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You are here: Home / News / Mortgage lenders and conveyancers lay bare the rot of leasehold to MPs

Mortgage lenders and conveyancers lay bare the rot of leasehold to MPs

July 6, 2017 //  by Sebastian O'Kelly

… and MPs says profiteering freeholders will be treated ‘like Philip Green’

… LKP patrons call for another Commons debate on leasehold

Packed APPG is told by mortgage lenders and conveyancers that leasehold must be reformed. MPs demanded Commons debate, and said scamming freeholders are likely to experience the opprobrium heaped on Philip Green

Mortgage lenders and conveyancers yesterday told MPs in the All Party Parliamentary Group that leasehold is in desperate need of legislative reform.

The cautious Council of Mortgage Lenders, now renamed UK Finance, spoke of its “disappointment”, acknowledging that ordinary buyers are living in blighted homes.

Nationwide talked of a “legislative” response to the issue of leaseholders trapped in homes owing to onerous lease terms making them unsellable. It underlined why it was not prepared to lend on leaseholds with higher than 0.1 per cent ground rents.

And the Conveyancing Association, deploying data drawn from 21,000 homes sales, listed the numerous imaginative scams freeholders dream up at the end of occupation when a leasehold property is sold.

(They are no less imaginative during the beginning and the middle of the process either, the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership can attest.)

It added up to a dismal picture of leasehold practices. The audience of 80 included MPs and Lords, stakeholders in the leasehold sector, property managers, two Law Commissioners, landlord and tenant lawyers, conveyancing solicitors, trade bodies and leaseholders who have been sold houses and flats with outrageous ground rent terms from developers such as Taylor Wimpey and Countryside Properties plc.

The housebuilders were as usual too shy to attend, with Countryside Properties plc pulling out hours before the meeting. 

All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold and commonhold reform, chaired by Martin Boyd, who is a trustee of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership

The meeting was chaired by Martin Boyd, a trustee of LKP.

Meanwhile, Sir Peter Bottomley, LKP patron, declared:

“The people who have bought these freeholds from developers are in my view going to face a significant amount of parliamentary attention. It will ask how they can buy a freehold for some £5,000 and then within a year or two ask a leaseholder to pay £42,000 to buy the freehold back.

“In my view that is unfair and socially irresponsible. Those people can expect to be treated like Philip Green if they don’t come to reasonable settlement very quickly.”

The meeting was the first of the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold and commonhold reform of this Parliament. There now 86 MPs and Lords who have joined up.

The three LKP patron MPs: Sir Peter Bottomley (Conservative), Sir Ed Davey (LibDem) and Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour)

All three of LKP patron MPs – Sir Peter Bottomley, Sir Ed Davey and Jim Fitzpatrick from the main political parties – were in attendance.

Sebastian O’Kelly, a trustee of LKP, told the meeting: “It is absolutely ridiculous that in Marie Rimmer’s constituency of St Helens South and Whiston that a modest can be sold by Taylor Wimpey that in 60 years generates £185,000 in ground rents.

“That is just scamming the poor and the vulnerable, and a whole load of professionals have been complicit in this whether the lenders, the surveyors or the conveyancers, who have been doing a tokenistic job and landing these people in the soup.

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

 

“I would like to draw contrast between those kind of house builders and the gentleman sitting three along on my left: Bob Bessell, the founder of Retirement Securities, who has built 3,500 retirement properties around the country.

“He has left his entire freehold interest in trust for the benefit of his leaseholders.

“He has not scammed anyone. The way he has chosen to run his business stands as a very dramatic contrast to the plc housebuilders who decided to cheat their own customers.”


Council of Mortgage Lenders: ‘disappointed’ with the sector

Jennifer Bourne, of the Council of Mortgage Lenders / UK Finance, was the first quest speaker who told the APPG that there was now a working group looking at mortgages on new build properties.

“Lenders will need to learn how ground rents work and any other charges in a leasehold agreement,” she said.

The CML / UK Finance wants ground rents that won’t affect future mortgageability – ie makes a property unsellable except in cash auctions – and which have a “reasonable lease length”.

Miss Bourne suggested “ground rents should be as close to peppercorn as possible”.

For some unexplained reason, the CML / UK Finance feels it is rational for leasehold flats to have shorter leases than houses. This seems to be a view among lenders, but the reasoning for it is lost on LKP.

