The sheer breadth of the leasehold houses scandal was revealed in the National Leasehold Campaign email dump on plc house builder CEOs on Monday.
Hundreds of leasehold house owners sent emails, copying in Communities Secretary Robert Genrick, Housing Minister Esther McVey, local MPs, LKP and LKP’s MP patrons Sir Peter Bottomley and Jim Fitzpatrick.
Sites ranged from Liskeard in Cornwall to Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Liverpool to Bradwell, in Norfolk.
The majority were directed to David Jenkinson, the £40 million plus boss of Persimmon, which caved into leasehold house owners demanding their freeholds in a court action in Cardiff last month:
Persimmon under pressure to cancel all leasehold deals
FTSE-100 giant accused of ‘mis-selling dozens of homes on an estate’ in Cardiff Buyers at St Edeyrn’s Village claim they were not told homes were leasehold Persimmon admitted its sales team had not been clear enough Housebuilder Persimmon is under pressure to scrap all of its leasehold contracts after it reached an out-of-court settlement over alleged mis-selling.
But masses of others went to Barratt, Taylor Wimpey, Bellway, Redrow, Bovis, Countryside Properties plc – banned from Liverpool for its leasehold cheating – Miller Homes, Wain Homes, Crest Nicholson.
Anyone who missed out can have a go now. Share your pain with those who cause it:
john.tutte@redrow.co.uk
ian.sutcliffe@cpplc.com
pete.redfern@taylorwimpey.com
Greg.fitzgerald@bovishomes.co.uk
Steve.Toghill@wainhomes.net
david.thomas@barrattplc.co.uk
chris.endsor@miller.co.uk
Jason.honeyman@bellway.co.uk
LKP involved local Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh in the problems at Persimmon’s Augusta Park, with Sebastian O’Kelly, director, telling one leaseholder:
“It is absolutely outrageous that you were duped into buying these flawed properties – while the Persimmon execs remunerated themselves with the sort of bonuses that would only be explicable if they had actually created a company.
“Mr Fysh should be raising this in Parliament.”
Yeovil local councillor Keith Weston wrote to Mr Jenkinson:
“Where their freeholds have been sold on to institutional investor’s without offering them to the residents first, I urge you to buy them back and return them. For those who have paid out close to £5,000 to prevent you selling on I urge you to refund the freehold cost and legal fees.”
All three of the founders of the National Leasehold Campaign – Katie Kendrick, Jo Darbyshire and Cath Williams – made their voices heard, no one will be surprised to learn.
It is testament to the knowledge now out there one leaseholder wrote to Mr Honeyman (Bellway):
“I urge you to take steps now to buy back the freeholds that Bellway sold on to Adriatic Land and to then give them to Bellway customers who ‘bought’ leasehold houses on The Heath estate in Warrington.
“The shady situation around sales of leasehold houses on The Heath estate and elsewhere has been well documented in evidence supplied to the Government, recent Select Committee on Leasehold Reform and ongoing CMA investigation into leasehold miss-selling.
“Your sales team told me the house was ‘only leasehold to maintain the look of the estate until completion’ and ‘I wouldn’t be a leaseholder for long as I could buy the freehold easily in two years for around £6,000’ etc.
“Messages repeated by many builders all over the NW.”
A surprise to LKP was to see so many sites of leasehold houses from Barratt / David Wilson Homes. Its CEO David Thomas had assured the APPG that it had only a small amount of leasehold houses around Manchester. The email dump exploded this.
LKP has applauded Barratt repeatedly for picking up the £2 million grenfell cladding bill at Citiscape in Croydon – because freehold Vincent Tchenguiz certainly wasn’t going to. So it was disappointing to see how deeply the company is enmired in the leasehold house game.
One leaseholder of Thornton-Cleveleys Fleetwood wrote to Mr Thomas:
“My estate is also now a ‘two tier’ system with some homes freehold and some leasehold. This makes my home much more challenging to sell and reduces it’s value. My home of 7 years is marketed for £20000 less than I purchased it for. Despite being on the market for 9 months we have not had a single viewing.
