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  • February 19, 2019
You are here: Home / News / Sir Peter Bottomley condemns criminal behaviour, price-fixing, cheating freeholders, exit fee fiddles, opportunist lawyers and feeble judicial intervention

Sir Peter Bottomley condemns criminal behaviour, price-fixing, cheating freeholders, exit fee fiddles, opportunist lawyers and feeble judicial intervention

November 14, 2013 By admin

… in a speech that ALL leaseholders have been waiting to hear

 

Sir Peter Bottomley made the speech all leaseholder victims of the system were waiting for when he condemned the current practices in the flawed sector.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the Federation of Private Residents’ Associations – which LKP urges all RAs to join – Sir Peter Bottomley said:
  • Commonhold should be adopted
  • Forfeiture of leases should end (to find out why read the astonishing case of Dennis Jackson who came within a hair’s breadth of losing his £800,000 flat in a closed court from which the public were thrown out).
  • Lawyers and other leasehold professionals who play the system – bludgeoning leaseholders into line with terrifying legal costs – should be named and shamed.
  • End to lawyers delaying right to manage on frivolous grounds, such as not having the letters “RTM” in their title.
  • End to barristers’ favoured wheeze with lay applicants of dumping a massive submission on the day of the hearing.
  • Bring on criminal proceedings against those using leasehold to carry on outright fraud.
  • Publicly expose price-fixing cartels that have cheated pensioners of thousands of pounds, rather than allow the authorities to make cosy confidential deals which means the wrong-doing is not exposed in court and punished.
  • He demanded that the Judicial Conduct Investigation Office publish the report into Benjamin Mire, the chartered surveyor who resigned his judicial appointment following complaints of a conflict of interest.

 

Related posts:

Bottomley: ‘possible criminal behaviour involving Peverel’ over tendering scams Less ‘legal torture’ and more happiness in leasehold, says Sir Peter Bottomley Campaign against Residential Leasehold Exploitation meets lawyers over Peverel price-fixing scandal Davey and Bottomley quiz OFT over its leniency deal with Peverel over the Cirrus price-fixing scam The Oldie reports Peverel / Cirrus price-fixing scandal

Filed Under: Benjamin Mire, Forfeiture, FPRA, Israel Moskovitz, Justin Bates, News, Peverel, Sir Peter Bottomley, Tchenguiz, Video Tagged With: Benjamin Mire, Commonhold, Federation of Private Residents Associations, forfeiture, FPRA, Sir Peter Bottomley, Tchenguiz

