– Commons urged to back amendment to abolish leasehold by 2020 in favour of commonhold – Tchenguiz, Peverel and Cirrus get another Commons naming – McCarthy and Stone told to explain collapsed second-hand values of retirement flats – Leasehold Knowledge Partnership praised, and thanked for reasonably accurate figures for leasehold sector Labour MP and LKP […]
Housing Bill omits necessary ‘changes to leasehold and commonhold’
… and forfeiture needs changing, too Housing minister Brandon Lewis is facing trouble over his Housing Bill with Sir Peter Bottomley today telling the commons: “The Bill totally misses out the necessary changes to leasehold and commonhold. “Some years ago, the House passed a Bill to allow commonhold to come in. It has defects and […]
Cherry Trees retirement flat hit by £9,341 sinking fund exit fee ..
… that’s on top of a £26,950 fall in value after 11 years of ownership A family whose parents owned a one bedroom flat at Anchor’s 59-unit Cherry Trees site in Redcar, Cleveland, have been hit with a double whammy common in retirement leasehold. First, the flat for over-55s was bought for £79,950 in 2004 […]
Commonhold – How did it go so wrong?
Commonhold was meant to be a shiny new replacement for leasehold, where each flat owner in a block of flats or each house owner on an estate also owned a share of the company which owns the site. A new system supported by all the main political parties throughout the 1990’s. A system which was […]
Phillips v Francis decision
The full decision in the epic Phillips v Francis case is reproduced below. In what appears to be a draw, LKP is studying the consequences of this on the costs for the long suffering park home owners. PhillipsvFrancis Key sections: paras 23-27: Discussion 23. In a nutshell, therefore, the Chancellor decided that qualifying works […]
Phillips v Francis … Pity the poor park home owners
By Martin Boyd Yesterday the law case credited with making the leasehold property management virtually impossible – Phillips and Goddard v Francis – was finally presented in the Court of Appeal. The case concerns leaseholders of 97 holiday chalets at Point Curlew, near Padstow in Cornwell – now called Atlantic Bays Holiday Park – in […]
Council of Mortgage Lenders urged to help LKP end forfeiture
Forfeiture and how to bring it to an end was the subject of a LKP meeting with the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association in London this afternoon. LKP is trying to push the subject of forfeiture up the political agenda: for all leaseholder readers new to this site, forfeiture means you […]
Less ‘legal torture’ and more happiness in leasehold, says Sir Peter Bottomley
Sir Peter Bottomley made another strong speech over leasehold issues today at the Chartered Institute of Housing meeting in Crawley. It was titled “Less legal torture and more happiness in leasehold”. “All cases of forfeiture should be reported to the Master of the Rolls, who heads the civil courts,” said the MP, who along with […]
Guy Fetherstonhaugh QC considers commonhold after LKP Westminster meeting
By Martin Boyd Following on from LKP’s Westminster meeting on commonhold last month, Guy Fetherstonhaugh, QC, has written an interesting article published in Estates Gazette. Reproduced with its permission, the article highlights the relative merits of the commmonhold versus leasehold systems.
Judge Siobhan McGrath apologises over Mire debacle
Judge Siobhan McGrath has apologised to the leaseholder whose complaints led to Benjamin Mire losing his judicial appointment. The apology to Colin Dennard, 73, of Ferndown in Dorset, is an acknowledgement that the Residential Property Tribunal Service (RPTS), of which McGrath was the Senior President, bungled the issue. (She is now president of the new Property […]
Freeholder Sean Powell has major works demand slashed by £600,000
But … the bill to Kettering homeowners was more than £1 million, including Sean Powell’s fees of 10% to manage the project – from London – plus the VAT … demands of £42,500 per flat were more than their re-sale value … tribunal throws out vast bills supposedly ‘to comply with building regulations’ … tribunal […]
LKP holds Westminster meeting on commonhold
“Millions have an interest in leasehold living. Most would gain when commonhold or strata title becomes the norm. “This meeting is an important step forward. “In the near future, abuse and misuse and the shortcomings of leasehold can be tackled. “For the future, there should be a timetable to end new residential leaseholds and to […]
West India Quay’s victory against £74,560 legal onslaught … for a recognised residents’ association
Giving recognition to a residents’ association at the most exclusive apartment block in Canary Wharf posed the sort of “risks that you see with the trade unions”, the First-Tier Tribunal was told last Thursday. The remark was made by the freeholder’s professional witness, chartered surveyor Bruce Maunder Taylor – and was greeted with guffaws […]
Legal army to stop West India Quay getting … a recognised residents’ association
Giving recognition to a residents’ association at the most exclusive apartment block in Canary Wharf posed the sort of “risks that you see with the trade unions”, the First-Tier Tribunal was told last Thursday. The remark was made by the freeholder’s professional witness, chartered surveyor Bruce Maunder Taylor – and was greeted with guffaws of […]
Find MP … and see how many leasehold voters they have
The LKP study into leasehold numbers also includes all the MPs in England and Wales with how many leasehold properties are in their constituencies. The list is at the bottom of the report which can be accessed: here The figures show totals for a constituency and the percentage of leaseholder voters. In any correspondence with […]
Imperial Hall beats off £12,366 claim from Sterling Estates Management
Residents at Imperial Hall beside the “silicon round-about”, north of the City, have defeated a £12,366 claim from its former freeholder for outstanding management fees. The demand failed at the First-Tier Tribunal last week, even though the freeholder’s solicitor Roger Hardwick, of Brethertons, took the unusual step of supplying a witness statement in support […]
