Leasehold Knowledge Partnership

Secretariat of the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold reform

Menu
  • Home
    • Site map
    • Archive of posts by category
  • What is LKP
    • Privacy and Data Protection Statement
    • Site map
  • HELP FORM
  • News
      • APPG
      • ARMA
      • Bellway
      • Benjamin Mire
      • Brixton Hill Court
      • Canary Riverside
      • Charter Quay
      • Chelsea Bridge Wharf
      • Commonhold
      • Commons Leasehold Debate 20/12/16
      • Communities Select Committee
      • Conveyancing Association
      • Countrywide
      • DCLG
      • E&J Capital Partners
      • Exit fees
      • Fleecehold
      • Forfeiture
      • FPRA
      • Gleeson Homes
      • Ground rent scandal
      • Grenfell cladding
      • Hanover
      • House managers flat
      • House of Lords
      • Housing associations
      • Informal lease extension
      • Insurance scams
      • IRPM
      • Jim Fitzpatrick MP
      • John Christodoulou
      • Justin Bates
      • Justin Madders MP
      • Law Commission
      • LEASE
      • Leasehold Valuation Tribunal
      • Local authority leasehold
      • London Assembly
      • Louie Burns
      • Martin Paine
      • McCarthy and Stone
      • Moskovitz / Gurvits
      • Mulberry Mews
      • National Leasehold Campaign
      • Oakland Court
      • OFT / CMA
      • Park Homes
      • Persimmon
      • Peverel
      • Philip Rainey QC
      • Plantation Wharf
      • Prostitutes
      • Quadrangle House
      • Recognised Tenants’ Association
      • Redrow
      • Retirement
      • RICS
      • Right To Manage Federation
      • Roger Southam
      • RTM
      • Sean Powell
      • SFO
      • Sinclair Gardens Investments
      • Sir Ed Davey
      • Sir Peter Bottomley
      • St George’s Wharf
      • Taylor Wimpey
      • Tchenguiz
      • West India Quay
      • William Waldorf Astor
      • Windrush Court
  • Accreditation
    • Accredited Companies
        • Block Managers Limited
        • Clear Building Management
        • Diamond Managing Agents
        • Dixon Emerald Associates
        • HML Group
        • Home from Home
        • Home Management Group
        • Hunter Grey
        • JFM Block & Estate Management
        • Jones Associates Letting & Management
        • Norwich Residential Management
        • Red Rock Property Management
        • Rynew Property Management
        • Sapphire Property Management
        • Town & City Management
        • Urang Property Management
        • Urban Living Property Management
  • Fighting back
      • Lease Extension
      • Q&As
      • Right to buy freehold
      • Commonhold
      • Bottomley blasts leasehold crimes on video
      • LVT/Property Chamber Survival
      • Tribunal triumphs … and defeats
      • Recognised Tenants’ Association
      • Right To Manage
      • Video
      • Find MP … and see how many leasehold voters
      • LEASE: what’s the point?
      • Pensioners win £68,500
      • Most damning LVT ruling ever made
      • Insurance racket
      • Local authority leasehold
      • Remember to extend your lease
      • St George’s wins £1 million
      • Leasehold law: the reforms
  • Sub-letting
  • Press
  • Contact
  • Parliament
      • Communities Select Committee
      • APPG
      • APPG December 14 2016
      • Commons Debate 20/12/16
      • APPG April 19 2017
      • APPG July 5 2017
      • APPG December 14 2016
  • Right To Manage
  • Lease Extension
  • National Leasehold Campaign
    • Louie Burns
    • Ground rent scandal
    • Michael Epstein
  • Donate
  • February 22, 2019
You are here: Home / Latest News / Barclays turns down mortgage on flat where ground rent doubles every 25 years

Barclays turns down mortgage on flat where ground rent doubles every 25 years

November 22, 2017 By admin

The fallout of the ground rent scandal is blighting homes that don’t even have particularly onerous ground rents.

This is causing distortion in the housing market and misery for homeowners who did not believe that the ground rents to their properties would be classed onerous.

LKP has been contacted by a young flat owner whose £265,000 property in Brentwood, in Essex, has £300pa ground rent that doubles every 25 years.

The ground rent – which is for no service whatsoever – is more than the Nationwide’s 0.1 per cent bar on mortgages. So, it would not issue a mortgage.

But in this case the loan for a would-be purchaser was refused by Barclays.