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Abacus Land 4 Limited Adriatic Land AgeUK Alexander Bastin Alex Ellison Alok Sharma Amanda Gourlay Anchor Andrew Selous MP Anthony Essien APPG ARCO ARHM ARMA ARMA-Q Baroness Gardner Barratt BBC R4 You and Yours Bellway Benjamin Mire Beth Rudolf Blythe Court Bob Bessell Bob Smytherman Bovis Homes Brandon Lewis British Property Federation Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation Campaign for Housing in Later Life Canary Riverside CARL Cath Williams CentreForum Chainbow Charter Quay Cherry Jones Churchill Retirement Living Circle Residential Management Limited Cirrus Citiscape Clive Betts MP CMA Commonhold Competition and Markets Authority Conveyancing Association Countryside Properties plc Countrywide Countrywide Estate Management Court of Appeal Cypress Place Daily Mail David Glass DCLG Deep Sagar Dennis Jackson Dudley Joiner E&J Capital Partners Ed Davey Elim Court Eric Pickles Estates and Management Esther Rantzen exit fees Federation of Private Residents Associations Financial Times FirstPort Flood Re forfeiture FPRA Galliard Gary Murphy Gavin Barwell George Osborne Glyn Jackson Grant Shapps Grenfell cladding ground rent ground rents Ground Rents Income Fund plc Help To Buy Heysmoor Heights Homeground Management Limited HomeOwners Alliance House of Lords IRPM Israel Moskovitz James Brokenshire MP James Driscoll James Tuttiett James Wyatt Janet Entwistle Janice Northover JB Leitch Jeffrey Fairburn Jim Fitzpatrick Jim Fitzpatrick MP Joanne Darbyshire John Christodoulou John Fenwick Joseph Gurvits Justin Bates Justin Madders MP Justin Tomlinson Katie Kendrick Keith Hill Laceys Lakeside Law Commision Law Commission LEASE Leasehold Advisory Service leasehold houses Leasehold Solutions Lendlease London Assembly Long Harbour Lord Best Louie Burns Mainstay Margaret Anne Kirmond Mari Knowles Mark Prisk Martin Boyd Martin Paine McCarthy and Stone Mercia Investment Properties Limited Mere Court Michelle Banks Mulberry Mews Mundy National Leasehold Campaign New Capital Quay NHBC Nigel Bannister Nigel Glen Nigel Wilkins Oakland Court OFT Parthenia Patrick Collinson Paula Higgins Persimmon Pete Redfern Peverel Philip Rainey QC Phillip Rainey QC Plantation Wharf Private Eye Professor Nicholas Hopkins Prostitutes Redrow Regent Court Rendall and Rittner Retirement Retirement Security Limited RICS right to manage Right To Manage Federation Rob Plumb Roger Southam RTM RTMF Sajid Javid Sally Keeble Sebastian O’Kelly SFO Shula Rich Simon van Houten Siobhan McGrath Sir Ed Davey Sir Peter Bottomley Sonia McColl OBE Southwark Steve Morgan Sunday Times Susan Wood Tanfield Chambers Taylor Wimpey Tchenguiz Tchenguiz Family Trust Team The Daily Telegraph The Guardian The Sunday Times The Times Triplerose Trust Property Management Vallea Court Vincent Tchenguiz West India Quay Will Astor William Waldorf Astor Y and Y Management Yianis Group You and Yours

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All have signed undertakings of good practice and have provided extensive references … from leaseholders.

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Comments

  1. Susan Hunt says

    November 14, 2013 at 4:00 am

    An excellent and consise speech. Sir Peter has to be congratulated on his endeavours to put leasehold issues on the political menu.

    But … Forfeiture is a clause traditionally vital in all leases short or long term. I am not a Lawyer but I have always been led to believe that in a short term lease (not necessarily an AST) must have a forfeiture clause in order to be able to take back possession.

    Forfeiture in a long term lease can have unfair consequences but not always. A friend of mine had a flat in a small block in Nottingham of fairly old flats had a long term problem with one of the Leaseholders (they owned their own freehold). He was a drug addict who made their lives a misery, inviting all the vagrants he could find to the flat, it was left empty for a years and he never paid any service charges. Eventually the other Leaseholders took him to court and obtained the flat through forfeiture otherwise the flat would still be vacant and in disrepair.

  2. Karen says

    November 14, 2013 at 8:49 am

    I agree with Susan. This is an excellent piece and I can only applaud Sir Peter for standing up for leaseholders rights.
    For too long now Freeholders and their appointed Managing Agents have been allowed to get away with what I can olny class as criminal activities (confirmed by Sir Peter)
    If this was any other industry it would be jumped on and stamped out a long time ago, but far too many of these companies have connections with the policy makers in the UK in ALL parties….

    The unscrupulous elements of landlords and managing agents do not buy freeholds or manage buildings soley for the money they can earn doing that particulat task , they do it for the litigation fees that they always manage to tangle un suspecting leaseholders into……

    My advice to anybody who is in a dspute with their current managing agents/freeholders is pay your service charge and argue later as they will love the fact you have started a fight and be thinking kerching, kerching…. Don’t give them the opportunity or satisfaction.
    Arrange your own appointed managing agent by doing a Right To Manage where it can be done.
    Any good/reputable managing agents worth their fee’s will help you do this.