“These actions mean I am unable to continue my life in the way I planned purely due to greed and an effort to pinch an extra few pounds of profit – that I was willing to pay myself at the time!”
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Another was furious with Barratt sales staff for not telling them that “our true landlord was an investment company, Nationwide Pension Fund Ltd” when the houses were sold.
Another said:
“You and your colleagues knowingly withheld information from customers that the freehold to the Beckets Brow development (Chapel-en-le-Frith) had been sold before ⅔ of the development had even been built.
“We hope you realise the sense of betrayal we feel with the way your sales team have behaved and look forward to hearing how you intend to deal with this serious issue.”
Another at Parkedge Close, Leigh, Lancs, told Mr Thomas the same thing:
“As you have always known, our freehold were never in your control and were in fact sold to Nationwide Pension Trust Fund Ltd in April 2016, months and years before most of us bought our home from your corporation. This information was intentionally withheld until a few months after we had moved in, denying us all the opportunity of making a safe, house purchase decision.”
One housebuilder, Harron Homes responded that it was not fair to be included in the email dump.
It is building leasehold houses at Prince of Wales site, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, only because the Harworth Estates (Waverley Prince) Ltd owns the freehold (and it has not beneficial interest in the company).
Ground rents are £100pa rising with RPI. and Harron strongly disapproves of flogging on “fleecehold” management companies, too. They are controlled by the leaseholders, it claims.
Here are the sites:
PERSIMMON
(some duplicates)
- Palmerston Heights Estate, Plymouth
- Magnolia Gardens, Castleford
- Augusta Park, Yeovill
- Buttercup Leys
- Saltram Meadow development,
- Hartcliffe Meadows
- Hansel Road, London NW
- Phoenix Place, North Hykeham, LN6 9ZR,
- Trevethan Meadows, the Persimmons site in Liskeard, Cornwall
- Mountford Place development in Wellesbourne Warwickshire
- Carleton Meadows Estate, Leigh, Penrith, Cumbria,
- Vulcan Park Estate, Newton-le-Willows
- Eccleston Park estate in Chorley, Lancashire
- Deerwood Park, Coln
- The Boulevards, East Tilbury,
- Fairways Park, Retford
- Buckshaw Village
- Elworth Park in Sandbach, Cheshire
- Phoenix Place, North Hykeham, Lincolnshire
- Badbury Park, Swindon
- Persimmon Home Farm, Cranfield
- Abbey Place, Ashton Road, Roade, Northampton
- Fairfield View in Heywood
- Avery Fields Birmingham,
- Rivacre Village Estate in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
- Home Farm, Cranfield
- Mersey View, Bromborough
- Bluebell Meadow, Bradwell, Norfolk
- Waterside Village, St Helens
- Shilton Place Coventry
- Boniface Close Bromborough Wirral
- Newsham Gardens L7 0AB
- St Aidans Place, Widnes
- Deerwood Park, Colne
- Quernmore Park, Lancaster
- Bluestone Meadow in Broughton, Flintshire
- Weldon Park
- Home Farm Estate in Cranfield, Bedfordshire
- Phoenix Place, North Hykeham, Lincoln,
- Eccleston Park, Chorley
- Walmsley Park, Leigh
- Beeches estate in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
- Leyhill Estate in Northfield, Birmingham,
- Harford Mews, Ivybridge Devon
- Waterside Village St Helens WA9 5RG
- Copthorne Place/Winter Close
- Buttercup Leys, Kimbolton Way, Boulton Moor, Derby
- Bluebell Meadow, Bradwell, Norfolk
- Alner Road, Blandford Forum, Dorset
- Guardian Way, Luton
- Riverside Point Warrington
- Coquet Grange, Amble, Northumberland
- Fairways Park, Retford DN22 7WZ
- Harford Mews estate in Ivybridge, Devon
TAYLOR WIMPEY
- The Groves, Pen-y-Ffordd, Flintshire
- Holme Park, Ince, Wigan, Greater Manchester
- Pembroke Park (formerly RAF Eastcote prior to the Taylor Wimpey Sandringham development)
- Saxon Heath estate in Tarvin, Cheshire
- Millers Brow Estate, Blackley, Manchester
- Kings Grange, Audenshaw
- Byron Bank estate, Manchester, M8
- Rendle Close, Winnington, Northwhich, CW8 4ZE
- Jasmine Park, Macclesfield,
- Silver Birches, Lostock
BELLWAY
Bob Blackman MP at Communities Select Committee: ‘You are selling the freehold out from under them [Bellway customers] without their knowledge.”
