The government is not going to do anything to help 100,000 leaseholders trapped in unsellable properties with onerous ground rents.
It said today:
“A lease is a form of contract – and once a contract has been signed, the Government has few options on how to intervene. This is because it would have implications for private property rights.
“But, we take this matter very seriously. A number of developers have already introduced schemes to assist people, but these must go further and faster.
“We are keeping a close eye on progress and will keep under review the full range of measures that could be pursued where further action is necessary.
“We also want to see support extended to second hand buyers where appropriate, and for all leaseholders to be proactively contacted where compensation may be due.
“We are working with the Law Commission to support existing leaseholders – including making buying a freehold or extending a lease easier, faster, fairer and cheaper.”
Related posts:
Developers moderating their cheating makes it worse for leaseholders who are trapped, says Fiona Bruce MP
20,000 leaseholders trapped in blocks with Grenfell cladding, says Telegraph
Now it is Shanly Homes dumping its customers into unsellable homes
Sajid Javid vows to ‘stamp out abuses’ over leasehold that make homes unsellable
The Sun says … ‘thousands trapped in leasehold homes due to spiralling ground rent costs’
One for Corbyn?
My comment is about no help from the Government for leaseholders with unsaleable properties as a contract is a contract and valid. I dispute this deception. A contract that is not transparent is not a valid contract. My husband and I purchased leasehold and gradually found that there was nothing transparent about it, but it sure was expensive.
The government could intervene but it is choosing not to. What will move the government to act to look after the leaseholder and bring fairness to what in my experience is a system weighted against the individual leaseholder.
Where does this leave us who are already tied into leasehold houses? I read that its going to make it easier and cheaper to buy our lease then I read there is nothing happening for existing leasehold house owners???? lets hope by 20th November we will all be a little happier.
If you bought a leasehold house, you need to get super -active and start asking questions about abolishing leasehold.
What does your MP have to say about it?
“A lease is a form of contract – and once a contract has been signed, the Government has few options on how to intervene. This is because it would have implications for private property rights.”
The most obvious option that governments always have is to ensure that developers and their lawyers behave responsibly and HONESTLY when setting up such consumer contracts, or when trying to escape them through false arguments after pocketing the proceeds.
In my own case, I witnessed first-hand how a (local authority) developer sought to escape contractual responsibility: by selling the freehold then pretending in writing that the sale ended its obligations. There is no law that would release them, and the wording of our leases is ‘XYZ Developer AND its successors in title’, not ‘OR’. The defence could not find any law on its side. I had the freehold transferred back to the local authority, by court order. About £670 trillion at stake in maintenance costs over the next 950 years, just for one small development.
FRAUD IS A CRIME. Only a private prosecution will ever stop this rot.
Central government in my experience has been involved in encouraging local authorities to act unlawfully, to save public funds. That is what we’re up against. It is not just that government is in bed with developers. Through local authorities, central government has an enormous financial interest in maintaining false legal notions and common leasehold misconceptions. These continue through the plethora of lawyers and other officials who have to obey government orders or lose their jobs. Dishonest in the first place, and then dishonest in turning a blind eye.
Fraud is a crime, but there is no affordable way to prosecute. Conveyancing solicitors, are very poorly regulated, shocking what they get away with. The SRA, like most self- regulatory bodies appears to be blind.
People seem to have more rights when buying a fridge, compared to buying a home whether it is freehold, fleecehold, or leasehold. Fit for purpose, mis-selling, misrepresentation seem to be missing in these contracts. English law seems reasonably fair, until you open the Halloween box of leasehold…
You know, I thought exactly the same thing. There is a big fuss about consumer rights when it comes to buying a fridge, but when it matters, such as our entire homes that we live in, it’s someone else’s ‘property’.