Barclays says that the property is

“not considered acceptable for a mortgage purposes as saleability in the future will become adversely affected over time due to the doubling of the ground rent”.

We are aware of many transactions that have fallen through on leasehold properties where the ground rent terms are not that onerous.

For example, HSBC turned down a mortgage on a flat in Windsor where the ground rent was also £150pa which increased by £150pa every 33 years.

That is annoying and unnecessary, but it is not a ground rent that should affect the leasehold flat’s value.

Many more homeowners are caught up in this ground rent scandal than simply the purchasers of properties from game-playing plc housebuilders such as Taylor Wimpey and Countryside Properties plc.

Related posts:

Ground rent scandal risks becoming full-blown crisis as loans are refused on blighted homes Police may need to investigate ground rent scandal, says Bottomley Have lenders refused mortgages on doubling ground rent properties? Woman has £165,000 flat forfeited over what began as £290 ground rent demand Woman signs up to doubling ground rent to extend lease on £70,000 flat. Is it now sellable at all?

Filed Under: Latest News, News Tagged With: Barclays, ground rents

Everything important

Abacus Land 4 Limited Adriatic Land AgeUK Alexander Bastin Alex Ellison Alok Sharma Amanda Gourlay Anchor Andrew Selous MP Anthony Essien APPG ARCO ARHM ARMA ARMA-Q Baroness Gardner Barratt BBC R4 You and Yours Bellway Benjamin Mire Beth Rudolf Blythe Court Bob Bessell Bob Smytherman Bovis Homes Brandon Lewis British Property Federation Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation Campaign for Housing in Later Life Canary Riverside CARL Cath Williams CentreForum Chainbow Charter Quay Cherry Jones Churchill Retirement Living Circle Residential Management Limited Cirrus Citiscape Clive Betts MP CMA Commonhold Competition and Markets Authority Conveyancing Association Countryside Properties plc Countrywide Countrywide Estate Management Court of Appeal Cypress Place Daily Mail David Glass DCLG Deep Sagar Dennis Jackson Dudley Joiner E&J Capital Partners Ed Davey Elim Court Eric Pickles Estates and Management Esther Rantzen exit fees Federation of Private Residents Associations Financial Times FirstPort Flood Re forfeiture FPRA Galliard Gary Murphy Gavin Barwell George Osborne Glyn Jackson Grant Shapps Grenfell cladding ground rent ground rents Ground Rents Income Fund plc Help To Buy Heysmoor Heights Homeground Management Limited HomeOwners Alliance House of Lords IRPM Israel Moskovitz James Brokenshire MP James Driscoll James Tuttiett James Wyatt Janet Entwistle Janice Northover JB Leitch Jeffrey Fairburn Jim Fitzpatrick Jim Fitzpatrick MP Joanne Darbyshire John Christodoulou John Fenwick Joseph Gurvits Justin Bates Justin Madders MP Justin Tomlinson Katie Kendrick Keith Hill Laceys Lakeside Law Commision Law Commission LEASE Leasehold Advisory Service leasehold houses Leasehold Solutions Lendlease London Assembly Long Harbour Lord Best Louie Burns Mainstay Margaret Anne Kirmond Mari Knowles Mark Prisk Martin Boyd Martin Paine McCarthy and Stone Mercia Investment Properties Limited Mere Court Michelle Banks Mulberry Mews Mundy National Leasehold Campaign New Capital Quay NHBC Nigel Bannister Nigel Glen Nigel Wilkins Oakland Court OFT Parthenia Patrick Collinson Paula Higgins Persimmon Pete Redfern Peverel Philip Rainey QC Phillip Rainey QC Plantation Wharf Private Eye Professor Nicholas Hopkins Prostitutes Redrow Regent Court Rendall and Rittner Retirement Retirement Security Limited RICS right to manage Right To Manage Federation Rob Plumb Roger Southam RTM RTMF Sajid Javid Sally Keeble Sebastian O’Kelly SFO Shula Rich Simon van Houten Siobhan McGrath Sir Ed Davey Sir Peter Bottomley Sonia McColl OBE Southwark Steve Morgan Sunday Times Susan Wood Tanfield Chambers Taylor Wimpey Tchenguiz Tchenguiz Family Trust Team The Daily Telegraph The Guardian The Sunday Times The Times Triplerose Trust Property Management Vallea Court Vincent Tchenguiz West India Quay Will Astor William Waldorf Astor Y and Y Management Yianis Group You and Yours

Contact LKP

Need help?

