Less than 2% worried about about ground rents when buying a flat Less than 5% have a good understanding of commonhold, but … … APPG on September 11 is to consider the ground rent scandal, the government response to it … and the need for commonhold to replace leasehold The LKP-accredited management company Urban Owners has found that only 41.9% of leaseholders have had their solicitors explain their lease.24.2% admitted that they did not actually read their lease.On the other hand, 18% … [Read More...]
THE REASONS WHY …
Latest news
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 are few things more important about your home than whether it is freehold or leasehold. In short it's the difference between you, or someone else, … [Read More...]
Business Insider reports how easily developers get round ‘right of first refusal’
How a legal loophole allows British builders to transfer the ownership of flats into hands of hidden investors LONDON - A few words in a law designed to protect homeowners appear to have been used by major housebuilders to sell off freehold rights to investors, leaving the ultimate ownership of flats in the hands of hidden investors. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 was introduced to protect homeowners from soaring service charges and unfair leasehold practices.The Business Insider … [Read More...]
The creation of the National Leasehold Campaign
Out of the dark came fighting leaseholders!By Katie Kendrick Many of you may know me. I set up the National Leasehold Campaign in January 2017. My inspiration to fight these injustices of the leasehold system has come from being introduced to the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership and also Louie Burns. Seven months ago, the penny dropped for me that the magnitude of this scandal was MASSIVE. There was no way I could let innocent families remain in the dark, I had to do … [Read More...]
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 Wilson and Cassie Barton , will be used by MPs to drive policy in this area and it can be read in full here: House of Commons … [Read More...]
Countrywide to take away pensioner’s flower pots, says local newspaper
Anger as Flintshire grandmother battling dementia is told to remove garden furniture outside her home NEIGHBOURS have signed a petition to support a grandmother who has been told to have the garden furniture outside her property removed. Teresa Davies, 63, said she was left needing help to sleep after being informed by Countrywide Estate Management that the garden furniture she had placed outside he...Countrywide Estate Management features in a Flintshire local newspaper after allegedly … [Read More...]
Daily Mail says blue chips are cashing in on ‘rip-off ground rents’
Now City blue chips cash in on rip-off ground rents Some of the biggest names in the city are are cashing in on rip-off leasehold deals. Blue-chip investment firms Schroders, Old Mutual and Investec are just a few of the big-name backers of Ground Rents Income Fund (GRIF) that make money from buying up ground rent fees for houses and blocks of flats.The Daily Mail today scrutinises the investors in the Ground Rents Income Fund plc.It finds that blue chip firms such as Schroders, Old … [Read More...]
Countryside Properties plc deal to buy back freeholds turns spotlight on Taylor Wimpey, BBC told
… Get Taylor Wimpey in front of select committee to answer basic questions … E&J Capital Partners strategic concessions examined on national radio … Introduce fixed buy-out terms from residential freeholds, like Scotland and Northern Ireland … End the spivvy speculation in people’s homes The decision by Countryside Properties plc to buy out doubling ground rent freeholds puts pressure on Taylor Wimpey to do the same, the BBC was told yesterday.The housebuilder is the first to buy … [Read More...]
Ground rent scandal
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 Sun attacks ‘fatcat’ housebuilders with inflated fortunes thanks to Help To Buy
Fatcat boss involved in leasehold scandal lives in one of his company’s newbuild homes A FATCAT boss involved in the leasehold scandal lives in one of his company’s newbuild homes. But he has avoided the rip-off ground rent fees that have ruined the lives of other homebuyers. Ted Ayres, chief executive of property giant Bellway, […]
Should you buy a leasehold house now? Certainly not!
The Daily Mail makes a good point today: tens of thousands of leasehold house owners – and a fair few thousand potential buyers – are in limbo land. They do not know what is going to happen to this form of tenure. LKP’s advice is: do not touch a leasehold house with a barge-pole. They […]
Protestors gather outside ANOTHER housebuilder: Galliford Try
Another day … another demonstration outside the offices of a plc housebuilder: today protestors gathered outside the offices of the Galliford Try. The protestors are believed to be leasehold house owners at the Kaleidoscope site in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, in September last year. A number of frustrations – including those concerning the leasehold tenure of her […]
Ground Rents Income Fund plc says it wants to be a ‘socially responsible landlord’. How about: socially responsible ex-landlord?
