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Number 10 chief of staff Gavin Barwell ‘delighted’ to be invited to present award to LKP

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Leasehold Knowledge Partnership Parliamentary award
Sebastian O’Kelly and Martin Boyd (centre) thank MPs for their support after receiving the award from the All Party Parliamentary Group: Justin Madders (left), Sir Peter Bottomley and Jim Fitzpatrick

The Leasehold Knowledge Partnership was presented with a prestigious award by the All Party Parliamentary Group for leasehold and commonhold reform, which represents 171 MPs.

Gavin Barwell, former housing minister and chief of staff at Number 10 under Theresa May

Former housing minister Gavin Barwell, the current chief of staff of Number 10, was to have presented the award to Sebastian O’Kelly, LKP chief executive, and to Martin Boyd, the chairman, but was called abroad.

He said:

“I was delighted to be invited to present an award to Leasehold Knowledge Partnership for their work on raising the issues on leasehold, supporting individual leaseholders and acting as Secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Leasehold and Commonhold Reform. I am sorry that travel overseas prevents me from being with you today.

“I am proud of my work when I was Housing Minister, along with the then Secretary of State Sajid Javid, to stamp out unfair, unjust and unacceptable abuse of the leasehold system and delighted the current Secretary of State James Brokenshire has carried forward that work.

“We have made important progress, but there is much still to do and I know that LKP will continue to play a key role in what is to come.”

The wonderful Katherine O’Riordan, with LKP personnel: Sebastian O’Kelly and Martin Boyd. Katherine has organised all the APPG meetings and is a stalwart supporter of the group. Her help to all has been outstanding. 

A party was held to celebrate the occasion at the river terrace of the House of Commons organised by Katherine O’Riordan, senior parliamentary aide to Sir Peter, with guests who included leaseholders, leasehold campaigners, Law Society, developers and trade bodies.

We were also delighted that Sonia McColl OBE, the park home campaigner who had her home stolen after years of abuse, was also able to attend.

Park Home champion Sonia McColl OBE has her mobile home stolen … ‘after death threats’

John Healey, shadow Communities Secretary, attended as did shadow housing minister Sarah Jones, as well as a host of MPs who have campaigned so effectively on the leasehold scandal.

They included Rosie Cooper, Mike Amesbury and Justin Madders, the Labour MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, who memorably dubbed the doubling ground rent scandal as “worse than PPI” and said an “Englishman’s home isn’t a castle: it’s a revenue stream for an offshore company”.

“For these he was promptly made deputy chair of the APPG,” Sir Peter Bottomley said in a speech at the event.

The event was attended by numerous leasehold campaigners, including Katie Kendrick, Joanne Darbyshire and Cath Williams, who founded the astonishing National Leasehold Campaign.

Michael Epstein and Louie Burns were also there, and LKP trustees Professor James Driscoll and Dr Dean Buckner.

There were representatives at the event of prime London leasehold sites; LKP accredited managing agents; the Law Society; trade bodies and developers.

Sadly, MHCLG civil servants, who we especially wished to thank, were overwhelmed with toil – perhaps because Lord Best’s report on property management and agents was delivered yesterday as well.

We will have to celebrate with them on another occasion.

Sir Peter Bottomley with Katie Kendrick, Joanne Darbyshire and Cath Williams, the founders of the brilliantly persuasive National Leasehold Campaign that was formed in January 2017
Martin Boyd, LKP chair, chatting with LKP trustee Professor James Driscoll
Not a bad turnout for a Monday afternoon to celebrate a minnow organisation’s efforts to end the lunacies of residential leasehold. Families are trying to buy homes; not being kippered by plc house builders with sneaky investment assets for private equity speculators, often based offshore.
The party was held on the terrace of the House of Commons

Related posts:

Gavin Barwell: ‘No excuse for leasehold houses or punitive ground rents and we will stamp them out’ Dear Gavin Barwell … our Taylor Wimpey leasehold house means my pension will be eroded Two flats a year face forfeiture in constituency of housing minister Gavin Barwell LKP meeting with housing minister Gavin Barwell Sebastian O’Kelly wins second press award for leasehold reform

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  1. Denise Clark

    Congratulations LKP! God knows you deserve this award! All leaseholders are massively lucky to have you fighting their corner ! Absolutely thrilled to see this happen !

  2. Paddy

    Congratulations LKP.

    As for government, I’m reminded of the self congratulations companies give themselves when they produce fine mission statements.

    “Important progress. Still a lot more to do.”

    If words of promise be progress, true nuff.

    Doing stuff is an action. There is still everything to do and look at the time. Yet another parliamentary session is ending.

  3. Michael Epstein

    Given how many hundreds of years this feudal system has been going, their is no way this was ever going to be a quick fix?
    Many attempts at change have withered on the vine.
    This time it is different. We have the campaigning groups. They are not going to go away.
    I use the word “campaigning” as previously their were only “protest” groups.
    Protest groups are much easier for the vested interests to defend against.
    I have often used the analogy of the tide turning?
    When the tide comes in not every wave moves up the beach in a uniform fashion.
    The waves come in, the waves go out. But eventually they do overwhelm the beach.