LKPhelp2The leasehold game is weighted against ordinary home-owning leaseholders, who aren’t professional players. LKP was set up to redress the balance, to help you win your disputes or at least avoid disasters.

If you have a leasehold problem, you can email sok@leaseholdknowledge or take a chance on calling 07808 328 230.

Or fill out this form, which ensures that you provide the essential information.

LKPnewsletter3

Professional services

The following advertisements are from firms that seek business from leaseholders. Click on the logos for company profiles.

Law

Right to manage

Lease extension / enfranchisement


capitalleasehold6-9ins

Landscaping

limetree

LKP Managing Agents

Big managing agents are big because they have got business from developers or large-scale freehold owing companies. Doubtless they are very obliging.

Not a single one is big through consumer choice.

Managing agents accredited to LKP want business from leaseholders. Many are former leaseholders.

All have signed undertakings of good practice and have provided extensive references … from leaseholders.

They can also hand-hold leaseholders through right to manage at minimal cost.

Contact Sebastian O’Kelly at LKP for further details: sok@leaseholdknowledge.com, 07808 328 230

Please click on logos for link and details

Comments

  1. Interested says

    November 22, 2017 at 11:22 am

    Dear LKP
    Your headline says ground rent doubles every 25 years and in the article you say it was turned down as it doubles every 10 years. which is it?

  2. admin says

    November 22, 2017 at 12:05 pm

    It is 25 years. Thanks for that

  3. Michael Loveridge says

    November 22, 2017 at 12:21 pm

    Unfortunately, this is just another demonstration of the sheer stupidity that is endemic amongst mortgage lenders.

    It’s the same `groupthink’ that made them decide to exclude thousands of sole practitioner solicitors from their mortgage panels and to insist on the utterly useless CQS membership as a ciondition of joining their legal panel.

    A ground rent that doubles every 25 years from a starting piont of £300 can by no measure of common sense be seen as a threat to the value of the property or a deterrent to buyers. As the article says, it’s mildly irritating but no more than that.

    In any case, the owner can force the freeholder to sell them the freehold, and as the cost of buying it would be well under £10,000 how can that possibly make the house an unsuitable security?

    The boneheads at Barclays who have made this decision are incompetent nincompoops, who should be fired forthwith!

    • David McArthur says

      November 22, 2017 at 12:45 pm

      Michael, when I see posts like yours I always want to know where exactly these notions are coming from, have you a professional interest in leasehold?
      Ground rent itself is an imposition and a consequence of the sale of properties on a leasehold basis, and is for no service whatsoever – and is not, as some shysters claim, a deferred consideration. £300 every year is serious money, particularly for no service whatsoever, £600 (after 25 years) is even more serious.
      Many freeholds cost well in excess of £10,000, as much as £40,000, but any amount in the thousands is, again, serious money, particularly when owning the freehold should have been part of the deal at the outset. You people are not disingenuous, it takes intelligence to be so, you people are something else. Leasehold should be abolished, which part of that do you not understand?.

    • ollie says

      November 24, 2017 at 5:32 am

      The reason why Mortgage Lenders do not accept sole practitioners handling mortgage loan funds is they don’t trust their money held by solicitor in sole practice. Law firms with two or more partners must have separate “client account”. operated by the office manager is seen as safer.

      The insurance companies won’t compensate lost client funds if the sole practice becomes insolvent..

      • Michael Epstein says

        November 24, 2017 at 7:28 pm

        And yet Ollie, Leaseholders have to trust a property management company that has a negative value of £-35,000,000 to hold over £200,000,000 of service charges, and leaseholders also have to trust a freeholder’s agent to hold development funds who is once again late filing their accounts?

  4. Fraser Maldoom says

    November 22, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    Since nearly all lenders have been daft enough to have firstly granted mortgages on flats with short length unexpired terms and high or otherwise onerous ground rents and now secondly, on the rebound, some refuse mortgages on flats wuth fairly commonplace ground rent arrangements even with an 85 year or more unexpired term, then the simple solution is to obtain a statutory lease extension giving another 90 years on the lease term and reducing the ground rent to a peppercorn. Bingo! Job done! But then I would suggest that wouldn’t I as I’m a Chartered Surveyor and a Lease Extension and Enfranchisement practitioner?

