Controversial leasehold entrepreneur Dudley Joiner was named in the House of Commons today, and Roger Southam, chair of the Leasehold Advisory Service, was invited to retire.
The remarks came from Sir Peter Bottomley in the debate on the Regulation of Property Agents.
Sir Peter also named Barry Weir, a Sussex-based park home landlord who employed libel solicitors Carter Ruck to demand Sir Peter withdraw disobliging remarks made on BBC TV earlier this year.
Dudley Joiner is the proprietor of the Righht To Manage Federation, which is not a federation; the Leaseholder Association, which is not an association; and Team Property Management. He is or was the sole director of all these companies – the Leaseholder Association is dissolved as a company but still trading.
Roger Southam is the former proprietor of Chainbow property management, which was the embedded management company in what were perhaps intended to be residents’ management companies at Taylor Wimpey sites.
He was ejected from the sites following the intervention of LKP, and his company was sold to property giant Savills, where Mr Southam appears to be employed.
Taylor Wimpey leaseholders ask: if the management company is ours, how do we oust Roger Southam?
MP Justin Madders questions role of Roger Southam as LEASE chair
Sir Peter said:
The all-party parliamentary group on leasehold and commonhold reform, which I co-chair along with the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick), will be grateful for the Minister’s remarks. We will submit more evidence.
I put it to the Minister that it will be quite important for people to be able to submit their evidence to the consultation confidentially. There are so many crooks and dodgy people around that there may be threats of legal action, such as the one I received from Carter-Ruck on behalf of Barry Weir when I was looking after a park home resident. Ordinary people cannot face that; Members of Parliament can.
Will the Minister also consider whether Dudley Joiner of Team Property Management can be investigated? He was going to be thrown out of his judicial property role, but he escaped hours before the report was announced.
Lastly, will the Minister please give serious consideration to whether the chairman of LEASE—the leasehold advisory service—can properly remain in his role, or whether it would be better to let him retire and have him replaced?
Alok Sharma
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend. He and the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) have done brilliant work as co-chairs of the APPG. He talks about people being able to give information anonymously, and we will of course not release the individual names of those who give evidence when the consultation’s outcome is published.
As for the two references to particular individuals made by my hon. Friend, I suggest that we speak about those other matters after this debate.
Related posts:
LEASE chair Roger Southam in Private Eye (again)
Leaseholder Association: One hat too many for Dudley Joiner?
Dudley Joiner: Not relevant that I was disqualified from being a company director for 7 years
Pensioners tell Dudley Joiner to give them back their £27,000 sinking fund
Dudley Joiner’s Team Property Management made insolvent by Quadrangle House RTM
Pensioners tell Dudley Joiner to give them back their £27,000 sinking fund
Been an exhausting day keeping up, what with SoS on morning telly getting me over-excited with promises, to ARMA conf trending on twitter and then the H of C debate naming names. MPs fired great questions to the government.
It’s not as if the leasehold cat isn’t well out of the bag? At least we can make contributions about managing agents confidentially according to the government.
Meanwhile Sajid Javid’s speech to ARMA here…
{URL} …gov.uk/government/speeches/regulation-of-the-managing-agent-market
I don’t know what to make of it? So much of what he said is exactly what you’d want and hope to hear a Secretary of State say right now (if only for sanity forgetting it was all said by a government twenty years ago and little changed).
Trouble is, there are bits you can’t help reading as if in capital letters and underlined…
“I hate to see good companies and forward-thinking entrepreneurs struggling under the weight of burdensome regulation.”
Would we be where we are if managing agents were good companies? Was it not deregulation that brought the country Grenfell Tower, which he referenced in the same speech?
“I know you’re not the Rachman-esque ogres that some on the internet claim. I look around this room today and I see the good guys.”
I wonder which bit of the internet he means? Facebook? Twitter? Here? i.e. where real leaseholders hang out?
That usual old Nelson’s patch? Or was he just sugar soaping a bitter pill to the industry? Hard to tell. I guess we’ll know when the DCLG stop consulting and actually do something.
“…the current system effectively penalises the good guys.The ARMA members.”
Really, he’s running with THAT? Did he not read Sally Keeble’s views?
“The private rented sector and ***justified use of leasehold***deliver millions of homes for millions of hardworking people.”
Why is leasehold still justified given commonhold? More trite defense of status quo? Not even three chords.
“And the people in this room today do a vital job of servicing and maintaining those homes and protecting the people who live in them. Thank you for that.”
Off to throw up.
I take it no managing agents were present then?
No, hang on…
Paddy, thanks for that.. Extremely disturbing, I am going to wait for a full report of Javid’s speech before I comment.
Wow what a busy day !!!
This is music to my ears. Roger Southam MUST go. His position is totally untangeable.
He’s made a mockery of LEASE for far too long.
He ignored the national leasehold campaigns letter that I handed his collegue in April calling for Mr Southam to resign immediately. I am hoping he can not remain in his position for much longer . It’s a disgrace and a total insult to leaseholders nationally.
Thank you Sir Peter you are a legend.
“Untangeable”, that comes a close second to Stephen’s “quarantine easing”. Not mocking you Katie, you are doing a brilliant job.
*** unsustainable***
oops sorry David ha ha.
At this point all I shall say is “TRIPLE HOORAH”????????????????????????
Let us keep the pressure on folks- we must be relentless!!!!
Mr Southam had no business being chairman of Lease as the mighty NLC made perfectly clear in its excellent letter sent to The Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP earlier this year.
The house of ‘ marked ‘ cards that is ‘ Residential Property Management’ is starting to crumble and I for one shall not rest until the PREDATORS operating within it ( 99% at least) are junked! They are no more than pound shop ‘ Sopranos ‘ Your ‘. WEINSTEIN ‘ moment has arrived girls and boys……
THE RACHMANIST ERA IS OBSOLETE GIRLS AND BOYS AND MUST REMAIN SO- GOT IT?
Ooops, I should have added – ” Get ready for your close up”…..
David,
An apocryphal story I am sure and here it is
Very smart dins dins.party. Chap drinks from finger bowl , sophisticated, gracious host/ hostess does same…….
Need I say more? I hope not.
I am not certain if I am entitled to make comments in this chain but I would like to say that Roger Southam is probably even worse than many think. Most certainly he should not be at LEASE!
I would be more than willing to furnish information to those interested. However, I am afraid I am not on Facebook or on any other social media. Just on email and on landline phone.
Please find me, if you interested in my Southam addition.
Regards: Agnes Kory