Sir Peter Bottomley has urged the Commons to intervene in the auction sale of Flat 1 Blythe Court, where the freeholders and managers are Martin Paine and his wife Anne Kirmond.
Flat 1 Blythe Court is up for auction with Barnard Marcus on February 2 in central London with a guide price of £65,000.
Sir Peter Bottomley, Conservative MP for Worthing West and a patron of LKP, believes that “essential information of penal ground rent provisions that make the premises worthless” is being withheld from would-be purchasers.
The veteran MP says that the Paines’ deed of variation for the property, which would include the provision of backdating the ground rent terms to 1961 and then doubling them every 10 years, is missing from the legal documents provided to the auctioneers.
The ground rent for this flat is currently £8,000 a year.
Barnard Marcus is urged to withdraw this lot from the sale and inform the “appropriate authorities”.
Related posts:
Barnard Marcus withdraws Blythe Court flat from auction
Hogan Lovells property solicitors report Blythe Court scandal on website
BBC R4’s You & Yours feature Blythe Court … and now the freeholder wants ‘more ethical approach to charges’
Guardian reports the Blythe Court ground rent scandal
Martin Paine sells on Blythe Court, where ground rents reach £8,000 a year
Affluent freehold-owning couple’s lease terms bring ruin to families who bought flats that are virtually worthless
The auctioneer’s website now showing:
Notice ref Lot 115
Please note as at 11.30am Friday 22nd January 2016 we have temporarily removed the legal documents for this lot from our website pending clarification of certain matters in respect to the lease and the freeholder…
So has Bernard Marcus been shamed into this or has he/it done some due diligence and made it’s decision on that?
I wonder what the odds on the latter are at your local bookie??