    • David McArthur says

      November 22, 2017 at 12:50 pm

      But Fraser, you are also a human being, who being in the trade, knows full well that leasehold is a gigantic scam which should be removed from our statutes?

      • Kim says

        November 22, 2017 at 1:16 pm

        Abolition of Leasehold and Strict Regulation of Managing, Agents is the only way forward.

        Nothing less will suffice.

        I urge all those who have not yet signed the online petition to please do so.

        Every signature is one step closer to Justice.

    • Michael Epstein says

      November 22, 2017 at 4:17 pm

      Fraser, You are correct. That is a solution that will alleviate the problems in the short term. Looking forward leaseholders could then purchase their freeholds for a nominal sum. The Taylor Wimpey solution is as you know to convert the 10 doubling ground rents to RPI.
      This on the very day the Chancellor changed business rate valuations to CPI as RPI was deemed to be too onerous for businesses!

    • Sophia says

      November 23, 2017 at 7:55 am

      All well and good, but I’ve been quoted 25k to extend my lease and up to 10k legal costs by a solicitor specialising in this area. (Ten year doubling lease). The flat is only worth 95k. I just don’t have 35k lying around, and or world be totally disproportionate to add it to the mortgage.

      • David McArthur says

        November 23, 2017 at 9:04 am

        Sophia, Up to 10k for legal costs is somewhat excessive even in the world of leasehold, but think about how much good you would be doing in shelling that money out, and the 25k to extend your lease. 35k on your mortgage is a small price to pay when your outlay keeps lawyers from the breadline, and helps to maintain the freehold industry.
        Satire aside, from time to time we have professionals interjecting on this site – most notably and most frequently Stephen of “Deferred Consideration” fame, these professionals come to defend their indefensible involvement with leasehold, It matters not how they present themselves, how ingenious they are with their arguments (and they are not at all ingenious), all of them (Stephen, Michael Loveridge, and Fraser Maldoom) have a vested interest. The stand out thing about them is their blatant unprincipled self interest, and complete lack of integrity. When you bought your property it should have been complete with freehold – commonhold if an apartment, you should not be living in permanent dread of doubling ground rent and buying freehold or extending lease.
        Leasehold should nor exist, which part of that do these professionals not understand?

      • Michael Epstein says

        November 23, 2017 at 1:53 pm

        That you have been quoted £25,000 for the extension does not mean you will end up paying that amount.
        So you need a firm that specialises in lease extensions and is a member of ALEP,who for a fixed fee will see the entire process through(including if need be to the Tribunal)
        It is vital that you only opt for a statutory 90 year extension.
        However much it costs will be added to the value of your flat.
        The alternative is to lose your £95,000 asset.in its entirety.
        If you have been quoted £25,000 there is a fair chance you will end up paying around £15,000 for the extension.

      • A Fleeced Leaseholder says

        November 24, 2017 at 9:11 am

        Hi Sophie. I have just gone through the lease extension process and it is not much fun and it has opened my eyes to the unjustness of the law and the games that the other party will play in order to satisfy their lust and greed for more and more money. The law is inflexible and steeped in favour of the freeholder/investor fraternity and you need as much help as you can get from leaseholder friendly advisers. I have conducted my own research and the cost of extending will just go up and up with every passing year and so it is in your best interests to go down the formal extension route with the help of a leaseholder friendly surveyor/solicitor, fix the valuation date, source the funds, check the new lease terms and conditions carefully and then dump leasehold and try and find a freehold property. That is what I am planning on doing anyway. Alternatively, you can watch and wait and see if the lease extension calculation process is changed to be more favourable towards leaseholders but it is a risk to wait for too long especially with rising property prices. Have a read of some of the articles on this website and check out some of the Tribunal cases on her Leasehold Advisory Website and see for yourself the games that the people like to play with leaseholders. If you cannot finds the funds, or are just disgruntled with the system complain to your MP and highlight the unjustness of the system and see if he/she can help. A friend of mine won her case against the unjustness of the ‘couldn’t careless’ care system and the arrogance of the local authority officer with the help of her MP and saved herself from being ripped off to the tune of thousands of pounds so do enlist your MP’s help if things prove too difficult. Hope that helps. All the best.

