The Sun has launched a campaign today to “end the leasehold stranglehold”.
In an emphatic article money editor Daniel Jones demands:
- An end to leasehold houses apart from exceptional cases (such as the developer does not own the land)
- Compensation for those affected, either from conveyancing solicitors or the developers.
- An independent task force, set up by government and funded by developers, to investigate how the leasehold houses scandal was allowed to happen.
The article interviewed Mark and Joanne Darbyshire, who bought their Taylor Wimpey house with doubling ground rent in 2010.
They were told that they could buy the freehold by Taylor Wimpey for around £6,000, but then the developer sold it on for £7,375 to one of the Adriatic Land companies – whose ownership is hidden by nominee directors.
Adriatic Land 2 (Gr 2) Limited offered to sell the freehold for £40,000.
Sounding like the Monty Python’s sketch – you gotta haggle – HomeGround’s spokesman, former Tory MP Adrian Flook, said that leasehold house owners were not used to negotiating over price as commercial practitioners would be.
This is because they are just buying a home, rather than transacting a complex investment asset up against seasoned professionals.
Related posts:
The Sun says … ‘thousands trapped in leasehold homes due to spiralling ground rent costs’
‘New-build ground rent scandal could spark legal battles,’ says Guardian
Adriatic Land now wants £54,000 for my freehold that Taylor Wimpey said would cost £6,000
Taylor Wimpey ground rent “assistance” review -update
Industrial-scale ground rent rip-offs have turned leasehold properties into short-term tenancies, says Maria Eagle
Conveyancing Association’s Beth Rudolf attacks the HomeOwners Alliance for ‘scaremongering’ over leasehold
Well done to the ‘Sun’ newspaper for getting on board. it might not be everyone’s daily read ( I find it rather plebeian) but I believe it is the best selling newspaper in the UK. The blighted leaseholders are fortunate that it has taken up their cause. “Rejoice’!!!
Yes, great news. The more that get involved the better. Many thanks to the Sun Newspaper. Spread the word.
My dream is to see a programme telling everyone not to buy leasehold houses with these “New Age” leases shown on ITV & BBC1 twice a week at 8pm for 3 months, tell the population how it really is.
Can dreams come true?
Kudos to ‘the sun’ for taking this on! I support it fully.
Congratulations to the Sun for campaigning for ordinary homeowners’ rights and fairness.
I hope the Sun contacts MPs for their views on making leasehold fairer to tenants and the need for a New Build Ombudsman.
The Sun should mystery shop Greenwich Millenium Village regeneration scheme. Taylor Wimpey as developers are still charging double ground rents every 15 years. Why is the media wrongly congratulating Taylor Wimpey who claim they have stopped double ground rents on their new builds.. It’s not true. Sales staff will waffle about RPI averaged over many years, but in fact it is doubling according to the lease small print.
Taylor Wimpey merits no congratulation at all. (No do the other housebuilders who have shafted their own customers by creating an investment asset class – the freehold – at their expense.
Lease tenant, I have not seen any reference to TW being “congratulated” by anyone, far more to the contrary’
You will see I have also made references to TW still pedalling leasehold houses in other articles on here.
As I have reminded people, TW are clever with their words.
If I remember correctly, TW said they would stop selling leasehold houses from Jan 17 but, this would only apply to “brand new sites that had yet to commence”.
Therefore it is assumed any sites that were already “in progress” before 2017 will/could be leasehold
Actually I don’t blame WIMPEY, if they don’t do it someone else will view it as a legitimate business opportunity.
It’s the LAW that needs to be changed. Until that is settled this matter will not be resolved and there will be an ever increasing exploitation of leaseholders.
Actually I do blame Taylor Wimpey.
Just because they can do something, does not mean they have to do it.
And if Taylor Wimpey hadn’t sold houses on leasehold, other developers would not have been able to either.
TW directors are under a fiduciary duty to do the best for their company. The problem is long term their doubling ground rents have cost the company far more than they would have earned with a better set of lease terms.
The conveyancing lawyers who too often seem conflicted as the recommended developers solicitor are also at fault. Buyers relied on them to be the experts instead they have led them into what in some cases are now toxic assets.
But maybe the real opprobrium should be directed at the civil servants who say bye and allowed this system to develop over two decades and who misinformed Minister after Minister that the system was “mostly working well” and that the law was “balanced” and that landlords and managing agents should not be further burdened.
Not only were those officials at fault but so were the governments funded “experts” LEASE.who ineffectually watched as these problems develop and said and did absolutely nothing.
Maybe the officials think they can continue to keep sweeping things under the carpet but they maybe need to notice the carpet is full. After all it worked for ground rents for such a long time.
Exploited leaseholder, sorry, I cannot agree with your interpretation.
Just because we don’t have a LAW against something does not mean it is ok to do that deed does it.
Spot on ME.
We are talking about two different things. What action is within the law, and what is unethical or morally reprehensible. Exploiting leaseholders is the latter, but as things are it is perfectly Legal.
I am dealing with a particularly shadowy freeholder based overseas, and I can assure you, he could not care less about ‘doing the right thing’.
Funny you say TW is clever with words. When is a house not a house ? When it’s an Uberhaus. Therefore TW one of many developers in Greenwich MILLENIUM Village have not broken their letter guarantee to the APPG MPs like Peter Bottomley because an Uberhaus is a German word for a special house. Clever.. Uberhauses are leasehold; £500pa ground rent+£100 for parking space reviewed every 10 years.Salesperson not sure if review increase was double or RPI but apparently all ground rents are based on RPI going back to the 1980s which gives an average of c. 7%. To be honest I didn’t understand what sounded like waffle.
Help to Buy ground rent is £400pa plus £100pa parking with same review. How come the LEASE,HCA,CIVIL SERVANTS,GOVT etc are still giving help to buy money to these big developers.
Hope Daniel Jones at the Sun , exposes these immoral incompetent practices that rip off ordinary homebuyers.