• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Home
  • What is LKP
  • Find everything …
  • Contact
Donate

Leasehold Knowledge Management Logo

Secretariat of the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold reform

Mobile Menu

  • Home
  • What is LKP
  • Find everything …
  • Contact
  • Advice
  • News
    • Find everything …
    • About Peverel group
    • APPG
    • ARMA
    • Bellway
    • Benjamin Mire
    • Brixton Hill Court
    • Canary Riverside
    • Charter Quay
    • Chelsea Bridge Wharf
    • Cladding scandal
    • Competition and Markets Authority / OFT
    • Commonhold
    • Communities Select Committee
    • Conveyancing Association
    • Countrywide
    • MHCLG
    • E&J Capital Partners
    • Exit fees
    • FirstPort
    • Fleecehold
    • Forfeiture
    • FPRA
    • Gleeson Homes
    • Ground rent scandal
    • Hanover
    • House managers flat
    • House of Lords
    • Housing associations
    • Informal lease extension
    • Insurance
    • IRPM
    • Jim Fitzpatrick MP
    • John Christodoulou
    • Justin Bates
    • Justin Madders MP
    • Law Commission
    • LEASE
    • Liam Spender
    • Local authority leasehold
    • London Assembly
    • Louie Burns
    • Martin Paine
    • McCarthy and Stone
    • Moskovitz / Gurvits
    • Mulberry Mews
    • National Leasehold Campaign
    • Oakland Court
    • Park Homes
    • Parliament
    • Persimmon
    • Peverel
    • Philip Rainey QC
    • Plantation Wharf
    • Press
    • Property tribunal
    • Prostitutes
    • Quadrangle House
    • Redrow
    • Retirement
    • Richard Davidoff
    • RICS
    • Right To Manage Federation
    • Roger Southam
    • Rooftop development
    • RTM
    • Sean Powell
    • SFO
    • Shared ownership
    • Sinclair Gardens Investments
    • Sir Ed Davey
    • Sir Peter Bottomley
    • St George’s Wharf
    • Subletting
    • Taylor Wimpey
    • Tchenguiz
    • Warwick Estates
    • West India Quay
    • William Waldorf Astor
    • Windrush Court
  • Parliament
  • Accreditation
  • [Custom]
Menu
  • Advice
  • News
      • Find everything …
      • About Peverel group
      • APPG
      • ARMA
      • Bellway
      • Benjamin Mire
      • Brixton Hill Court
      • Canary Riverside
      • Charter Quay
      • Chelsea Bridge Wharf
      • Cladding scandal
      • Competition and Markets Authority / OFT
      • Commonhold
      • Communities Select Committee
      • Conveyancing Association
      • Countrywide
      • MHCLG
      • E&J Capital Partners
      • Exit fees
      • FirstPort
      • Fleecehold
      • Forfeiture
      • FPRA
      • Gleeson Homes
      • Ground rent scandal
      • Hanover
      • House managers flat
      • House of Lords
      • Housing associations
      • Informal lease extension
      • Insurance
      • IRPM
      • Jim Fitzpatrick MP
      • John Christodoulou
      • Justin Bates
      • Justin Madders MP
      • Law Commission
      • LEASE
      • Liam Spender
      • Local authority leasehold
      • London Assembly
      • Louie Burns
      • Martin Paine
      • McCarthy and Stone
      • Moskovitz / Gurvits
      • Mulberry Mews
      • National Leasehold Campaign
      • Oakland Court
      • Park Homes
      • Parliament
      • Persimmon
      • Peverel
      • Philip Rainey QC
      • Plantation Wharf
      • Press
      • Property tribunal
      • Prostitutes
      • Quadrangle House
      • Redrow
      • Retirement
      • Richard Davidoff
      • RICS
      • Right To Manage Federation
      • Roger Southam
      • Rooftop development
      • RTM
      • Sean Powell
      • SFO
      • Shared ownership
      • Sinclair Gardens Investments
      • Sir Ed Davey
      • Sir Peter Bottomley
      • St George’s Wharf
      • Subletting
      • Taylor Wimpey
      • Tchenguiz
      • Warwick Estates
      • West India Quay
      • William Waldorf Astor
      • Windrush Court
  • Parliament
  • Accreditation
You are here: Home / Latest News / Oh, dear! Long Harbour private equity speculators buy freehold where ground rent FALLS from £250 to £143

Oh, dear! Long Harbour private equity speculators buy freehold where ground rent FALLS from £250 to £143

November 23, 2020 //  by Sebastian O'Kelly

The private equity clientele who buy into the Long Harbour freehold fund appear to have bought a pup at a site in West London where the ground rent actually reduces on review.

Ground rents at the nine-flat site start at £250pa, but are reviewed every 25 years, which falls due in 2024.

In what is almost certainly an error – common to all the leases at the site – the ground rent changes to 1/3004 of the capital value of the flats.

The figure is actually hand written into the leases, and the extra “4” added at the end presumably in error, and possibly echoing the review date of “2024”.

But the effect of this is that the ground rent actually falls, given that the flats are selling for around £430,000.

The intention was almost certainly 1/300th, which would bump the ground rent up to £1,433pa: an onerous ground rent that lenders these days won’t touch, but certainly unexceptional in the Long Harbour portfolio.