    • B says

      November 23, 2017 at 4:55 pm

      Being on the frontline here for you, I ask whether or not you would agree the protection of the term Surveyor in law? This would whittle out the cowboys rather quickly. In too many LVT cases I have read where there is reliance on a Chartered Surveyor or worse still a Project Manager (only use is to pad out the costs), to discover that there was no actual knowledge as to construction of the building. The favoured established cost is the new roof. It will be interesting to see what happens next for new builds when the 10 Yr NHBC warranty runs out, with the sale of the Freehold, will this then open the floodgates for further Tribunal action? Could it be argued that Developers today are intentionally doing shoddy builds, due to flogging off the Freehold to the land, as this means that those coming in behind them need a revenue stream – everyones a winner kerching!

  5. Paddy says

    November 22, 2017 at 2:11 pm

    As a leaseholder it is worrying to learn of somewhat arbitrary lending rules. On the other hand, it is false to assert you could “just buy the freehold” of a flat or achieve a reasonable statutory lease extension. The present law is expressly written to fleece.

    On balance it must be only good that lenders strangle leasehold more and more. The law must change along the lines of the Madders bill and given his bill is seemingly toast, it is still an open question what Squire Javid is planning to enact other than window dressing.

    • David McArthur says

      November 22, 2017 at 3:59 pm

      Yes indeed, Paddy, the more lenders who will not provide mortgages for leasehold properties the better. And the more buyers who will not consider buying leasehold properties the better. Then the glorious capitalist marketplace will kill leasehold altogether, saving Squire Javid the trouble of legislating.

    • B says

      November 23, 2017 at 4:45 pm

      How is it thst High St. Lenders are all regulated & yet if as a Freeeholder/MA you can hastily run up another Mortage (Commercial Mortgage) over the entire site, even allowing the company to go under, as there is little or no regulation. This is wrong & needs to stop. As Lord Denning stated in 1966, the Equity in the building belongs to the Lessee whereas the Equity in the land belongs to the Lessor. How is that as read in LVT case laws that the overall value of the building comprises the valuation process of buying the Freehold?

  6. Michael Epstein says

    November 22, 2017 at 4:21 pm

    David, It could prove very interesting if a leaseholder is selling a property for which they have a mortgage with Barclays, but cannot sell because Barclays will not advance a mortgage to a potential buyer of the same property.

  7. B says

    November 23, 2017 at 4:37 pm

    Today there is no room for Leasehold. It is only beneficial for Freeholders/MA’s. The Freehold should be part of the transaction at first purchase. The Buildings Ins should be in favour of the Lessee & not be used so as to raise further capital by the opposition by way of Commercial Mortgages. How many of these Freeholders/MA’s have gone under leaving the Charges in place? There has been too much emphasis on allowing this mindset to become the accepted ‘norm’. I appreciate that for some the running of an RTM maybe daunting, however all that is needed is an explanation in laymen terms as to what constitutes being a Director, including the responsibilities. RTM should always be the 1st option with Flats/Apartments then extend the Lease. This way buying the Freehold is cheaper. With Hse’s there is no excuse for anything less than Absolute Freehold Title.

  8. Paddy says

    November 23, 2017 at 6:21 pm

    Just listened to the LEASE webinar (held yesterday apparently) advising the public on the Call for Evidence about regulating agents.

    Not quite what I was expecting. The first 17 minutes of an hour’s presentation were used up explaining at length the fact that there is a current call for evidence. Rather a large chunk I felt.

    Given that folk were advised to acquire a copy of the call for evidence, what followed was a detailed outline, with slides and voice-over, that worked through the content of the call for evidence document itself, which I would hazard a guess would be quicker to read in the original, but that’s just me. It is my style to download and read something for myself.

    I did not know that the reason for the DCLG’s call for action on agents was Lease’s sponsored survey in 2016? Nothing else is mentioned as to cause prior to the Squire’s speech to ARMA in October.

    Comforting to learn from the webinar that Lease “fully supports” regulation of managing agents. Where would we be without Lease standing guard over leaseholders’ rights?

    The presentation ended. Questions had been invited and it was mentioned there were a lot so presumably the presenters needed to pick good samples.

    I thought this slot would focus on suggestions for reform, with perhaps Lease outlining and expanding on some of its own ideas.

    Instead I found the questions as selected for ‘air’ a bit off topic – “How can I exercise RTM” etc, and thus the answers such as they were less than illuminating as to ideas for regulating agents. I guess this is because being told the legal theory but knowing the operational practice of leasehold, I live in hope of someone guiding me through the big gap.

    Somebody did throw refer to Scotland’s system but the answer merely said along the lines that Scotland has a different system without leasehold so no direct comparison was possible. Unusual elephant in room in that answer, I felt.