Ground Rents Income Fund Plc Ground Rents Income Fund Plc (GRIF) is a closed ended company established to provide secure long-term performance through investment in long dated United The Ground Rents Income Fund plc says it welcomes Sajid Javid’s consultation to reform leasehold. James Agar, the “Investment Director of Brooks Macdonald Funds, Alternative Investment Fund […]
Murky investors hitching a ride on the English (and Welsh) homeowner, thanks to leasehold
How foreign investment firms exploit the UK property market with leasehold ground rents The government plans to reform the leasehold property system in the UK. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said: “These practices are unjust, unnecessary and need to stop.” * Around 4 million – or 21% – of privately owned properties in England are leaseholds. […]
Buyers would have ignored ground rent clauses even if we had told them, says conveyancer Rob Hailstone
Buyers have themselves to blame, not solicitors, over leaseholds, say conveyancers – Legal Futures Conveyancers have hit back at suggestions they should have prevented the scandal of new homes being sold as leasehold properties with rapidly escalating ground rents, which the government announced plans to ban last week. Rob Hailstone, chief executive and founder of […]
Savills and Allsops: Why ground rents from people’s home are just so ‘attractive’
Here is a good example of how the sector – that blob of property interests, from builders to offshore investors – view swathes of peoples homes in leasehold England. In 2012 Savills analysed the ground rent market, and did a pretty good job. Under the title, ground rents “An unusual yet attractive investment” the giant […]
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 […]
Press
ConservativeHome website calls for radical reform of leasehold
Christopher Howarth: It’s time to end the great leasehold service charge rip-off Christopher Howarth is a senior researcher working in the House of Commons. Prior to this he worked for Open Europe, as a Conservative Foreign Affairs Adviser and senior researcher to a Shadow Europe Minister. Prior to 1993, the owners of flats had virtually […]
Guardian reports ‘breakthrough’ deal from Countryside … Pressure on Taylor Wimpey also to offer freeholds
Breakthrough in leasehold scandal as Countryside buys back freeholds Hopes of a breakthrough for householders trapped in the leasehold scandal are rising after a major developer agreed to buy back some freeholds and axe controversial ground rent clauses. Countryside Properties, which sold some of the freeholds on its houses to ground rent company E&J Estates, […]
‘Fright night’ for Taylor Wimpey as profits fall 24% over leasehold scandal, says Times
“What on earth were they thinking? It’s the obvious question raised by the ground rent scandal at Taylor Wimpey. How on earth did the selling of homes with exponentially rising ground rents seem like a good idea? Why did no one senior at the company say, ‘This will come back to haunt us’?” Leasehold scandal […]
Daily Mail reports E&J Estates and wine-growing freeholder James Tuttiett
The tycoon who owns freeholds of 40,000 homes James Tuttiett has built a massive property empire of controversial freeholds This allows him to charge homeowners for the land their house is built on Leaseholders must pay ground rents to his company E&J Estates Some rents double every decade and will reach thousands of pounds a […]
Spire View, in Pickering, shows a commonhold future with no leases at all, says Sunday Times
Just before Sajid Javid’s ban on leasehold houses and pledge to reduce ground rents to “as low as zero”, commonhold tenure – on the statute book since 2002 – has raced back onto the housing agenda. The issue is now up for consultation. The Sunday Times today reports how Spire View in Pickering, North Yorkshire, […]
Daily Telegraph reports the new-build leasehold houses ban
Developers could be hit by new proposals to curb leaseholds The Government’s plan to change leasehold rules for new-build homes could hit retirement specialist McCarthy and Stone and London developer Berkeley. A consultation revealed the Government intends to prohibit the sale of new-build leasehold houses and to only allow nominal peppercorn ground rents on all […]
Scandal makes Ground Rents Income Fund plc fall £6m since March but … it has paid out 40.6% in three years
The Ground Rents Income Fund plc has fallen in value by as much as £6 million since March owing to “recent media attention” on the ground rents scandal (see report below). The £124 million fund almost certainly fell further on the announcement of Sajid Javid, Communities Secretary, earlier this week that he was going to […]
Housebuilders and stooge conveyancing solicitors face legal action, reports The Times
‘Builders must pay to fix rip-off leaseholds’ Builders accused of mis-selling new homes are braced for legal claims worth millions of pounds after locking buyers into leases with spiralling ground rent charges. Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, this week announced plans to ban homebuilders from selling new houses on a leasehold basis. The Times today […]
Guardian says: It’s time to send the feudal leasehold system crashing. Amen, to that
We have to end the horror of this feudal leasehold system The entire parasitic structure of leasehold in England and Wales is, finally, beginning to wobble – and with a bit more prodding we could see it crash. The long campaign led by Sebastian O’Kelly at the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership has had its first success, […]
Guardian (again today) on freeholders’ endless fees
Victory! New-build leaseholds banned … but what of those already trapped? Many leasehold homeowners face being charged hundreds of pounds just to obtain permission to switch to a new mortgage, Guardian Money can reveal. And some must even hand over a fee to the freehold owner if they want a pet. The Guardian’s Patrick Collinson […]
LEASE: Beyond repair?
