholders have until 11pm tomorrow to participate in the Sajid Javid's consultation into leasehold system.This is the best chance leaseholders have had to make changes to leasehold law since the 1990s.All leaseholders should respond. So far, only 3,000 have done so.You can respond here: Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market - GOV.UK Seeks views on prohibiting the sale of new build leasehold houses, limiting ground rents and protecting leaseholders from … [Read More...]
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 spotted by leasehold Joanne Darbyshire, who spoke at the All Party Parliamentary group meeting on Monday, is the Taylor Wimpey offer to cover £750 of leaseholders' legal fees. [UPDATE: Taylor … [Read More...]
LKP lunch-time Friday lecture: How we made 2.1 million homes appear
At 1pm on Friday, LKP trustees Martin Boyd and Sebastian O'Kelly will be presenting a talk at the Open Data Institute, to which we are affiliated.We'll explain how everyone in government and the leasehold sector had been using the wrong information for decades.The talk will be broadcast live here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_GZaqM0fZkYou can also come along to watch by booking … [Read More...]
Ground rent scandal
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 […]
LKP guidance for responding to the government consultation on tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market
This article offers some tips on responding to the government consultation on “tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market”. It gives you links to some of the documents you might want to read and gives an explanation of some of the questions asked in the consultation as well as highlighting some of the issues you […]
Criticism over bumper pay bonuses for Persimmon and Berkeley bosses
By Sebastian O’Kelly Persimmon share prices have surged 30 per cent to £457.4 million in the first half of the year – boosted by rip-off leasehold houses and the taxpayer-funded Help To Buy scheme. It means Jeff Fairburn, the CEO of the company, is in line for an absurd £125 million bonus. Unlike Tony Pidgley, […]
Now Bovis says ‘Our houses are freehold’. (Gleeson’s always were …)
What’s the policy of the other housebuilders? Yet another plc housebuilder has decided that selling leasehold houses is bad idea: Bovis. It joins Taylor Wimpey in pulling out of this game. Gleeson Homes, of course, never got involved: What is the difference between Freehold and Leasehold? It may seem like technical legal language, but there […]
Commons Library’s excellent resume of leasehold problems will give MPs plenty of ideas for reform
The Commons library has done a superb job of spelling out the problems of leasehold. It is the first time we have seen a third party report into this sector with no regard to the disingenuous interventions from self-interested professionals, trade bodies, dubious “stakeholders” or compromised quangos. Its report, published yesterday and written by Wendy […]
Furious Persimmon leasehold house owners at Harrow View West demand their freeholds
Persimmon’s about-turn on selling rip-off leasehold houses with high ground rents has infuriated a group of leaseholders at Harrow View West, in north London. They bought their houses leasehold with 10-yearly RPI ground rents, but Persimmon is now selling the rest of the site freehold following the public furore. “We will be the only leaseholders […]
E&J Capital Partners in full retreat over rapacious ground rent terms
… It sacrifices its own 10-year doubling ground rent portfolio to preserve the rest of its freeholds … Unnecessary leasehold properties have been built, it admits … 10-year doubling ground rents have ‘prevented proper value and sales’ … It pledges not to buy more 10-year doublers (actually, there are not likely to be many) … […]
Countryside Properties plc cracks over ground rents scandal …
… it is buying back freeholds from investors … E&J Estates says it won’t buy more freeholds to leasehold houses … Oh, and it ‘fully supports’ the government’s consultation over the scandal UPDATE: It seems the deal only applies to 4-5 sites where E&J Capital Partners are the freeholders AND where ground rents double every […]
The games they play
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 […]
Martin Paine, embedded management companies, LKP … all raised in Queen’s speech debate
These issues were raised by Sir Peter Bottomley in the Queen’s Speech debate yesterday Let me turn to other issues that come up for Back Benchers. I pick up causes, one of which came about as a result of an incident in my constituency regarding leasehold, when some elderly, frail and poor people found themselves […]