    I came away with one gem: we’ll have to wait and see what comes from the call for evidence.

    On that point, I emailed my erudite response to DCLG weeks ago by attachment. No automated or other confirmation came back of receipt. Is this normal?

  9. Kim says

    November 23, 2017 at 6:27 pm

    Did I hear “‘STRICT REGULATION OF MANAGING AGENTS”?

  10. S McDonald says

    November 24, 2017 at 7:59 am

    We have a lease and our ground rent increased over 4 times at review from £50.00 pa to £210.00 pa. The lease allows for a Chartered Surveyor to make a valuation of the blocks value. People need to be aware of terms like this.

  11. Michael Epstein says

    November 24, 2017 at 7:36 pm

    You make a very interesting point.Whilst many leases have a provision for an increase in ground rent in line with RPI (or as we now know doubling) some of the older ones require a ground rent valuation to be conducted by an independent RICS appointed surveyor at cost to the freeholder..
    I myself, have experienced the antics of E&M who not only tried to back date the ground rent increase to the wrong year, but also “claimed” that a valuation had been carried out, when In fact they had not carried it out, as was subsequently proved in a court action for which E&M were represented by J.B Leitch.
    Never assume!.Always check the lease.

    • S McDonald says

      November 24, 2017 at 7:53 pm

      Hello Michael, what was the result of this court case ? We also went through antics with the same company as you. We felt angry as one of only a few placeholders who disputed it without success.

      • S McDonald says

        November 24, 2017 at 7:55 pm

        I mean leaseholders who are resident in the estate.

      • Michael Epstein says

        November 24, 2017 at 9:47 pm

        I lost, because the final case presented by J.B Leitch was as to the “applicability of the ground rent review” that was finally carried out. By accepting that it did apply, it proved the previous efforts(non efforts) did not.
        JB.Leitch’s representative was stunned when I told the judge I accepted it and would settle. Their real goal win or lose was to bankrupt me.
        Suddenly, they had nowhere to go and no further hold on me.. I vowed that I would dedicate myself (free of threats) to exposing the practices of Peverel/Firstport/E&M and making sure that for every pound they cost me I would cost them £100.
        Though defeated.,I learned much from the experience, and thus far for Peverel/Firstport E&M it has proved to be a very expensive victory.
        The next time they took me to court(over service charges) I stood firm and despite enormous pressure exerted on me, I did not give an inch and Firstport/Peverel backed down days before the hearing paying all the legal costs.

        • Kim says

          November 25, 2017 at 7:50 am

          Master E

          You are my kinda comrade.

          Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.

          • S McDonald says

            November 25, 2017 at 5:24 pm

            Dear Kim
            I agree with you. The only way to deal with these companies is abolition of leasehold and statutory regulation and registration of managing agents.

        • S McDonald says

          November 25, 2017 at 5:30 pm

          Dear Michael
          Thanks for the detail it was good to hear you won the second time.

          Could LKP do a new article on E&M, Firstport and Peverel ?

          • Kim says

            November 25, 2017 at 5:56 pm

            Dear S Mc Donald

            If we continue to stand and fight together then we will achieve our objective.

            “NUF” RESPECT TO MASTER EPSTEIN.

  12. ollie says

    November 26, 2017 at 9:32 am

    The Council of Mortgage Lenders are partly responsible for keeping the leasehold system in England and Wales for Developers to exploit.

    Also new houses and flats are advertised as “New Property for Sale” .

    You never see any Developers advertising 125 years Leases for Sale with no undisclosed terms including onerous annual ground rent doubling every 10-25 years plus
    paying service charge for maintaining the freeholders flat plus
    fully insuring insuring freeholders property and
    you accept accepting compulsory forfeiture at end of lease.

    Health Warning : We are the honest developers and withing 3 years , we will sell the freehold title to next freeholder who may try to exploit you.

