Housing Minister Kris Hopkins addressed the “serious matter” of Benjamin Mire and Trust Property Management advertising on the website of the Leasehold Advisory Service.
In a parliamentary answer, Kris Hopkins said:
“The practitioner list is not meant to be a fully comprehensive list, nor does inclusion constitute a recommendation by LEASE. Firms pay a fee to be entered on the list and sign a contract accordingly.”
Mire, a chartered surveyor and the chief executive of Trust, which is based in Colindale, north London, resigned his judicial appointment to the property tribunal during an investigation last summer.
In an exceptional move, the Ministry of Justice made clear that Mire would have been sacked. He had
‘failed to observe the standards that could reasonably be expected of a judicial office holder and that this failing was sufficiently serious to justify his removal from office’.
Kris Hopkins was replying to a written parliamentary question from Sir Peter Bottomley, who also asked whether the minister “will direct the Leasehold Advisory Service to co-operate with the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership and the Campaign Against Retirement Leasehold Exploitation on providing advice to leaseholders.”
LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation met the chairman and chief executive of LEASE for a full and frank discussion at the DCLG in London on May 8.
Regarding the Mire case, Kris Hopkins reported that LEASE has reviewed its procedures.
“In considering a recent complaint on this issue, LEASE undertook a careful review of their terms and conditions in relation to inclusion in their professional directory. This has resulted in amendments being made, and revised terms and conditions have been published on their website.
“The revised terms and conditions give LEASE the right to temporarily remove an organisation’s directory information from the directory if a complaint is received from a third party relating to the organisation or its listing. They also give LEASE the right to terminate the contract with immediate effect by giving written notice if a number of conditions are not met, these include:
“The inclusion of the organisation’s directory information on the directory conflicts with LEASE Conferences Ltd or the Leasehold Advisory Service’s purposes, objectives or obligations or brings LEASE into disrepute or there is a risk (in our reasonable opinion) of any such conflict or bringing into disrepute.”
“If Trust Property Management does not meet the new terms and conditions when their contract for inclusion in the directory is due for renewal in July, then they will be removed, as will any other organisation which similarly does not meet the revised terms and conditions.
“While I appreciate that this may not be as quick a step as my hon. Friend would wish, moving forward, I hope these actions taken will in due course ensure the continued integrity of the practitioners’ list. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend if he wishes to discuss this further.”
The full Hansard is here
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Time to have another look at commonhold, say Lords. But what are Lord Best’s proposals?
If Benjamin Mire’s promotion by Lease does not constitute a recommendation, that rather devalues the worth of all other promotions via Lease,
I would suggest that until all issues concerning the operation of lease are resolved, it is a complete waste of money for any company to affiliate to Lease.
Would any ethical company wish to associate themselves with Benjamin Mire or Trust property Management?
I think you have missed a point. They are arguing that is is merely paid for listing, comparable to a text listing in the old yellow pages, but to anyone innocent of such matters, a person seeking help, would see the listing and assume, rightly or wrongly, that the firm or company are at least competent by virtue of listing.
LEASE should make it clear, overtly, i.e. at the top of the listing that they are paid for listing and a summary of the basis of the criteria that they meet, not a link to the T & C. They might be best served in providing generic advice on”How to select an advisor” so the person would know to ask about, say, past experience and references.