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 […]
Is this LEASE being ‘unapologetically on the side of leaseholders’, Mr Barwell?
Two months after the housing minister told the Leasehold Advisory Service that it would be funded to free itself from commercial dependence on the sector, it is selling its services again. Gavin Barwell told LEASE at its humiliating annual conference on February 1, that: “What we really want is for [LEASE] to help leaseholders. To […]
News archive
Parliamentary group for leasehold and commonhold reform now has 98 members
Current number of members 98 +4 friends Updates this month: 09/08/17 Nick Thomas-Symonds MP for Torfaen joined 09/08/17 Kevan Jones MP for North Durham joined Listed below are the members of the All Party Parliamentary Group looking into Leasehold and Commonhold reform in the new parliament. The list is updated as new members join and […]
Leasehold sector insiders respond to a changed world …
Here is landlord and tenant solicitor Mark Chick, of Bishops & Sewell, explaining that ground rents are a really dull investment and who would have thought they would make the front page of The Times. “Ground rents will never ‘set the world on fire’ in investment terms …” Tell that to Vincent Tchenguiz, Goldman Sachs, […]
Pensioners hammered with 88% rise in ground rents, says Better Retirement Housing
… And look at these dismal resale values Thousands of pensioners living in older retirement properties are facing a massive hike in ground rents: 88 per cent is not unusual, says Better Retirement Housing The older leases of mass retirement housing builder McCarthy and Stone are kicking in with huge hikes in ground rents. Ground […]
Neo Bankside leaseholders offered freehold for £4.8m, but have eight weeks to agree deal
Pity the poor folk – well, as in unfortunate – who own flats at Neo Bankside, which is often confused as an art installation by gawpers in nearby Tate Modern. Their landlords – interests ultimately owned by the dukes of Westminster and Buccleuch and [to be clarified] Native Land – are flogging off the freehold […]
Our ground rents are fair, says McCarthy and Stone (even though they go up to £600 and are for no service whatsoever)
DCLG Consultation Paper On Leasehold And Ground Rents – Statement – McCarthy & Stone See our response to the DCLG consultation paper on Leasehold and Ground Rents It is a fair bet that McCarthy and Stone will be making a strong submission to the DCLG into the leasehold houses and ground rent scandals firmly urging […]
Leasehold houses have at last got the scandal of ground rents into the nation’s consciousness. But this is much worse …
Thousands of leaseholders who signed informal lease extensions – or bought flats with them – are going to see the value of their properties fall, and the nesteggs they put aside for their old age fall away. This is the greatest scandal in leasehold and it is only a matter of time before it unravels […]
Ground rent protestors stage ANOTHER demonstration against leasehold houses and charges
The National Leasehold Campaign Facebook group, now more than 6,000 strong, staged another demonstration at the weekend in protest at the ground rent scandal. The even took place outside a development of Redrow leasehold houses in Ellesmere Port, the same site of the demonstration in April: Leaseholders demand end to Redrow selling leasehold houses The […]
James Tuttiett’s tangled web of E&J freeholds scrutinised by the Guardian
The Guardian today reports on the web of companies run by James Tuttiett, 53, a Winchester-based ground rent fund manager and the boss of E&J Capital Partners. Many of the freeholds of leasehold houses in the North West bought by first-time buyers assisted by the taxpayer-funded Help To Buy scheme belong to the ground rent […]
First squawk from the (smaller) house builders
The housebuilders have been very shy to discuss leasehold, with the Home Builders Federation even turning down BBC R4’s hugely influential Today programme when LKP was on. Taylor Wimpey has said very little; Countryside Properties plc which has been selling doubling ground rents this year, has said nothing at all. Now there is a squawk: […]