LKPnewsletter3

Tweets by @LKPleasehold

Essential reads

  • Sir Peter Bottomley
  • Martin Paine
  • Roger Southam
  • LKP full archive
  • Most damning LVT ruling ever made
  • Pensioners win £68,500
  • Benjamin Mire
  • Moskovitz / Gurvits
  • Plantation Wharf
  • Peverel Cirrus story so far
  • Sean Powell
  • Tchenguiz
  • West India Quay
  • Essential guide to lease extensions
  • Forfeiture
  • Press
  • Right to manage and taking control

News archive

Advertising Standards Authority rules against Notting Hill Genesis on over-egged shared ownership adverts

By Harry Scoffin The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against the way the Notting Hill Genesis housing associations is promoting the shared ownership of leasehold properties. It ruled that “home ownership starts with us” was over-stating a vulnerable tenancy arrangement, and the case was reported in The Daily Telegraph yesterday. Housing developer forced to scrap […]

London mayor Sadiq Khan launches leasehold advice portal and slams LEASE as ‘unfit for purpose’

London mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a new leasehold advice portal, and has condemned the taxpayer-funded Leasehold Advisory Service as “unfit for purpose”. He also backed “wholesale reform of leasehold, including a long-term shift toward alternative tenures such as commonhold”. Today’s statement from the mayor’s office reads: “Government funds the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) – […]

Taxpayer subsidy via Help To Buy for leasehold houses to run until 2021, MPs told

By Harry Scoffin Leasehold houses are STILL being sold under the Help To Buy scheme and taxpayers’ subsidy for them will remain until 2021, the Communities Select Committee has been told. Only in 2021 do the existing Help To Buy procedures end. Oral evidence – MHCLG annual report and accounts 2018 – 21 Jan 2019 […]

Why is the Tory party not supporting real home ownership, asks Daily Telegraph

Britain’s feudal leasehold system is killing the dream of homeownership A landlord’s profit motive, however, will always clash with the occupier’s need to protect their investment. High service charges do not affect the landlord. They can “sweat” the asset, let the building become rundown, while padding service charges. Harry Scoffin, London leaseholder activist who works […]

Leaseholders and the sector react to Law Commission reforms to commonhold and right to manage

There is bound to be a contrast between successful professionals in the leasehold sector discussing reforms, and the reactions of more emotive leaseholders who see themselves as the victims of its injustices. Examples of both were evident on Tuesday at the Law Commission’s symposium at London University’s law faculty. Consultation on the proposals to reform […]

Neo Bankside leaseholders fail to stop Tate visitors snooping through their windows

Leaseholders at the upscale Neo Bankside beside Tate Modern on the south bank of the Thames have lost their battle for privacy against the art gallery. The Tate created a viewing gallery for the public so they could enjoy magnificent views across the river to St Pauls. Unfortunately for the residents, the viewing platform also […]

Taxpayer boost for offshore speculators as Help To Buy lands 17,000 home buyers in leasehold

The taxpayer subsidy for offshore speculators in residential freeholds has been revealed in the Daily Mail: it estimates that 17,000 leasehold properties have been bought through the Help To Buy scheme. Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey uncovered the official figures showing Help to Buy had been used to purchase 17,586 houses leasehold since 2013. Mr […]

Anti-leasehold petition gains 10,000 signatures in under a week

By Harry Scoffin Last Friday, the National Leasehold Campaign launched a petition calling for the abolition of the leasehold system. Leasehold is described as “a form of financial servitude where the leaseholder is forever compensating the freeholder for living on ‘their land’.” By the stroke of midnight last night, the petition had registered 10,000 signatures. […]

Scorn for housing minister’s evidence to Select Committee

Where does one start with Housing minister Heather Wheeler’s evidence to the Communities Select Committee? LKP described Mrs Wheeler’s evidence on BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours programme as “ill-informed”.  Of the ten or so MPs in the room, it was apparent that the housing minister knew the least about leasehold. At 13.30 below: You […]

Lawyers to Communities Select Committee: Stop ‘sticking plaster reforms’. End ‘draconian’ forfeiture. £10 ground rents a ‘mistake’. Make legal costs fair to leaseholders. Commonhold failed because developers make money out of leasehold …

The evidence provided to the Communities Select Committee by lawyers – and the Law Commissioner Professor Nicholas Hopkins – add up to devastating criticisms of the leasehold system. Three lawyers who have made their careers in the sector barely had a good word to say about leasehold law, when they came before the Select Committee […]

Still hope for zero ground rents, says Brokenshire. Please end them for retirement too, says LKP

On January 29 Communities Secretary James Brokenshire met leaseholder groups to gauge opinions on the government’s reform of ground rents. Mr Brokenshire emphasised to the meeting that he had not moved from setting ground rents as low as zero, as pledged by his predecessor Sajid Javid. He also indicated that he did understand – as […]