“We are very cognisant of the issue that some homes with doubling ground rent may be blighted.

“Lenders like others had not really appreciated what was coming through with these leases. It is disappointing that we are having to look at this.”


Nationwide: We are not lending on new leases that cheat buyers

Nationwide’s head of property risk, data and strategy, Robert Stevens (left), also addressed the APPG, explaining why the lender won’t issue mortgages on new-build properties with onerous ground rents or short lease terms.

“By the time that you find out that there are onerous terms – it might be that the lease is short; it might be the ground rent is doubling – potentially you are six to nine weeks down the line,” he told the APPG, which was attended by 80 MPs, Lords and stakeholders.

“We made a decision a couple of months ago to draw a line in the sand. Could we continue to allow people to continue to buy leasehold properties where there were onerous terms which would mean in future an asset that was not what the buyers thought it was. Our view was, no.”

He added:

“We are seeing instances where ground rents start at £500, £600 or £700 a year, which are completely disproportionate to the value of the property.”

Then there were leasehold consent fees: £10,000 for a conservatory, say, or £5,000 for a satellite dish. All these can affect future value.

Mr Stevens urged that all key lease information should be provided up front clearly.

He urged more consumer awareness of leasehold, particularly concerning ground rents and consent fees, and “truly independent advice when purchasing a property” as “everybody in this process potentially has a vested interest”.

Finally, he said:

“We need a mechanism to allow customers who currently have properties with onerous leases to purchase the freeholds on a fair basis to ensure that they can go forward.

“We need a legislative response to this.”


Conveyancing Association: Leasehold sellers pay too much and wait too long

Beth Rudolph, of the Conveyancing Association (at a previous APPG), says leaseholders are overcharged to sell their properties and it takes far longer to sell them than a freehold house

A whole raft of dodgy and unjustifiable fees are dreamed up by freeholders and their managers whenever a leasehold property comes up for re-sale, according to the Conveyancing Association.

The frustrations and try-on fees involved in a leasehold transaction were laid bare by Beth Rudolf, the association’s director of delivery.

“500,000 leaseholders a year are suffering unreasonable fees and delays in selling their leasehold properties,” Miss Rudolf told MPs.

These delays – far worse than those involved in the conveyancing of often more valuable freehold houses – has an impact on the housing market and the wider economy.

“If people are not moving they are not spending money. They are not booking holidays,” said Miss Rudolf. “They have no idea what is going on in their lives for what looks like four months.”

She gave some compelling examples of leasehold sector game-playing when it comes to the sale of flat or leasehold house.

The First Tier Tribunal has ruled that a deed of covenant should not be charged at more than £80, but it is routinely costed at £300 today.

As with subletting fees – supposedly limited to £40 per tenancy – freehold game-players have successfully ignored the tribunal as irrelevant.

Premier Property Lawyers, a Conveyancing Association member based in Leicester, examined the data of 21,000 leasehold transactions.

On the basis that £100 a hour would be a reasonable fee for a paralegal – £120 in London – 77 per cent of deeds of covenant fees were unreasonable.

“The average fee was £132 across all 21,000 of those data sets, even though the property tribunal says that £80 is reasonable for a deed of covenant,” said Miss Rudolf.

“And since an Act in 1996, you do not need a deed of covenant to impose the benefits and burdens of a lease on anybody so it is a completely otiose and unnecessary document.”

“The charges for 94 per cent of notices of assignment on every single lease transaction were unreasonable, according to the research.

“A total of 90 per cent of certificates of compliance – which in itself is a completely made-up document: it confirms that a deed of covenant which (don’t forget) has already been paid for, and a notice of assignment (which has also been paid for) – have been completed. These certificates of compliance enable the Land Registry to register the change of ownership.

“Stock transfer forms, were found in 72 per cent of cases to come with unreasonable fees.

“So we can see that these unreasonable fees are endemic across this.

“We see increases regularly: over the last four years they have gone up by 23 per cent in some cases.”

Miss Rudolf continued:

“You must be getting a pretty spiffy service, you would have thought. Sadly not, the unreasonable delays continue to increase.

“In 2014, 40 per cent of the leasehold sales packs necessary to sell a property took over 30 days to come back after payment had been made.