ARMA MELTDOWN
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 […]
ARMA regulator Sally Keeble quit ‘after being blocked’ from ruling on Warwick Estates lift shaft fatality
… Regulation must have ‘sufficient independence and robustness to withstand industry pressures’ The former ARMA regulator Sally Keeble resigned from her post last month because she claims the trade body scrapped a regulatory case against Warwick Estates over a lift shaft fatality. Mrs Keeble, a Labour MP for 13 years and former leader of Southwark […]
ARMA’s self-regulation in disarray after member sues the organisation and Sally Keeble resigns
Self-regulation of the scandal-prone residential property management sector is in disarray after an ARMA member threatened to sue the trade body for tens of thousands of pounds. Separately, former Labour MP Sally Keeble has stepped down as the ARMA regulator having only accepted the post a year ago. Reports are reaching LKP that ARMA has […]
Philip Rainey QC: Reform of the law is a duty (and for landlord and tenant law it is overdue)
In an address to the ARMA conference last week, Philip Rainey QC (right) did nothing less than urge the whole-scale reform of landlord and tenant law that has provided him with a comfortable living. Although prefaced with the lawyerly proviso – “it should not be assumed that I agree with all or any of the […]
ARMA conference ‘worried’ that developers are exploiting new home owners
The annual conference of ARMA held yesterday in central London was the most rigorous and clear-eyed discussion of leasehold and its many defects yet held by a trade body in the sector. At one point in the proceedings, the audience of 550 managing agents, lawyers, senior civil servants and … two trustees of the Leasehold […]
Former Labour minister Sally Keeble is new ARMA regulator
@LKPleasehold @ARMAleasehold @FoPRA @LEASEonline – looking forward to working to improve standards for leaseholders & practice in the sector — Sally Keeble (@Sally_Keeble) July 29, 2016 Former New Labour minister Sally Keeble is to be the new ARMA regulator, after former housing minister Rt Hon Keith Hill, also a minister in the Blair governments, quits […]
Commonhold or leasehold, it still needs managing
The final paper presented last week at the LKP round table on commonhold came from Nigel Glen, the CEO of ARMA. Mr Glen confined himself to emphasising the need for leaseholders, or commonhold owners, who run their own blocks to be aware of the law and obligations of communal living. Mr Glen told the round […]
ARMA regulator’s sanctions against FirstPort ‘did not address seriousness of what took place’
The admonition delivered to FirstPort for attempting to sell off house managers’ flats has not satisfied complainant Alex Ellison. “I am, of course, pleased that you upheld my complaint and that you have imposed disciplinary sanctions on FirstPort,” she has written to the ARMA regulator Keith Hill. “… However, disciplinary sanctions alone do not seem to adequately […]
LEASE: Beyond repair?
Sector foxes warn that changing leasehold will be ‘dangerous’. But for whom?
The government now understands something that LKP has been saying for years: leasehold is a deeply flawed system. It is also a critical and growing part of the housing market in England and Wales. The Housing White Paper entitled “Fixing our broken housing market” launched in February 2017 made this very clear. This has come […]
Roger Southam silenced on LEASE website as blog is removed
The sector fights back … er, deploying LEASE chair Roger Southam The blog of Roger Southam, the controversial chairman of the Leasehold Advisory Service, was removed this afternoon. The article was seen as an apologia of the existing leasehold system that has brought misery to tens of thousands of leasehold owners, particularly those in new-build […]
The sector fights back … er, deploying LEASE chair Roger Southam
A message from LEASE Chair Roger Southam – The Leasehold Advisory Service July 2017 It is great to see the two DCLG consultations launched and the opportunity to have open engagement to address the issues. In reality leasehold is not the evil thing that is being portrayed. Doubling ground rents and unreasonable administration fees are […]
Not the job of LEASE to warn ministers of leasehold houses scandal, Roger Southam tells BBC