Leaseholders contacted LKP because they are selling their flat.

Astonishingly, the factory conveyancing legal firm acting for the buyer has misunderstood the lease and asked the vendor to seek a deed of variation from the freeeholder.

The solicitors write:

“The ground rent increases are such that our clients lender may not lend, and even if they do our client should be advised not to proceed. We require a deed of variation to preferably a level rent, or which limits the rent to 0.1% of the property value, limits increases to no more than inflation, and with reviews no more frequently than 5 yearly. Please ask the landlord for a variation.”

The sellers contacted HomeGround, which administers the Long Harbour freeholds, and they are more than happy to vary the lease in their favour … and charge for doing so.

The costs would be HomeGround’s Fee of £300, plus solicitor drafting fees of £300 – £600 + VAT, in order to set the £250pa ground rent to rise with RPI.

LKP’s advice is obviously to do nothing of the kind and for the sellers to inform the buyers that that they may wish to review their solicitors.

Our further advice to all the leaseholders is to enfranchise the block in 2024 on the basis of the new lower ground rent and get the Long Harbour freeloaders out of their lives altogether.

Related posts:

Rebecca Long-Bailey leaseholdRebecca Long-Bailey asks Will Astor why Long Harbour is demanding £10,000 to vary toxic doubling ground rent leases E and J Captial PartnersPensioner paid £38,000 for Taylor Wimpey freehold to ground rent speculators E&J Capital Partners Countryside Properties plc and Long Harbour to offer deal to end ground rent scam at Silver Point Long Harbour hits reverse on forfeiture to £800,000 flat over £400 ground rent … and JB Leitch halves its legal bill Tory MP Stephen McPartland shames Long Harbour / Adriatic Land into dropping doubling ground rent leases

Category: Ground rent scandal, Latest News, News, William Waldorf Astor

Latest Tweets

Tweets by @LKPleasehold

Mentions

Anthony Essien (34) APPG (37) ARMA (87) Bellway (30) Benjamin Mire (32) Cladding scandal (71) Clive Betts MP (31) CMA (44) Commonhold (52) Competition and Markets Authority (39) Countryside Properties plc (33) FirstPort (39) 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 (64) Katie Kendrick (37) Law Commission (60) LEASE (66) Leasehold Advisory Service (62) Leasehold houses (32) Long Harbour (47) 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 (200) Taylor Wimpey (106) Tchenguiz (33) The Guardian (33) The Times (31) Vincent Tchenguiz (42) Waking watch contracts (40)
Previous Post: «Two-storey planning give-away Tory councillors and Labour MP back leaseholders in blocking ERE freeholds shoving up two more storeys under Jenrick’s planning give-away
Next Post: MPs attack government for dumping historic building failures onto leaseholders Clive Betts MPs»

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michael Loveridge

    November 26, 2020 at 11:37 am

    “Astonishingly, the factory conveyancing legal firm acting for the buyer has misunderstood the lease …”

    Sadly, it’s anything but astonishing. Most conveyancing nowadays is carried out by unqualified people who are often under only nominal supervision. The conveyancing factories are usually hand in glove – or even owned by – estate agents, whose only concern is to ensure that the sale goes through as quickly as possible so they can charge their commission.

    Purchasers are bullied or bribed into using these firms of conveyancers, and we only have to look at the scandal regarding ground rents on new houses built by Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon etc to see the results. Most people who bought these houses were using conveyancers recommended by the builders, and the conveyancers are, in reality, treating the builders as their clients rather than the purchasers. After all, they will probably never see the purchaser again, whereas they can rely on a steady supply of business from the builders provided they don’t cause any problems – like querying the ground rent provisions.

    The conveyancers acting in this case should be named and shamed.

  2. ANDREW WERNICK

    November 27, 2020 at 10:22 am

    wheres the evidence that the ‘extra 4’ was added. dont look that way to me. not squeezed in and same handwriting.

Above Footer

Advising leaseholders. Avoiding disasters.
Stopping forfeiture. Exposing abuses. Urging reform.

We depend on individuals for the majority of our funding.

Support Us and Donate

LKP Managing Agents

Become an LKP Managing Agent

Common Ground
Adam Church
Blocnet property management2

Stay in Touch

To achieve victory in the leasehold game where you are playing against professionals and with rules that they know all too well - stay informed with the LKP newsletter.
Sign Up for Newsletter

Professional Directory

The following advertisements are from firms that seek business from leaseholders.
Click on the logos for company profiles.

Footer

About LKP

  • What is LKP
  • Privacy and data

Categories

  • News
  • Cladding scandal
  • Commonhold
  • Law Commission
  • Fleecehold
  • Parliament
  • Press
  • APPG

Contact

Leasehold Knowledge Partnership
Open Data Institute
5th Floor
Kings Place
London N1 9AG

sok@leaseholdknowledge.com

Copyright © 2023 Leasehold Knowledge Partnership | All rights reserved
Leasehold Knowledge Partnership Limited (company number: 08999652) is a company limited by guarantee that is a registered charity (number: 1162584) with the Charities Commission.
LKP website is hosted at www.34sp.com
Website by Callia Web