“Today, 50 per cent take more than 30 days. And 20 per cent of lease administrators take more than 55 days to come back from lease adminstrators.

“What used to take 6-8 weeks in 2009, now takes up to 14-16 weeks.

“Overall, leasehold transactions take over 20 days longer to exchange contracts than a freehold transaction.

“When you consider how many withdrawals and fall-throughs you get the longer a transaction goes on, the impact is serious.”


Marie Rimmer MP is aghast at the leasehold houses scandal in her St Helens South constituency. She wants to know why Taylor Wimpey’s £130 million compensation scheme is not being paid to the leaseholders. And why are leaseholders having to contact the company, rather than the company publicly announcing the number of leaseholders affected

It is going to cost me thousands to get my Taylor Wimpey freehold that was promised for only £4,425

Joanne Darbyshire, a Taylor Wimpey leasehold household house owner in Bolton, believes she was miss-sold her property – and she is letting quite a few people know about it, too

Finally, Joanne Darbyshire, a Taylor Wimpey purchaser of a leasehold house with doubling ground rent in Bolton, gave the APPG insight into progress on her case.

She was told that she could buy her freehold after purchase and knew from her neighbour who did so that the cost would be around £4,425.

“I was miss-sold my property on the basis that I could buy the freehold to my house for a similar price in the future.

“I’m now going through the enfranchisement process and I do not know whether Taylor Wimpey’s supposedly £130 million Ground Rent Assistance Scheme will be of any help to me.

“It appears that I’ll be paying £10,000 – £15,000 for my freehold, in contrast to £25,000 to £35,000 that the new freehold owner has demanded.

“I’m still going to lose thousands of pounds paying for this freehold, which I wouldn’t have been had I been properly advised at point of sale.

Miss Darbyshire told MPs: “The Wimpey Ground Rent Assistance Scheme is not a silver bullet.”

 

Justin Madders MP addresses the APPG, of which he is vice-chair. He intends to find out who the investors in the doubling ground rent freeholders are.

Related posts:

CML says lenders ‘reviewing loans to reflect concerns about onerous ground rents’ Council of Mortgage Lenders urged to help LKP end forfeiture CML: Will mortgage lenders lend on commonhold? No. Yes. Maybe … er UK Finance mortgage lenders doled out cash on dodgy leases, but don’t know how many now can’t sell Have lenders refused mortgages on doubling ground rent properties?

Category: APPG, Conveyancing Association, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, Latest News, News, Parliament, Taylor WimpeyTag: Beth Rudolf, Bob Bessell, Conveyancing Association, Council of Mortgage Lenders, Countryside Properties plc, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, Joanne Darbyshire, Justin Madders MP, Marie Rimmer MP, Mortgage lenders, Nationwide, Robert Stevens, Sir Ed Davey, Sir Peter Bottomley, Taylor Wimpey

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Anthony Essien (34) APPG (37) ARMA (87) Bellway (30) Benjamin Mire (32) Cladding scandal (71) Clive Betts MP (31) CMA (45) Commonhold (52) Competition and Markets Authority (41) Countryside Properties plc (33) FirstPort (42) Grenfell cladding (56) Ground rents (54) Harry Scoffin (150) James Brokenshire MP (31) Jim Fitzpatrick (35) Jim Fitzpatrick MP (30) Justin Bates (40) Justin Madders MP (67) Katie Kendrick (37) Law Commission (60) LEASE (66) Leasehold Advisory Service (62) Leasehold houses (32) Long Harbour (48) Martin Boyd (80) McCarthy and Stone (39) National Leasehold Campaign (38) Persimmon (49) Peverel (61) Property tribunal (49) Redrow (30) Retirement (37) Robert Jenrick (33) Roger Southam (47) Sajid Javid (38) Sebastian O’Kelly (55) Sir Peter Bottomley (201) Taylor Wimpey (106) Tchenguiz (33) The Guardian (33) The Times (31) Vincent Tchenguiz (43) Waking watch contracts (40)
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Katie Kendrick

    July 6, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    Well done LKP.

    Every single point mentioned in this excellent article is very much needed.

    It was a great turn out. Clearly there is a strong consensus that leasehold issues can not continue the way they r.

    Hopefully a debate in the commons can be secured.

    Thank you for continuing to include the national leasehold campaign. We appreciate all your hard work.

    There is clearly a lot of work to be done but it can and will be done.