Roger Southam, the controversial chairman of the Leasehold Advisory Service, told the BBC today that it was not the quango’s job to alert ministers to the leasehold houses scandal. Mr Southam said that LEASE was not a lobbying organisation and that it was tasked with giving impartial advice to all in the sector. Asked […]
Motion of no confidence in Roger Southam as LEASE chair
DCLG stakeholders’ meeting for leaseholders told property manager chairman must go UPDATE: Roger Southam and Jim Fitzpatrick MP are being jointly interviewed on leasehold homes tomorrow on BBC R4 You & Yours 12.15 A motion of no confidence in Roger Southam, chairman of the Leasehold Advisory Service, was proposed at the DCLG leasehold stakeholders’ meeting […]
News archive
APPG tells MPs: Ban ground rents. Introduce commonhold. Summons housebuilders to select committee. End rip-off ‘fleasehold’ permission fees on managed estates
Ground rents should simply be banned; commonhold introduced and made compulsory; developers should be summoned for ‘Philip Green’ shaming by select committees; and rip-off ‘fleasehold’ permission fees should be ended. These were issues discussed at a standing-room only meeting of All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold and commonhold on Monday, that attracted more than 100 […]
BetterRetirementHousing.com reports retirement resale disasters. On BBCR4 MoneyBox today
BetterRetirementHousing.com reports the dismal state of retirement housing resales today, which has been taken up by BBC R4 MoneyBox. In addition, the Elderly Accommodation Counsel, which provides a database of retirement sites around the country, claims half retirement housing sells at a loss on resale. The issue was prompted by the dismal resale figures at […]
McCarthy and Stone says ground rents essential, but why sell freeholds to murky Adriatic Land?
BetterRetirementHousing.com has found that McCarthy and Stone is selling retirement freeholds to Adriatic Land, whose beneficial owners remain hidden. Adriatic Land freehold owning companies, which are managed by Will Astor’s Long Harbour fund, have nominee directors from the Sanne Group, based in Jersey. Pensioners in retirement sites – and any other leaseholder for that matter […]
The Survey On Leasehold? Get On With It!
Doubtless, there will be many responses to the leasehold survey. Doubtless, there will be many slick and professional responses from bodies such as LKP who represent the best interests of leaseholders on the one hand and developers who seek to protect the interests of developers/ freeholders/managing agents/solicitors on the other. Many may be put off […]
MPs and LKP demand end to developers’ ‘stooge’ solicitors
The issue of conveyancing solicitors recommended by developers failing to warn buyers of toxic lease terms was raised in the Daily Mail yesterday. Both developers and estate agent chains have panels of solicitors they recommend to unwary buyers – Countryside Properties plc even terms them “approved” solicitors. So far in LKP’s two surveys of thousands […]
Leasehold is a feudal legacy past its time
By Micheal Epstein Leasehold and the whole concept of leasehold is a feudal legacy that is well past it’s time. Indeed, the word “feudal” is derived from the “fee” that a tenant paid his landlord for use of the land. There is much misunderstanding about freehold and leasehold. A simple explanation is that a freeholder […]
Why are National Trust leaseholders in uproar over ‘modern ground rents’?
UPDATED with weekend press reports (see below) Why is ex-headteacher, 85, allegedly seeing his ground rent rise from £50pa to £8,000pa? Since December last year, the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership has been contacted by National Trust leaseholders – there are around 300 in total – some of whom face crippling rises in ground rent. The issue […]
Now four in five homebuyers avoid new-builds … after ground rent scandals and shoddy build quality, that’s no surprise
Four in five avoid new build homes Inside Housing, news, analysis, and comment about the social housing sector in the UK. Research commissioned by bridging lender Market Financial Solutions (MFS) revealed that 81% of adults would rather live in an older home than a new build, Inside Housing reports. And 79% of those responding to […]
Daily Mail attacks housebuilder bosses helping themselves to “mate’s-rates homes”
Building tycoons using discounts to snap up family homes Bosses of British building firms are buying up homes from own developments They are taking advantage of company perks including staff discount schemes Many of the homes were earmarked for young families and first-time buyers It comes as Britain is currently facing a ‘chronic shortage’ of […]
