• 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
    • Michael Epstein
    • 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
      • Michael Epstein
      • 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 / Re-energised LEASE holds annual conference

Re-energised LEASE holds annual conference

February 10, 2015 //  by Sebastian O'Kelly

RogerSouthamLKPA re-energised and confident Leasehold Advisory Service held its LEASE annual conference 2015 in central London last Wednesday.

It was a gathering of some of the brightest – perhaps most socially engaged – of the players in the professional leasehold world: lawyers, surveyors, property tribunal judges, property managers.

For the third time – and it was a shameful omission before –leaseholders were allowed in for a “free” evening session. At last, they seem to be considered an important part of a LEASE annual conference.

The change of pace at the organisation is very largely due to the appointment of Roger Southam as chairman on January 1.

Like a vaudeville entertainer in winkle-pickers and bow tie, Mr Southam galvanised the audience with a fast-talking virtuoso performance that included extemporising dialogue, and US politician-style striding around the stage.

At one point, he pulled off an impromptu 15-minute talk as a stand-in for the housing minister, who failed to show at the last minute.

The message from Mr Southam, founder of property manager Chainbow as well as a leaseholder, could be reduced to: we are all in this together, so let’s pull together to make leasehold work better.

Awkward questions at this honeymoon stage of his appointment were largely avoided: the competing interests of freeholders and the professionals that they employ and leaseholders were smoothed over. Harmony was possible, and a cure-all was “better communication”.

Better communication had its limits, however.

“How many here think they are being ripped off by the property managers?” Mr Southam asked 400 leaseholders in the evening session, perhaps expecting a few malcontents.

Instead, a sea of hands immediately appeared, suggesting near unanimity among those present that they were, indeed, being ripped off.

Of course, any leaseholder attending a LEASE event is very likely to have a grievance to air, which marks a contrasts with the Competition and Markets Authority finding of fairly widespread contentment among leaseholders in its leasehold management report.


ARMA: We have lost members owing to ARMA-Q

Martin Perry, chairman of ARMA, addressing the LEASE annual conference 2015
Martin Perry, chairman of ARMA, addressing the LEASE annual conference 2015

Damian Greenish, of Pemberton greenish solicitors, chaired the main sessions, which began with Martin Perry, chairman of ARMA.

Applications to its new ARMA-Q regulatory scheme – which is now the benchmark for membership of the trade body – came in at the last minute before the January 1 deadline.

Mr Perry, who heads West of England Estates Management in Bath, said that ARMA-Q is “not a back-slapping exercise. We have lost some members because of it”.

Some property management companies either would not sign up, or did not qualify. His own company had to amend some business practices in order to do so (in later conversation this emerged related to the lack of formal management contracts with historic clients).

Although ARMA-Q is not the solution to all issues, Mr Perry argued that many of the CMA concerns about service charges, using reserve funds to off-set finances and links with service companies were addressed in the tougher regulations.

Mr Perry referred to the LKP session at the Commons on January 29, which he attended. “It was interesting blue skies thinking, but the chances of legislative change in the near future is very slim.”

True enough, with the election in spring.


 

CMA market study findings

Douglas Cooper, the project director of the leasehold management inquiry, went over the main findings of the report.

While “existing legislation and practices actually did quite a good job”, satisfaction was higher in RTM / RMC controlled blocks.

“Where the relationship between property manager and the leaseholder breaks down, the impact on leaseholders can be very significant,” he said. “There is a lot of suspicion and distrust of property management companies.”

The CMA estimated total revenue associated with service charges in England and Wales as between £2.3 billion and £3.5 billion.

There was the now obligatory reference to leaseholders’ ignorance: “Leaseholders often feel poorly informed and have a limited understanding of their liabilities when they purchase a leasehold property.”

Unmentioned, was the ignorance of others in the sector: until last autumn everyone was repeating the ludicrous figure of 2.5 million leasehold properties. It is now accepted that there are 4.1 million private leasehold properties.

However, LEASE is working on a simple information sheet for prospective buyers.

The CMA repeated – and has done at all presentations of its report – that the problems in leasehold were not confined to management companies that were not affiliated to the trade bodies. The complaints spread across all.