LKP welcomes Law Commission work on right to manage

Press Release Embargoed: 00.01 January 28 2019 LKP warmly applauds the Law Commission’s proposals to reform right to manage, published today (press release below). Sebastian O’Kelly, director of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership said: “For years commercialisers in the leasehold sector have run rings around this legislation, either thwarting leaseholders efforts to gain control of the […]

New LEASE chair declines to endorse peppercorn ground rents on BBC

And there will be no leaseholders on the board of LEASE The new chair of the controversial quango the Leasehold Advisory Service declined an invitation to endorse no-monetary value ground rents on BBC R4’s You and Yours today. Instead, Wanda Goldwag said only that contracts should be “fair”. Former Communities Secretary Sajid Javid undertook to […]

Law Commission seminars on commonhold and RTM launched

The Law Commission has just opened applications to attend a series of seminars for both leaseholders and those working in the sector to hear about their consultations on Commonhold and the Right to Manage. The seminars for the leaseholder events are 12th Feb in London, 16th Feb in Brighton, 18th Feb in Cardiff and 19th […]

UK Finance mortgage lenders doled out cash on dodgy leases, but don’t know how many now can’t sell

By Sebastian O’Kelly UK Finance, told MPs that the leasehold sector “works fairly well”, while drawing a veil on the doling out of loans to dodgy, doubling ground rent properties. Matthew Jupp, of UK Finance, formerly the Council of Mortgage Lenders, was speaking to the Communities Select Committee on January 14. But he could not […]

Theresa May also thinks that ‘building owners’ – freeholders – will pay for Grenfell cladding

<span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;” class=”mce_SELRES_start”></span>&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;” class=”mce_SELRES_start”&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; After Sajid Javid, James Brokenshire and Kit Malthouse … now the prime minister this afternoon insists that “building owners” will pay for Grenfell cladding removal. The Tchenguiz group at Northpoint in Bromley has already […]

‘Fleecehold’ estate management contracts are the latest fiddle from taxpayer-subsidised house builders

Inflated “fleecehold” private estate management contracts came under scrutiny yesterday in the Commons yesterday, as exasperated MPs yet again waded-in to our tax-payer subsidised house builders. The debate was called by Helen Goodman, Labour MP for Bishop Aukland, (above) who described the proliferation of private estate income streams as “a scandal. There has clearly been mis-selling.” […]

Furious attack on government Grenfell cladding inaction in Commons

The government was under attack in the Commons today over its inactivity over Grenfell cladding in private blocks of flats. John Healey, Labour shadow housing secretary, made a powerful attack on Housing minister Kit Malthouse, asking “if the government cannot deal with this, what is it in office for?” Mr Malthouse said, “as a result […]

Grenfell cladding leaseholders despair of government doing anything ..

“For residents in private sector buildings identified as having this accelerant-type cladding we were often hopeful and encouraged by Government assurances from James Brokenshire and Kit Malthouse, that the cost will be met, not by leaseholders, but by the freeholder or developers.  In a statement regarding this issue, Brokenshire threatened that if they did not […]

LKP persuades government to allow commonhold tenure on Help To Buy

The government has back-tracked on the bar on Help To Buy for commonhold properties and will now allow purchases of this form of tenure, which prevails in the world outside England and Wales. For God’s sake! Now it emerges £8.3 billion Help To Buy scheme – that turned house builder executives into multi-millionaires – is […]

More Posts from this Category

DIrection

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Find Everything

Essential reads …

  • Ground rent scandal
  • Parliament
  • MPs’ APPG on leasehold
  • Benjamin Mire
  • Moskovitz / Gurvits
  • Oakland Court
  • McCarthy and Stone
  • Persimmon
  • Recognised Tenants’ Association
  • Grenfell cladding
  • Canary Riverside
  • John Christodoulou
  • Peverel
  • Peverel Cirrus story so far
  • Charter Quay
  • Forfeiture
  • Plantation Wharf
  • Law Commission
  • Plantation Wharf
  • West India Quay
  • LEASE: what’s the point?
  • Tchenguiz
  • Sean Powell
  • Press
  • Exit fees
  • William Waldorf Astor
  • Martin Paine
  • LKP anthem
  • LVT/Property Chamber Survival
  • Most damning LVT ruling ever made
  • Pensioners win £68,500
  • Park Homes
  • Redrow
  • Retirement

Copyright © 2019 Leasehold Knowledge Partnership