  3. Michael Epstein says

    November 14, 2013 at 9:46 am

    I fully agree with Susan and Karen. Additionally,leaseholders should take full advantage of the help and experience offered by sites such as LKP/ Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation. The FPRA, which hosted the event for a nominal membership fee (around £2 -£3 per leaseholder is a source of great information and practical advice.
    Essentially what they and other sites are doing is putting leaseholders at the top of the learning curve so they avoid the traps freeholders are just waiting for inexperienced leaseholders to fall in.
    Having mentioned LKP/Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation and the FPRA i should in fairness mention Peverel Action, who have played an important part in the fight for justice. I understand that “technical issues” afflicted the site.
    However, thanks to the work of some very dedicated people a new site” About Peverel” has been launched with the aim of carrying on the work of Peverel Action

    • Chas says

      November 14, 2013 at 11:31 pm

      I have watched the speech with Sir Peter Bottomley and feel that at last we have a champion who has knowledge of the likes of Peverel Retirement Division.
      I have a meeting on the 21/11/13 where we will be discussing the Future Peverel Management where Mr Whalley, Peverel Regional Manager and Mr Cooper, Area Manager have been asked for an agenda. The Area manager when asked for the agenda, at a meeting last week, stated that Mr Whalley had decided that there was not a requirement for an agenda, as Mr Whalley was going to explain about the Right To Manage? Peverel will not allow any development to be taken down that road.
      I have asked for a balanced view to be allowed and Sebastian Okelly (SO) had agreed to attend but we had a letter from Mr Whalley, that only residents can attend our meetings.
      I had a meeting today with our MP, Mr Philip Dunne his secretary, along with our Ward Councillor Mr Lee Chapman and my very good neighbour Kevin. We explained how Peverel Retirement Division had continually provided poor management at excessive costs and ignored the questions asked of the Regional Manager who had decided not to reimburse us residents with the refunds that we are owed.
      The Head of Peverel Development, Carol Crowe has refused to confirm questions asked have been answered truthfully, openly and transparent.
      This is typical of Peverel and I will send a copy of my emails to supporters who Sebastian agree are our friends.

  4. Ernest Hartland says

    November 14, 2013 at 10:37 am

    Well done Sir, but, what about those of us on Mixed Developments which have been taken over without consent from the Home Owners, who are in the main, Freehold Owners.

    • AM says

      November 14, 2013 at 11:01 am

      Agreed- it is a ridiculous notion to have a scheme with a handful of houses and several blocks with shared areas (lawns drives gate entry systems, even staff), come under two management regimes, or are excluded from RTM or even participation in enfranchisement. Moreover, freehold houses pay, pro rata, for the same services but are outside the protections of S19- “fair and reasonable” and have to resort to limited redress under the Supply of Good and Services legislation.

    • Chas says

      November 15, 2013 at 12:06 am

      Ernest,
      Ask Sebastian for my contact details and I will check out what seems to be a further serious problem with the outdated leasehold/freehold situation we have now.
      I have spoken today with our MP, Mr Peter Dunne, who has shown a concern with the leasehold and commonhold aspects of us elderly residents and the problems of Managing Agents such as Peverel Retirement Division who is run by Carol Crowe, Head of Peverel Retirement Division where Peverel Retirement is only a BRAND NAME, SINCE, Peverel Retirement Ltd no longer trades?
      I have included Carol Crowe in many emails, yet only after 6 months, has she now responded saying that the emails were Cc as her PA, and STAFF HAVE INFORMED HER and were not directed to her PERSONALLY, this frightens me.
      Carol Crowe has finally responded in a totally negative way, through her PA. This shows how Peverel Retirement Division consider, how they are required to respond to us Dribbling Geriatric.

  5. AM says

    November 14, 2013 at 11:09 am

    I am aware on another site that where the owners are being offered commonhold by the freeholder( bizarrely) rather than enfranchisement, the mortgagees are not exactly open to it . That will have to be addressed as it is not only going to require conversion of all the individual leasehold titles to commonhold units, but a fee generator for lenders valuers and solicitors etc in doing so. Landlords retaining units or areas on site ( house manager flats and offices) will want their costs covered………

    • mike says

      November 15, 2013 at 2:19 pm

      The offer is perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek. Try to take it up and you will find the freeholder needs one hundred per cent of leaseholders to be in favour. Just one single dissenting vote will kill the purchase. Bear in mind that only a limited number of properties are owner-occupied. Some will be rented out by private landlords and some by corporate landlords. It is known that there can be informal ties between certain corporate landlords and certain management companies.

