So far, ministers are showing no sign of a wobble in criticising housebuilders for fleecing their customers with leasehold houses.
“Both the Secretary of State Sajid Javid MP and the Housing Minister Gavin Barwell MP have been looking closely at the issue of leasehold houses and escalating ground rents,” the DCLG tells a leaseholder activist today.
“And, as both have said in Parliament, they are absolutely determined to stamp out unfair, unjust and unacceptable abuse of the leasehold system.”
Ministers are asking the Law Commission to consider transparency of the sales process and terms of the lease.
It is already examining retirement housing “and we are hopeful there may be lessons learned and recommendations that can be applied to the wider residential leasehold sector in the future”, it adds.
“In terms of developers marketing new housing developments as leasehold, the Government’s view is that it is a practice that, while not technically illegal, exposes a gulf between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.
“If developers give prospective purchasers choices in how they purchase a property and its tenure, they must be clear about what each option entails.
“This includes being up front about fees and how these change over time. Buyers are protected by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 which places a ban on unfair practices, including misleading omissions. Anyone purchasing a property, however, should seek independent legal advice.”
The letter concludes “… we are working closely with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Leasehold and Commonhold which is currently focusing on raising awareness of some of the issues you have raised.”
Related posts:
Gavin Barwell: ‘No excuse for leasehold houses or punitive ground rents and we will stamp them out’
Labour to cap ‘legalised extortion’ of ground rents and end leasehold houses … Opposition and government now compete to reform leasehold
Leasehold houses to be banned and future ground rents set to zero, announces Sajid Javid
Not the job of LEASE to warn ministers of leasehold houses scandal, Roger Southam tells BBC
Leasehold houses to be outlawed, says the Daily Mail
DCLG rejects second complaint about Roger Southam as LEASE chair. He was appointed on merit, it claims
So basically, there are going to do nothing about it as usual. Absolutely disgusting.
We keep hearing the same thing over and over again from Government, that they are ‘looking into reforms’.
What they are really saying, is they don’t care at all that young families buying new build leasehold homes or our elderly buying leasehold retirement apartments in developer managed blocks getting ripped off is OK!
This is going to come back to bite them when developers get sued and the new nuke industry goes down the pan. #leaseholdscandal .
There is more protection for someone who buys a second hand motor vehicle than for someone buying a new build home. Astonishing.
My recommendation is don’t buy a. Ew build leasehold house.
Don’t buy a reitirment home with out an owner controlled management company running the place and don’t buy a flat without a Right to Mange company in place.
Oh! and if you do appoint a managing agent check to see if they are carrying large debts serviced by high interest rates? It would help to know if their conduct was subject to many media reports or even mentions in parliament?
Obviously it would be an advantage if the said management agent had not admitted to the OFT that they had price fixed vulnerable pensioners?
The postcode of a managing agent should be checked as well.
You should avoid any company that might contain the letters” B “H”” E” or “P” or the unlucky numbers “2”,”5″ or “9” in their postcode!
Well done Michael,I understand your message and agree
The outrageous terms for leasehold houses (and to some degree the retirement homes) are taking over all the publicity.
Leasehold needs to be cleansed like the Aegean stables -the entire system is corrupt and outadated.
Sadly I’ve yet to see any real progress. Showing the leaseholders independently audited accounts, or any meaningful penalties for non compliance and rogue managing agents….?