Jason Honeyman: “Yes, we are.”
- Broadway,Sunderland
- Jasmin Parc & Bluestone Meadow, Broughton, Flintshire
- Bellway Churchfields estate Liverpool
- Heath Development, Warrington, Cheshire
- Oak Meadow Bellway estate, Warmingham Lane, Cheshire
- Leyhill Estate in Northfield, Birmingham
- Oak Meadow, Middlewich, Cheshire
- Rivacre Village Estate in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
- Leyhill Estate in Northfield, Birmingham
- Orrell Gardens, Westfields Drive
- Hadrian Village Estate in Willington Quay , Tyne and Wear
- Broadway Estate in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
- Ley Hill Estate in Northfield, Birmingham,
- Pinnacle Square Developments, Bexleyheath
- Oak Meadow, Middlewich, Cheshire
- Glenside View estate, Pelton Fell, DH2
- Churchfields Estate in Litherland, Liverpool
- Jasmin Parc & Bluestone Meadow, Broughton, Flintshire
- Links View Estate, Ainsdale, Merseyside
- Bellway Oak Meadow Middlewich
- West Meadows Chopwell
- Marrow Drive, Liverpool
- Bluestone Meadows, Broughton, Flintshire, CH4
- Rivacre Village Estate in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
- Alderman Place
- The Heath Warrington
- Earsdon View, Shiremoor, Tyne and Wear
BARRATT
- Imperial Park, Northwich, Cheshire
- Beckets Brow Barratt Homes development in Chapel en le Frith
- Victoria Gardens, WA8 7AA
- Vistas Estate, Heywood
- Riverside View, Lancaster
- Beckets Brow Estate, Chapel-en-le-frith
- Hawthorn Drive Thornton-Cleveleys Fleetwood FY5 4GU
- Maltby Square Buckshaw Village Chorley Lancashire PR7 7GN
- Eccleston Park and Sandhurst Gardens estate in Chorley, Lancashire
- Victoria Gardens Estate in Widnes
- Parkedge Close, Leigh, Lancs, WN7 3UR
WAIN HOMES
- The Fieldings, Wrea Green
REDROW
- Ricksby Grange Estate, Wrea Green.
- Coppice Redrow development Southport
- Whitehill Meadows, Blackpool
- Buckshaw Village, Chorley, Lancashire
- Matrix Office Park, Buckshaw Village, Chorley
- Lancashire, PR7 7NA
L&Q
- Highbridge Street Waltham Abbey
MORRIS HOMES
- The Fieldings, Wrea Green
- Waterside Village, St Helens, Merseyside
- Vista site in Peterborough
- Oakwood View, Middlewich
- Winnington Village in Northwich
- St.James Place, Lostock Hall, Preston.
- Sandford Village, Warrington
- Spinning Mill Close, Oswaldtwistle, Accrington, BB5 4AB
- Clifton View
- Sovereign Gare estate
- Waterside Village
- Herons Wharf, Appley Bridge, Wigan
- Waterside Village, St Helens, Merseyside
BOVIS
- Harcourt Place in Botley, Oxford
- Waterside Village St Helens
DAVID WILSON HOMES
- Steinbeck Grange Chapelford Urban Village Great Sankey
- Stapeley Water Gardens Estate
- Gilbert’s Cross David Wilson development in Sandbach
GALLIFORD TRY
- Linden Park, Lyde Green BS16 7FP
- Ashdown Grove /Kitswell Park, Lanchester,
COUNTRYSIDE PROPERTIES PLC
- New Broughton Village, Salford, Manchester
- St Aidans Place, Widnes
- Copperwells Estate
- Hatton Gardens Salford
DUNDEE GROUP
- Whalley Grove, Thornbury Mews, Manchester
- Waterside Village St Helens
MILLER HOMES
- Atkinson Quay, LS10 1GH
ECCLESTON HOMES
- Meadow View Estate
- H2010 Estate in Leeds, West Yorkshire
HARRON HOMES
- Prince of Wales Development, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.