  6. Alan says

    November 15, 2013 at 1:50 pm

    One thousand thank-you’s to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation, LKP, Sir Peter, and others who work tirelessly to improve this discraceful leasehold situation. I fully support Sir Peter’s recommendations.

    • simin Eftekhari says

      November 16, 2013 at 2:14 pm

      This was one of the best leasehold meetings which I attended. I have been attending several leasehold meetings over the years and wanted answer to my very serious needs. On Tuesday night 12/11/2013, I walked with hope from the meeting, full of hopes and joy. I also send one thousand thanks to LKP, Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation and Sir Peter.

  7. Sue Stuckey says

    November 19, 2013 at 4:54 pm

    Bravo, Sir Peter, MP for Worthing West – a man with the courage to call a spade a spade and the intellect to condemn all the fraudsters who unashamedly flout leasehold regulations for personal gain. These people routinely ride roughshod over the contractual terms of leases and the laws of the land except where it suits their own business interests to comply with selected clauses.

    But shouldn’t we be asking what ARMA and RICS, the two bodies most responsible for day-to-day regulation of the long leasehold sector, are doing to support and regulate firms based on the RICS Service Charge Management Residential Code?

    Then we might also ask what the accountants’ bodies ACCA and ICAEW are doing to ensure their members are properly accountable and comply with international accounting standards relating to service charge, notably ISA 800 ‘special frameworks’ as described in Technical Factsheet 172 and Tech 03/11?

    Or what doe we suppose the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority makes of its members who, with breathtaking audacity, publish articles on their websites encouraging landlord clients to circumvent the law by persuading leaseholders to amend their management companies’ articles of association? Sir Peter has called for such firms to be named and shamed but why doesn’t the SRA take a more proactive lead?

    As with the examples of the banking sector and the press, Sir Peter writes that an all-party parliamentary committee into the working practices of the long leasehold sector “could hope to make progress”.

    I agree. Isn’t it time to get started?

    • AM says

      November 22, 2013 at 3:11 pm

      Both regulate their members and the RICS code, under revision, is an approved code of practice, not binding, as it cannot cover all permutations, Any person will have to show why they varied from the code. It could be much clearer that this binds everyone, the ground floor landlord, Rigsby, to the Yacht borne jet set types, or the 2 little old ladies, and their dog, to the largest RMC RTE or RTM groups.

      Many of us lobby for statutory regulation and in my case licensing but blue red or yellow, parties don’t want to know.

      As to accounting as leases vary considerably even these technical guidance notes are defective and even companies house have trouble. The recent OM case of when costs are incurred, for example, conflicts with the practice of including accruals.

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Press

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20,000 leaseholders trapped in blocks with Grenfell cladding, says Telegraph

September 5, 2018 By admin

The Grenfell cladding disaster for private flat owners got another airing last Saturday, this time in the Daily Telegraph. It claims that 143 private blocks have failed the governments fire safety tests involving 20,000 leaseholders. “The Government has said that the building’s owners have a “moral responsibility” to ensure that the bill does not fall […]

Times journalist defeats MB Freeholds and RMG over insurance dispute

September 4, 2018 By admin

And he wants to know about more leasehold abuses: mark.atherton@thetimes.co.uk Mark Atherton, the investments editor of The Times, described in the newspaper last week how he defeated MB Freeholds Limited and RMG (the Residential Management Group) over an insurance dispute. The case came before the Upper Tribunal last November and concerned whether the leaseholders or […]

Barclays refuses mortgages over lease terms at Taylor Wimpey’s prime Chobham Manor

August 28, 2018 By admin

Barclays Bank is refusing to issue loans to purchasers at Taylor Wimpey’s Chobham Manor development in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, where homes fetch up to £1m. The Financial Times reports today that a subsidiary company, jointly owned by Taylor Wimpey and L&Q housing association, holds the head lease to the […]

