News archive

70 attend APPG on leasehold after ground rent scandal grabs media attention

Guardian’s Patrick Collinson says ‘time to reform leasehold in entirety’

Housebuilder Bob Bessell says ‘no justification for ground rents at all’

Philip Rainey QC: Are we creating homes or an investment asset class?

Open Data Institute says data will be key to reforming leasehold

Questions from APPG attendees: Ground rent sale prices have risen tenfold since 2007

Commons to debate leasehold reform next Tuesday. And Bottomley intends to name leasehold game-players …

Taylor Wimpey more greedy than the ground rent ‘Mr Smallweeds’ (and so are other plc housebuilders)

Taylor Wimpey CEO to meet MPs over ‘cancer’ of doubling ground rents (which were deterring astute buyers in 2007!)

Labour to cap ‘legalised extortion’ of ground rents and end leasehold houses … Opposition and government now compete to reform leasehold

Fill in our survey to demonstrate the new-build ground rent scandal

Guardian sticks with new-build ground rent scandal, while LKP advises Persimmon home buyers to walk away

Sajid Javid vows to ‘stamp out abuses’ over leasehold that make homes unsellable

Sunday Times reports Taylor Wimpey ground rent scandal, as executives meet leaseholders

End lease extension ‘injustice’, veteran MP urges Commons

Last year: £64.8bn leasehold properties sold. £13.7bn was new-build. Leasehold house numbers double. Developers make £300-500 million a year from ground rent sales

Taylor Wimpey ground rent explanation ‘not true’, BBC is told

Ban revenue-generating leasehold houses, says Justin Madders MP. Redrow responds

Sunday Telegraph says ‘New homes, yes, but not leasehold’

‘New-build ground rent scandal could spark legal battles,’ says Guardian

Taylor Wimpey CEO says doubling ground rent scandal under ‘review’. But Bottomley asks: ‘Have innocent homebuyers been shafted?’

Telegraph reports ‘marketing cobblers’ of 999-year ‘virtual freeholds’ with lethal ground rents

LKP poised to mine information on leasehold, after being admitted to Open Data Institute

Bottomley tells Taylor Wimpey to explain ‘sharp practice’ ground rents – and asks for names of directors who approved them

Pete Redfern: Stop pontificating about the housing crisis and sort out the ground rent scandal of Taylor Wimpey’s own making

Campaign against Residential Leasehold Exploitation and AgeUK reject Law Commission draft on exit fees

Philip Rainey QC: Reform of the law is a duty (and for landlord and tenant law it is overdue)

ARMA conference ‘worried’ that developers are exploiting new home owners

First-time buyers facing £8,000 ground rents stuffed by plc housebuilders

Taylor Wimpey woes reported in Estates Gazette

Surge in new-build leasehold houses with £1.9 billion sold last year

Legal arms race as Canary Riverside freeholder seeks judicial review

Ex-solicitor Ian Macfarlane jailed over £200,000 ground rent scams