CREST NICHOLSON
- Upper Longcross
Related posts:
Mass email dump: leasehold home owners demand their freeholds after Persimmon caves into court action
Furious Persimmon leasehold house owners at Harrow View West demand their freeholds
Newcastle leasehold house owners stuff attempt by Barratt and Keepmoat to sell their freeholds
ITV News covers the leasehold house scandal, and homeowners stage mass demo on March 18
Commonhold is back! House builder offers flats without leasehold tenancies
Mass email dump: leasehold home owners demand their freeholds after Persimmon caves into court action
Look at the number of developers and estates caught up in this mess…. This is a national scandal and if the developers don’t sort this out soon then hopefully the CMA, Trading Standards and the government will come down harder. If I was a developer I’d be getting these freeholds back asap.
Thankyou to everyone who joined in this event. It’s not too late to send your email.
The NLC are really pleased so many leaseholders joined in this important action. For too long developers have been trying to down play this national scandal.
The NLC is going from strength to strength. We are growing rapidly now. We are not going to go quiet, and we are not going to give up.
The developers can put this right if they want to. The developers are choosing not to. Let’s be honest; with the record profits just announced yet again they can certainly afford to put this right.
Many thanks to LKP for their continued support.
I understand your argument where purchasers were not informed that HOUSES they were buying would be leasehold. In the sales office signing the holding deposit. I also accept they must have felt some form on entrapment when in the conveyance process it was revealed it would be leasehold as opposed to freehold They would probably feel that with abortive legal costs they had to soldier on. This I understand is Trading standards view and why they wished to prosecute. Clearly it is not acceptable practice
What I can’t understand is you suggestion that second-hand buyers of house should also have the freehold given to them for free. They knew from the start that they were buying leasehold and would know the rent they would have to pay. So it would be logical to assume that this would be factored into the price they paid.
In the case of flats it has always been the case that they would be leasehold and a ground rent payable and I cant understand why you feel they too should be given a share of the freehold for free
But in spite of the smokes and mirrors valuations people like you in this toxic sector place on lease enfranchisement values, the developers are not on the same page.
They tell MPs the difference in value is a few thousand pounds between leasehold and freehold.
The aggressive monetisers in the sector, assisted by Santa’s little helpers in the leasehold game, finesse this up to £30k and more.
Ah, but the developers are offering a discount, they say.
Well, let’s see what the Law Commission makes of this (shortly), let alone the public’s representatives.
With the greatest respect your post does not address the question I posed which was – should second hand purchasers be demanding the freehold for free as they would know from the moment they consider the property that it is leasehold with a rent payable
In reply to your post I would again make the point if the Net Present Value of the ground rent was shown next to the premium paid then the purchaser and advisors can consider what the financial consequences are of agreeing to the proposed terms.
With the greatest respect Stephen the issue of leasehold is not just about houses and freeholds as pointed out to you many times previously! Yes those of us in flats were well aware they were leasehold and in our case the ground rent was never an issue at just £20 a year. What was and still is an issue is that we were never told at purchase the cost to extend the lease would rise considerably as the years depleted. Consequently the cost in 2001 ( 2 years after our purchase in 1999 ) would have been £2,000 with just 61 years remaining. Today it is upwards of £30,000 and rising. Obviously had we been informed at the time we would have extended the lease then!!!
The other issue is also about maintenance of all properties or lack of in most cases! We took over management in 2010 through RTM of our biuildings and since then they have been managed and maintained correctly, something which did not happen prior to that although paying service charge.
The NPV was not present, so that question pointless.