LKP’s essential leasehold guide in The Sunday Times … feel free to add

August 6, 2018 By admin

By Sebastian O’Kelly It was good to be able to use a small Q&A article in yesterday’s Sunday Times to offer a mini guide for leaseholders. This is the sort of thing the Leasehold Advisory Service should be putting out, if it were not in thrall to the commercialisers in the sector. Indeed, it was […]

APPG hears agony of Grenfell cladding on private sites, while Lendlease sites head to tribunal to get leaseholders to pay

July 20, 2018 By admin

In the absence of anyone else doing anything, LKP organised the first meeting of private leaseholders in blocks with Grenfell style cladding … but developers like Lendlease stayed away. The meeting was the first opportunity for leaseholders in 297 tower blocks to meet and exchange information and support. No developers, warranty providers or freeholders turned […]

Ground rent speculators Pemberstone seek £3m tribunal ruling over Grenfell cladding

July 9, 2018 By admin

Another ground rent speculator, the Pemberstone Group, is seeking a tribunal ruling to dump Grenfell cladding costs on 300 leaseholders at two Manchester sites, reports The Independent today. The two sites are Cypress Place and Vallea Court in the so-called “Green Quarter” of the city. The sites were built by Australian builder Lendlease but the […]

Retirement housebuilders and speculators plead to be allowed ground rents in the Evening Standard

June 28, 2018 By admin

As government – and the Law Commission – reel from a barrage of special pleading by housebuilders over the government’s proposals to set ground rents as low as zero, their lobbying efforts were considered in London’s Evening Standard yesterday. It featured contributions from the soon-to-be-let-go CEO of McCarthy and Stone Clive Fenton and Spencer McCarthy, […]

McCarthy and Stone and Churchill: are you blackmailing government over the ground rent ban and is your business model broken? Asks BBC R4 MoneyBox

June 25, 2018 By admin

Brilliant interview with outgoing McCarthy and Stone CEO Clive Fenton ‘Problem’ that retirement housebuilders have not been spoonfed profits, like others through Help To Buy Anyway, aren’t retirement housebuilders insignificant given the numbers of pensioners who are downsizing today, asks BBC? Radio 4’s MoneyBox quizzed retirement housebuilders McCarthy and Stone and Churchill Retirement Living on […]

The Sun says … ‘thousands trapped in leasehold homes due to spiralling ground rent costs’

June 22, 2018 By admin

An excellent piece in the Sun by Hollie Borland, the Digital Consumer Reporter, appeared at the weekend giving a resume of the leasehold scandal pegged to the Which? report into the issue. It has the point that some leaseholders said they were charged £252 to own a pet or £60 to change a doorbell. But it […]

Tchenguiz brothers fall out among themselves, says The Times

May 17, 2018 By admin

The Tchenguiz brothers – who before the crash were among the most powerful corporate players in the UK – are litigating again: this time among themselves, according to today’s Times. The dispute centres on the Tchenguiz Family Trust, based in the British Virgin Islands, which at one point claimed to own one per cent of […]

New Capital Quay cladding may cost £7-10m, while NHBC sends in experts – and libel warning to BBC

May 2, 2018 By admin

The misery of the leaseholders at New Capital Quay featured on the BBCR4 You and Yours programme after the APPG on April 6. It emerges that Galliard estimates the cost removing the cladding at the 1,00 flat site at £7-10 million (plus the fire marshals). The warranty provider the NHBC, which employed celebrity libel lawyers […]

Taxpayers face £85,000 loss as Homes England accepts leaseholder can pay back loan on flat blighted by Grenfell cladding

April 25, 2018 By admin

Taxpayers face a loss of £85,000 on a Help To Buy loan at New Capital Quay after Homes England accepted that a flat blighted by Grenfell cladding was now worth only £50,000. Cecile Langevin, 32, a mother of two, bought her £475,000 flat with a £95,000 Help To Buy loan, savings and a mortgage in […]

Will Law Commission bring in the ‘seismic changes’ that leasehold needs?