Transparency and communication – again – were highlighted, commissions of all kinds must be declared – including that of insurance to the freeholder – there should be full disclosure of corporate links with service companies.

The CMA seeks legislation “For new powers that would require the landlord to re-tender for a new property management company in circumstances where more than 50% of all leaseholders support re-tendering.”

It also recommended “alternative dispute resolution (either early neutral evaluation, mediation or other), separate from the current FTT process, for certain categories of complaint.”

LKP has long argued that ombudsmen schemes fulfil this role and that anything above £1,000 should be dealt with by the tribunal, whose own mediation service is showing a remarkably high take-up.


 

The First Tier Tribunal

Siobhan McGrath, president of the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), gave an overview of the functions of the property tribunal, which is now handling 9,500 leasehold cases a year (11,000 cases of all varieties).

Again, there was a loaded emphasis on the property tribunal being a “no-cost service” – which will come as a surprise to the pensioners of Elim Court who are looking at approximately £25,000 costs so far for their failed RTM in the upper tribunal.

The tribunal may indeed be “no cost”, but what is the point of emphasising that given that landlords are allowed to levy legal costs in most leases?

Unless the tribunal prevents a landlord levying his costs, they descend on the leaseholders .

LKP had first hand experience of the “no cost” property tribunal when upmarket West India Quay wanted a recognised tenants’ association and the freeholder deployed a legal army costing £74,500 for an afternoon’s work.

Fortunately, this blatant gamesmanship in the property tribunal completely failed.


The material of other presentations at the LEASE annual conference will be addressed in subsequent articles.

Anthony Essien, LEASE’s Chief Executive, said of the LEASE annual conference 2015: “I was frankly honoured to see so many delegates join us for both the day and evening events. It just confirms to me that this is a unique and important event for everyone associated with leasehold property.”

Its report of the event is here

 

Related posts:

What does LKP think of ARMA reforms, we were asked. As the annual conference begins in London today, here we go … Sir Peter Bototmley Leasehold Advisory Service‘If I fail to offend anyone, I will do it next time,’ Bottomley tells appalled leasehold professionals at LEASE annual conference Justin Madders MP demands LEASE chair has ‘no business interests in the leasehold sector’ Default ThumbnailLKP comment on LEASE annual conference 2012: a trade show for ‘leasehold professionals’ courtesy of taxpayers London LEASE conference on February 4

Category: Latest News, LEASE, NewsTag: Anthony Essien, Damian Green, Douglas Cooper, LEASE, LEASE annual conference, Leasehold Advisory Service, Martin Perry, Roger Southam, Siobhan McCrath

Latest Tweets

Tweets by @LKPleasehold

Mentions

Anthony Essien (34) APPG (36) ARMA (86) Bellway (30) Benjamin Mire (32) Cladding scandal (70) Clive Betts MP (31) CMA (41) Commonhold (49) Competition and Markets Authority (37) Countryside Properties plc (32) FirstPort (37) Forfeiture (29) Grenfell cladding (55) Ground rents (51) James Brokenshire MP (31) Jim Fitzpatrick (35) Jim Fitzpatrick MP (30) Justin Bates (38) Justin Madders MP (62) Katie Kendrick (35) Law Commission (59) LEASE (66) Leasehold Advisory Service (62) Leasehold houses (32) Long Harbour (44) Martin Boyd (77) McCarthy and Stone (39) National Leasehold Campaign (38) Persimmon (49) Peverel (61) Property tribunal (48) Redrow (29) Retirement (37) Robert Jenrick (33) Roger Southam (47) Sajid Javid (38) Sebastian O’Kelly (55) Sir Peter Bottomley (196) Taylor Wimpey (104) Tchenguiz (33) The Guardian (32) The Times (30) Vincent Tchenguiz (40) Waking watch contracts (40)
Previous Post: « Benjamin Mire fails to block RICS disciplinary investigation in the high court
Next Post: Watch out! There’s a lease running out »

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 © 2022 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 no charge by www.34sp.com
Website by Callia Web