    We won’t give up.

  2. Riccardo Paglianiti

    July 6, 2017 at 9:33 pm

    Thanks for voicing our concerns with such excellent reports.

    This campaign will encounter its frustrating moments as the attention of the public gets distracted by issues that day in day out hit the front pages of the National newspapers but giving up is not an option.

    With the relentless action and constant growth of the National Leasehold Campaign supported by the excellent LKP, a day will come when the scandal will explode to unseen levels. The PPI scandal is nothing compared to the damage that the scams orchestrated by certain developers and their off-shore mates have caused to our families.

    Those MPs, who chose to stay out of the APPG will have no option but to join the choir.

  3. Jo Darbyshire

    July 6, 2017 at 9:52 pm

    Excellent summary as usual LKP. It really feels like the tide of opinion in the sector is changing. We will keep fighting for justice for those of us caught up in this leasehold nightmare.

  4. Mer C

    July 7, 2017 at 4:30 pm

    MAY THE TIDE CONTINUE IN LEASEHOLDERS FAVOUR VERY QUICKLY.

  5. Rent Rebel

    July 9, 2017 at 1:44 pm

    That’ll be the same Philip Green that got knighted. Govts create this untenable situation; they’re complicit. And still they DO nothing.

  6. Rent Rebel

    July 9, 2017 at 2:00 pm

    Every day that passes another freehold passes into the hands of investors. What is Govt doing to reassure any leaseholders being fleeced NOW?! These leaseholders are in two minds whether to even lose their time and money on collective enfranchisement, cos they are STILL WAITING for the Govt to step in and DO something about their freeholds. The ground under their own feet got sold on without their knowledge for heaven’s sake.

    Meanwhile, charlatans and gangsters cash in on those trying to even extend their lease and condemn them to being prisoners in their own home aswell

    https://barcode1966.wordpress.com/2017/07/08/the-forgotten-casualties-of-the-doubling-ground-rent-scandal/

    ” These deals will usually offer to extend your lease back up to only 99 or 125 years. For example if the lease on your flat had fallen to 80 years it would only be topped up by 19 years to 99 years as opposed to having a lease length of 170 years through the statutory route)

    Instead of reducing your ground rent to zero they will include new onerous ground rents which can be between £250 – £500 per year. Their coup de grâce will be to link this onerous ground rent to an aggressive accelerator, like ground rent doubling every 5 or 10 years.

    This is evil genius by freeholders because not only will they make a fortune from the actual ground rent they will now collect, they know that in another 15 years or so someone will have to extend the lease again and with ground rent that high they will have to pay many tens of thousands of pounds for the extension.

    I estimate that between 40-50% of all lease extensions carried out each year are informal and this has been going on for 25 years! ”

    WHEN is this Govt going to stop pretending they care and start doing something to actually help these people?!

    • Leasehold Reform

      July 17, 2017 at 10:44 am

      Thank you for the link and useful info. Most people simply don’t know about informal lease extensions and ground rents reverting to peppercorn.

      I asked around carrying my own informal poll, and NOT. ONE leaseholder I spoke to knew the facts about lease extension. These were mostly well educated people, a couple of them solicitors actually, (with different areas of expertise).

      The system is rigged against the rights of the leaseholder, even tribunals seem to want to keep the unfairness as quiet as possible.

      The ground rent fiasco, is just one of the areas of exploitation open to freeholders. There are others, ultimately leaseholders are virtually powerless against the professional freeholder with entourage of solicitors, managing agents and surveyors.

      The so called rights the leaseholder has, are virtually impossible (and very expensive) to enforce and there are no meaningful penalties for rogue freeholders and dodgy managing agents. They are only answerable to each other, so they can pretty much do whatever they like…

      what we need is a total rehaul of the system and account investigations… the tax system allows them to get away with murder.

  7. Sharon Crossland AIRPM

    July 14, 2017 at 3:46 pm

    Are these the same lenders who didn’t want to lend on commonhold?

  8. ollie

    July 20, 2017 at 7:53 pm

    I have not seen any members of CML ( mortgage lenders association ) ) advertise loans for Commonhold..

    But I am sure many Customer Service Managers ( in the Mortgage Lender Companies ) want to see the end of leasehold forfeiture which has higher priority to the lenders charge registered against the leasehold title.

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