Solicitors were not aware of the scandal until after 2017, prior to that it didn’t matter if someone bought direct from the developer or second hand – they would not be warned. Oh and subsequently suing a solicitor is both extremely risky and expensive.
We should not forget that this affects the lives of thousands of people, including families.
Stephen you fail to appreciate the leasehold scandal.
I must clarify many (including myself) knew our houses were leasehold. But the sting in the tail was the lie the sales people told us when they said “dont worry you can buy the freeholds after 2 yrs for a couple of thousand”.
Fast forward 2 yrs. The freehold has since been sold from beneath us to an institutional investor. Apparently they now inform us its standard practice to sell the freeholds on, however failed to mention this crucial information at the point of sale.
The onward sale of our freeholds has been detrimental to us. Not only has the freehold cost escalated the persimmon fees have also escalated.
This is NOT what people signed up for. This is NOT what we were told at the point of sale and it is NOT acceptable.
Katie,
Could this mean that all these estates, where they sold houses both Leasehold and Freehold, may also, not only sold the Freehold within two years but also a long lease for the management of the estate to companies who call themselves Estate Managers such as Firstport Property Services Ltd?
Firstport are now being taken to court by Freehold Residents in London for wrongly charging of Management Fees and failing to maintain the estate as per the Transfer from Barrett Housing in 2003.
A recent Residents claim last year against Firstport was paid in full. A new claim has been made, where together this could total circa £1,600 to cover from 2001 to date.
There are over two hundred homes on the estate half are Leashold Houses and the other half Freehold, residents are now finding out this information from us at the Website – About FirstPort.
Spot on Katie.
I strongly suspect that following the avalanche of emails to the executives of the developers, those executives went on to have an even bigger dump!
At least we have a functioning government focused entirely on the business of governing and competent to sort all this out once and for all. What a relief for us peasants that we have a mature democracy fit for purpose.
Why was the mass email dump so important?
Why has it had CEO’s of the developers in fear despite crowing of their record profits?
The reason is simple.
It underlines not just the extent of the problem, but it serves to highlight just how many customers know about the campaigning sites and know of the mis-selling scandals.
These are the people that also know that Persimmon have been forced to hand over freeholds in Cardiff. Those that emailed are part of the campaigners that have got involved.
But they are just the tip of the iceberg?
The CEO’s know that for each campaigner that has emailed, there are hundreds of others on developments throughout the country that are yet to find out about the mis-selling scandal.
Word is getting out! Be it through social media, the press, radio/TV or simply word and mouth.
And for each email the CEOs received, they know there are hundreds of other cheated customers who will find out how they were cheated and they will not just be very angry, they will know that Persimmon caved in at Cardiff. And if they caved in at Cardiff they can cave on every single Persimmon development. And if Persimmon have caved in, how long before Taylor Wimpey, Redrow, Bellway etc all have to follow in Persimmon’s footsteps?
Greek mythology teaches us that Icarus flew too close to the sun.
By their arrogance and greed the developers have also flown too close to the sun and will pay a heavy price.
Michael, You posted
The reason is simple.
I believe as successive Governments allowed the richest Financial/Business companies to Exploit Leasehold by providing Housing Ministers with positions they were not qualified to hold
The LTA has been responsible along with the Courts (LVT FTT.) where professionals such as RICS have been in charge and has been seen were biased against the Leaseholder.
The extent of the problem is endemic from Developer/Builder to the Legal Teams including Sales Staff to the Estate Agent and Conveyancing Solicitor, Building Control (Approved Inspectors) who all benefit from weak Legislation and poor Regulation.
The recent TV programme regarding the Building Industry highlights the continued failure of what was my industry, from the late 1960s until 2009/10. The use of sub-contract in the 1980s from direct workers killed of apprenticeships and then the crash in 2008/09 saw the decimation of the Small Medium Building Companies and the Oligopoly of 10 large contractors who have carved up the Housing market between them. They sit on Land Banks that increase in value and only allow a dribble through thereby the demand is higher.
