October 14 2018 UPDATE: On January 29 2019 Communities Secretary James Brokenshire held a round table with leaseholder groups, assuring them that zero ground rents were on the table. Sebastian O’Kelly, of LKP and www.BetterRetirementHousing.com, argued for retirement housing also to lose its exemption from any ground rent ban. This week we should have […]
What to do about the Grenfell cladding scandal, asks Oxford conference
Victoria, one of Australia’s eight states/ territories, has put aside £330m to remediate Grenfell cladding: England has come up with £200m By Sebastian O’Kelly Mansfield College, Oxford, hosted a fascinating one-day conference yesterday into the Grenfell tragedy and its devastating repercussions to flat owners in blocks with similar cladding across the world. Lawyers predominated, but […]
Countryside Properties plc tells leaseholders wanting their freeholds: We’ve signed the pledge (and we’ve flogged them on, anyway) …
… and now we are “working with” the CMA inquiry (or, rather, being investigated by it, as others might put it) Countryside Properties plc has responded to leaseholders who wrote in last week demanding the freeholds to their homes. Here is the PR-crafted response. But to save you the effort, it could be precis-ed like […]
LKP meets Competition and Markets Authority over leasehold house mis-selling
The Competition and Markets Authority was given LKP’s insight into the leasehold houses mis-selling scandal yesterday. The meeting was hosted by LKP patrons and APPG co-chairs MPs Sir Peter Bottomley and Jim Fitzpatrick and Justin Madders, the deputy APPG chair on leasehold reform. Mr Madders, a solicitor, has spoken out many times about the mis-selling […]
South Somerset council enters the ‘fleecehold’ racket
By Sebastian O’Kelly Has South Somerset council twigged that it can make a fortune out of residents in private estates by playing the ‘fleecehold’ game? It has set up a company called Elleston for “landscaping and horticultural work” which it hopes will make £2.2 million a year in two year’s time. Thousands of private estates […]
Barratt evacuates Grenfell cladding site Citiscape
Barratt has insisted on the evacuation of the Citiscape tower block which has Grenfell cladding. It is understood that engineers for the developer have found flaws in structural piers at site, and that residents are being rehoused immediately. It is anticipated that most residents in the 100 flats will only be evacuated for a few […]
Redrow: ‘shoddy workmanship and leasehold games’, but bumper profits from Help To Buy
Last week Redrow revealed a sixth consecutive year of bumper profits. It sold 6,443 homes, posted a 7% rise in pre-tax profits to £406m and announced that sales were up 10% to £2.1bn. But 40% of those profits come from the taxpayer subsidy of Help To Buy, and The Times was unhappy with build quality […]
John McDonnell is a leaseholder, reveals Daily Mail in hatchet job article
The Daily Mail has tried to smear shadow chancellor John McDonnell over his modest Norfolk holiday chalet, worth £170,000, which is leasehold. The only public interest argument for this article was that John McDonnell “was accused of hypocrisy over his plans to clamp down on buy to let landlords after it was revealed that he […]
Scale of leasehold house scandal revealed in mass email dump to house builder bosses
The sheer breadth of the leasehold houses scandal was revealed in the National Leasehold Campaign email dump on plc house builder CEOs on Monday. Hundreds of leasehold house owners sent emails, copying in Communities Secretary Robert Genrick, Housing Minister Esther McVey, local MPs, LKP and LKP’s MP patrons Sir Peter Bottomley and Jim Fitzpatrick. Sites […]
Mass email dump: leasehold home owners demand their freeholds after Persimmon caves into court action
More than 700 emails jammed the mailboxes of house builder chief executives this week as leasehold house owners demanded the freeholds to their homes. The protest came after Persimmon caved in to a trading standards action in Cardiff last month. Leasehold house buyers at the St Edeyrn’s Village development in Cardiff claimed Persimmon sales staff […]
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LKP has had issues with its spam filters, blocking readers from commenting on this site. No comments are pre-moderated on LKP, although we will and do remove offensive material. Re-setting the automated filters is a haphazard process with no guarantee of success, but it has been done. If any comment does not appear or goes […]
Ken Clarke says ‘serious problems’ in leasehold
Taking a break from the follies of the world – the Brexit he disapproves of and the muted idea that he become prime minister of a national government – the Tory veteran Ken Clarke has noted that things are not good in the world of leasehold. In correspondence to Susan Hunt, a former LKP accredited […]
Harrow to hit council leaseholders with £4,500 fire safety bills
Harrow council, in north London, is passing on fire safety bills to the private leaseholders – even though other councils have absorbed the cost. Leaseholders have told LKP that refurbishing fire safety arrangements at various estates and purpose built, affecting, 1,200 private leaseholders, will cost £3,750-£4,500 each. The works include installing fire alarms in communal […]
Britain’s biggest managing agent FirstPort sold on – again
By Michael Epstein (who has been critical of FirstPort in the past) Firstport the controversial property management company, have recently negotiated a major re-financing package with Lucid Trustee Services and investors Equistone. This follows the failure by Firstport’s previous investors to sell the company and their subsequent decision to withdraw from their involvement with Firstport. […]
Elderly Accommodation Counsel says ‘recent retirement flat resales have increased in value’
Evidence based on sales since 2010 Evidence includes unverifiable discounts – ‘incentives’ – from the retirement developers LKP refused to be associated with the report and urged non-publication In spite of abundant evidence on the Land Registry of catastrophic falls in value of retirement properties, today (August 20 2019) the Elderly Accommodation Counsel reports that […]
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 […]