April 24, 2018 By admin

Louie Burns, the MD of Leasehold Solutions, has questioned whether the Law Commission’s examination of lease extension and enfranchisement will bring about the “seismic changes” that are needed. Mr Burns has criticised the “vague platitudes” of the Law Commission, which set out its terms of reference at the end of last week for its Residential […]

The Sun / The Times urge caution over leasehold purchases, while The Times / Guardian / Mail report Barratt paying out £2m at Citiscape

April 21, 2018 By admin

The number of articles in the national press on leasehold issues continues to grow. Today sees two articles published, one in The Times where it reports on cladding and one in The Sun. The Sun gives its readers a very sensible cautionary guide to leasehold purchases including a mini guide to leasehold from LKP trustee […]

Floorweald and ABC Estates – an ARMA ‘good guy’ – overcharged leaseholders £27,000

April 20, 2018 By admin

Floorweald Limited and ABC Estates overcharged leaseholders £27,000, according to the Bristol Live web yesterday. Leaseholders at Grantham Apartments in Two Mile Hill won the tribunal ruling last week over a section 20 major works bill. Leaseholders claimed their management fees had also gone up from £50 to £178 a month, according to the website. […]

Could paying off Help To Buy loans on blighted homes force government to act over Grenfell cladding … and doubling ground rents?

April 16, 2018 By admin

My £475,000 home with Grenfell cladding is worth £50,000. So I’ll now pay off my Help To Buy loan, please … But taxpayers would lose millions   A young mother has made an intriguing intervention into the dilemma of those whose new flats are blighted with Grenfell cladding. And it may prove a tempting get-out […]

McCarthy and Stone: Ground rents are not the future of retirement housing

April 16, 2018 By admin

By Sebastian O’Kelly, LKP trustee The retirement house builder McCarthy and Stone says that it is struggling, the newspapers are reporting. Profits are down more than 50 per cent for the first half of this year. And it is worried about the long-term implications of the government’s undertaking to reform ground rents, setting them as […]

FT looks at financial consequence to freehold speculators of #leaseholdscandal

February 9, 2018 By admin

Jennifer Thompson From the FT yesterday … An Englishman’s home is his castle, but it may also be someone else’s pension if it’s a leasehold property. Leasehold is the arrangement by which a homeowner only owns their property for a fixed amount of time with a separate landlord, known as the freeholder, owning it and […]

Pinsent Masons believes ban on ‘almost all’ new leasehold houses to have retrospective effect

February 5, 2018 By admin

The following today from the Pinsent Masons law firm website: The package of leasehold reform measures, which follow a recent government consultation, also includes plans to make it cheaper and easier for existing leaseholders to purchase the freehold on their property. The government will also take action to ensure that leasehold property cannot be classed […]

Mail and Telegraph pile on the misery for Persimmon’s Jeffrey Fairburn (Good, says LKP, he deserves it)

February 4, 2018 By admin

Owners of leasehold properties have demanded that Jeffrey Fairburn, the CEO of Persimmon homes who is in line for a an absurd £130 million bonus, have told him to use it instead to sort out the mess his company has created. Katie Kendrick, founder of the National Leasehold Campaign, said the Persimmon bonus scheme, which […]

Hilary Benn rounds on Miller Homes in Leeds constituency

February 3, 2018 By admin

This is from Hilary Benn “MP Notebook” published by the South Leeds Life newspaper website: MP’s notebook: Problems of deregulation – South Leeds Life I’ve been dealing with two problems recently where local residents have been on the receiving end of sharp business practice with distressing consequences. The first involves constituents who purchased leasehold properties […]

‘Our David Wilson Homes leasehold house means we don’t own it, or the land, pay ground rent and consent fees to anonymous speculators in freeholds, often based offshore,’ Cheshire woman tells local paper

February 3, 2018 By admin

There is probably no better insight into the effectiveness of the #leaseholdscandal campaign than today’s article about David Wilson Homes Winnington Village in the Northwich Guardian. It features an interview with Emily Martin, a first-time buyer in her 20s or early 30s – people’s ages used to be essential info for local reporters – and […]

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