1.1 Insurance by the landlord How you get scammed on insurance … with tips from LEASE! Usually, your lease will allow your landlord to arrange the insurance of the building (not the contents) and charge you the cost of this as a service charge. This is the normal arrangement for buildings that are divided into […]
Information about your landlord
You are entitled to know the legal entity that owns your freehold and exercises the powers of landlord. But you very likely will be unable to find out who owns this company. E&J Capital Partners, Wallace Estates and the even bigger £1.7 billion Long Harbour funds hide the beneficial ownership of these freeholds, often offshore. […]
LKP saves family £25,000 over shared equity McCarthy and Stone lease
A family selling a McCarthy and Stone retirement flat with a rip-off lease condition have been saved £25,000 after the case was taken up by LKP. Rita May Bailey, who is now deceased, bought the one-bedroom flat at Bridewell Court, in Widnes, Cheshire in February 2008, which has a registered price of £167,450. Mrs Bailey, […]
Estate of leasehold campaigner Nigel Wilkins leaves £10,000 to LKP
By Sebastian O’Kelly The estate of Nigel Wilkins, the leasehold activist who died after a brief illness in February 2017 aged 66, has left £10,000 to the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership. LKP sincerely thanks the executors and Nigel’s family for making this donation and we will ensure that it is put to good use. For years […]
Wanda Goldwag: You owe an apology. You know it. And it is overdue
Bottomley and Fitzpatrick defend LKP in Commons and insist on co-operation with Leasehold Advisory Service Commons debate, July 11 2019 By Sebastian O’Kelly Some of the contributions to the Commons leasehold debate on July 11 of both Sir Peter Bottomley and Jim Fitzpatrick would have been lost on almost everyone in the chamber, but not […]
Boris Johnson praises campaign for leaseholders who are being ‘cheated’
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, spoke in support of leaseholders at his first prime minister’s questions earlier this week. In reply to a question by Sir Peter Bottomley he said that he was fully aware of the “injustices that leaseholders are facing”. He congratulated Sir Peter Bottomley for the campaign that he has been running […]
Speculators in freeholds knew the risks and can take the hit, suggests Labour shadow City minister Jonathan Reynolds MP
As for £32,000 for painting flats corridors, they could have been painted in “gold” … Commons debate, July 11 2019 Investors in the freeholds of ordinary families’ homes knew the political risks of these speculations, Labour’s shadow City minister Jonathan Reynolds told the Commons. The implication of this is … they can take the consequences […]
Every other major economy has moved away from residential leasehold so why not us, asks shadow housing minister Sarah Jones
Commons debate, July 11 2019 By Sebastian O’Kelly LKP chief executive The Labour shadow housing minister Sarah Jones questioned why the government had not made more progress with reforming our predatory leasehold laws. The Communities Select Committee had interviewed 7-800 people, including leaseholders, freeholders, developers, lawyers and trade bodies involved in the sector. Its exhaustive […]
If government co-operated we could fix the leasehold scandal, says Labour MP Justin Madders
Commons debate, July 11 Asking developers like Redrow to put things right is not enough, Justin Madders, the Labour MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, told the Commons: it needs enforcement. And if government co-operated the leasehold scandal could be fixed. Mr Madders cited the example of a Redrow site in the constituency where houses […]
Countryside Properties plc shafted buyer by selling his freehold to Tuscola Ltd in the British Virgin Islands, says Liz McInnes MP
Commons debate, July 11 2019 A further catalogue of leasehold sharp practice was provided by Liz McInnes, Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton. She reported a constituent, Jonathan, who bought a house from Countryside Properties using taxpayers’ Help to Buy scheme. Inevitably, it came with £200pa doubling ground rent. Within six months the freehold had […]
Industrial-scale ground rent rip-offs have turned leasehold properties into short-term tenancies, says Maria Eagle
Commons debate, July 11 Maria Eagle, Labour MP for Garston and Halewood, questioned in the Commons whether ground rents are now so onerous the property qualifies as an Assured Short-Tenancy – an ordinary rented property. This issue has been addressed by barrister Rawdon Crozier at various property conferences. The law firm Mischon de Reya, Maria […]
Developers moderating their cheating makes it worse for leaseholders who are trapped, says Fiona Bruce MP
Commons debate, July 11 2019 The haphazard, unscrutinised – and not financially disadvantageous to them – tinkering with ground rents fiddles by developers has made it worse for those trapped by toxic leases. This is the view of Consevative MP Fiona Bruce (Congleton) when she told the Commons: “The fact that buyers are now being […]
Government is hiding behind Law Commission and CMA, says Tory MP Bob Blackman
Commons debate, July 11 2019 Bob Blackman, the Conservative MP for Harrow West, claims the government is prevaricating over leasehold reform. It notes what the Communities Select Committee, of which Mr Blackman is a member, has unearthed but “there has been no commitment to actrion”. “The Government are leaning on the fact that the Law […]
Time to ban Redrow in Liverpool, asks leasehold victim Rosie Cooper MP – who also names stooge solicitors Bannister Preston
Commons debate, July 11 2019 Labour MP Rosie Cooper has asked whether it is time to ban Redrow from developing in Liverpool, after the council banned ground rent game-players Countryside Properties plc from the city. Ms Cooper also named Bannister Preston Solicitors LLP – a firm repeatedly recommended by housebuilders which apparently did not highlight […]
Don’t trust developers to put right the wrongs that they created, Clive Betts tells government
Commons debate, July 11 2019 Government is being too trusting of developers who created the leasehold scandal, according to Clive Betts MP, the Labour Sheffield South East, who chairs the Communities Select Committee. Mr Betts made the remark on July 11 in a Commons debate on the government response to his committee’s devastating report on […]
Cladding crisis reveals why freeholders are an impediment to any solution
The disaster of flammable cladding on blocks of flats and what to do about it is providing the biggest push to transform leasehold law since the eruption of the doubling ground rent scandal which we exposed in 2016. The question being asked is: what is the third-party freehold owning landlord actually for? For ground rent […]