These Builders such as Barrett Housing introduced Leasehold to Housing in the late 1990s/2000 and then became greedy and attempted to only sell Leasehold until the bubble burst and the rest will become history when the awful facts are now evolving through Platforms such as LKP and About Firstport.
The Government may finally carry out a Root and Branch Public Enquiry into how the Construction Industry has failed this Country along with Politicians and Professional Organisation that are supposed to regulate members.
The mis-selling selling scandal has blown the lid off the container marked leasehold, and highlighted all the abuses associated with it. Without this leasehold would have continued as normal, still hidden away in the dark, when now is a big chance to get rid and have something fit for the 21st century.
Replying to Lesley Newnham
You purchased in 1999 with a 61 year lease so presumably from another lessee and the formula for calculating a lease extension was the same as now. The increase is due to the passing of time and the collapse in interest rates – which would in most cases increased the value the property owned by the lessee. The landlord has benefited but not due to any sharp practices
You appear not to have been advised at the time but there are no grounds for the freeholder simply giving you a share of the freehold for free – why when buying a lease with 62 years you were not advised of the cost and the benefits of so doing does seem as if you were very poorly advised
The issues over maintenance can be resolved as you have done by forming an RTM
Stephen for you say:-
“The increase is due to the passing of time and the collapse in interest rates”
This shows how Freeholders can manipulate and Exploit Leasehold where if one money-making scam doesn’t work they introduce another to keep making massive profits, shame on them.
To say it has not been by any sharp practices doesn’t bear well for your credibility.
Replying to Stephen
Yes Stephen we were poorly advised or to put it another way mis-sold!! Further to your comment on the ‘magic’ formula for calculating a lease extension was the same as now. Was it really? The 80yr rule and ‘marriage value’ has only been bandied about recently to my knowledge and if the value of the lease has increased 3 fold in that time, then surely the cost to extend the lease should not have increased more than 3 fold or £6,000?
Bearing in mind we have also spent approx £20,000 on the building ( each flat has spent this amount!!) through service charge whilst the freeholder has spent zilch and those who have extended are still paying ground rent?
Mid sold means the vendor was at fault
Poorly advised means your professionals let you down
A significant difference between the two
In other words she was mis-sold by the vendor and poorly advised by professionals,
£2,000 in 2001 is the equivalent of £3,413 in today’s money, according to Hargreaves Lansdown (https://www.hl.co.uk/tools/calculators/inflation-calculator).
In 1981 I was offered a Ferrari Dino for £15,000 I turned it down. The vendor failed to advise me at the time that in the future the price would explode in value – Today its worth circa £250k – can I sue the vendor for damages?
I bought a long case regulator clock some 15 years ago and today its worth about what I paid for it…if I am lucky – again who should I sue for damages. The vendor advised it would be a long term investment
At the end of the day we have to accept that the markets will move in our favour sometimes and sometimes against us.
If inflation took off all those ground rents which are not linked to inflation would become valueless and I am sure many of you would have plenty to say if the freeholder went crying off to the courts trying to get them raised. To which he would stand no chance of course
But if deflation came along then the fixed ground rents would become burdensome and yet many of you would expect the government to step in and persuade the freeholder to do the honourable thing and adjust the rent down
If you take the gains you have to take the losses otherwise don’t enter the game .
zzz
This isn’t a Ferrari Dino i.e. a classic car, this is a lease extension.
£30k for a lease extension is a scandal.
Government should step in to protect the wider housing market and the Select Committee recommended they do.
Back in late 2000 a typical 3 bed semi went for £80k near my parents.
The owners have maintained it and paid a mortgage, so I can understand if they sold it for £250k -£300k which is the going rate.
No way could it go for £800k though, an increase by a factor of 10 would be totally crazy.
From Land registry via Rightmove.
2bed leasehold flat in 1970s purpose built block SE4
Sold May 2019 £345.000
Bought April 1997 £28.000
Fair point – but bear in mind:
– SE4 is London which
– 1997 to 2019 is a 22 years prior (20% longer than the 18 years of 2001-2019)