• 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
    • JB Leitch
    • 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
      • JB Leitch
      • 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 / Sun shines on the leaseholders’ demo at Parliament: after Jenrick, is this a new dawn?

Sun shines on the leaseholders’ demo at Parliament: after Jenrick, is this a new dawn?

September 17, 2021 //  by Sebastian O'Kelly

All photos, with many thanks: Marcus Perkins marcusperkins.co.uk

Leaseholders Together Rally: 16 September 2021. The leaseholders get ready to for the start, with Father of the House and LKP patron Sir Peter Bottomley (centre), flanked by fellow MPs Rebecca Long Bailey, Baroness Kath Pinnock – behind whom (obscured) is Tory cladding maverick Stephen McPartland, Marie Rimmer, Daisy Cooper, Rt Rev Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans and others,
Sir Peter Bottomley, Rebecca Long Bailey MP and Baroness Kath Pinnock – who has been so effective on building safety unfairnesses in the Lords – share a light-hearted moment before the kick-off
Around 3,000 leaseholders attended the Leaseholders’ Together rally in Parliament Square yesterday

The sun shone brightly yesterday as 3,000 leaseholders converged on Parliament Square for a rally in protest at leasehold rip-offs and the appalling unfairness of the building safety scandal.

The demonstration – organised by the cladding groups, the National Leasehold Campaign and the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership – was held the day after Robert Jenrick was sacked as communities secretary, in part owing to his handling of the building safety issue.

For many, the beautiful September weather seems to herald a new dawn. There certainly needs to be change. As the rally placards made clear, ordinary families face wipe-out bills for build defects they did not create.

The event saw huge support from politicians of all parties, headed by Father of the House Sir Peter Bottomley, who is also a patron of LKP and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold and commonhold reform.

Flat owners pin hopes on Gove to fix Britain’s cladding crisis

During his Tory leadership bid, the new Housing Secretary struck a pro-development tone and while in opposition advocated for building on farmland and other green spaces, suggesting planning liberalisation could be on the cards despite the Government recently rowing back on its plans to reform the system.

‘How can you raise this money?’ Concern as pensioners face huge bills due to unsafe home

THOUSANDS of people are being affected by the cladding scandal and are facing huge bills just to keep their homes safe. Pensioners, who have stopped working, also face these financial struggles as they may struggle to find the money to pay these fees.

Solve cladding scandal, Boris Johnson tells Michael Gove

Michael Gove has been told by Boris Johnson to find a new solution to the cladding scandal, which has left homeowners facing crippling bills to remove dangerous materials from their flats. The new cabinet minister in charge of housing and Johnson’s levelling-up agenda has been told to intervene to put a stop to the scandal.

Ministers lose half a million pounds over sale of flats with Grenfell-style cladding

Help to Buy was created in 2013 to help boost the numbers of homes being built in the UK. Under the scheme, buyers can purchase new-build homes costing up to £600,000 with a cash deposit of only 5 per cent.

New housing secretary Michael Gove urged to fix building safety crisis

The former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith launched a new wave of backbench pressure on the government to solve the building safety crisis, leading a rally of affected leaseholders into a chant outside parliament of: “Michael Gove, we want justice!”

Before the rally began, the leaseholders held a 72-second silence for the dead in the Grenfell tragedy.

Along with SIr Peter, others who spoke at the rally included London mayor Sadiq Khan, former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith, Daisy Cooper – a co-chair of the APPG on leasehold – Mike Amesbury and Lucy Powell, of the shadow housing team – long-standing supporters of leaseholders Hilary Benn and Sarah Jones, the Rt Rev Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans and the Tory maverick Stephen McPartland, whose amendment to the Building Safety Bill seeks to ensure that developers not consumers pay up for building defects.

On stage orchestrating the astonishingly professional event were NLC founder Katie Kendrick and Will Martin, of the UK Cladding Action Group, and Giles Grover, of Manchester Cladiators.

Both Martin Boyd and Sebastian O’Kelly of LKP also spoke.

LLeaseholders Together Rally
Leaseholders Together Rally kicks off in Parliament Square with intros from Katie Kendrick (right), co-founder of NLC, Will Martin, of UKCAG, and Sebastian O’Kelly, of LKP

The event was the single most powerful demonstration by leaseholders demanding change to have taken place in decades.

Justin Madders MP said the chants from the crowd were clearly audible in the chamber of the Commons.

Its most powerful message was: government has got cladding wrong and the Building Safety Bill needs drastic amendment or the proposed leasehold reforms will prove meaningless.

Both Sir Peter Bottomley and Lucy Powell, who appeared by video, called on new Communities Secretary Michael Gove to hold a summit of all the stakeholders in the building safety crisis and have a re-think.

Officials have been far too keen to cover up past errors of feeble regulation and an unhealthily close relationship with developers. They meet the commercial interests of the sector and have the occasional, tokenistic dialogue with the suffering flat buyers.

And why on earth are discredited former fire safety officials – who presided over the failed regulatory regime – still around (not least those with commercial interests in providing services such as waking watch, widely regarded as a scandalous cost in many cases).

Sir Peter Bottomley, addresses the rally, with a welcome to new Communities Secretary Michael Gove, who replaced Robert Jenrick yesterday.

The open question now is: what will the rally achieve?

Just before the demonstration took place, LKP organised an All-Party Parliamentary Group meeting that was addressed by housing minister Lord Stephen Greenhalgh.

Mood and tone are subjective judgement calls, but one was left with the impression that Greenhalgh is eager to liaise with leaseholder interests and reconsider the direction of the building safety measures.

Mr Gove would be wise to do so. Until this issue is cleared up the housing market is going continue to be skewed, with sales of flats, 100,000s now blighted, trailing behind those of new houses.

Until the building safety issue is dealt with effectively, there is also very little point in steaming ahead with the leasehold reforms.

Greenhalgh also threw out the thought that services presently provided by the Leasehold Advisory Service will be going out to tender – a strong indication that government is dissatisfied with this expensive quango which did nothing to alert government over the doubling ground rent scandal, and is largely irrelevant to leaseholders trapped in the building safety issue.

Campaigners are sustained by optimism, but the arrival of a new communities sectretary – and the repudiation of the previous one – are grounds for hope.

The brilliant demonstration yesterday will also have had a considerable effect on a change of direction by both ministers, and their officials.

LKP expresses its warmest thanks to all who attended, and above all the organisers of the rally who created something really exceptional.

Mike Amesbury, of Labour’s housing team, has been a passionate supporter of leaseholders since the doubling ground rent scandal, whose epicentre was the North-west . Shadow Communities Secretary Lucy Powell, also addressed the event via video
Leaseholder demo
Favourite placard of the day was a hand-written scrawl on an old cardboard box saying: ‘This sign is worth more than my flat’
Daisy Cooper, LibDem MP for St Albans, racked up the passion on behalf of leaseholders facing impossible bills because of greedy developers, cladding manufacturers and complacent regulation
Justin Madders MP is a patron MP of LKP and has exposed leasehold abuses in the Commons on scores of occasions. He has supported the cladding leaseholders, although his Ellesmere Port and Neston constituency in The Wirral does not have a cladding site.
Leaseholders came from all over the country to attend the event. One long-time LKP supporter came from Plymouth; other leaseholders came down from Scotland (where they were presumably on a visit, Scotland being spared the nonsense of this form of tenure).
Maverick Tory MP Stephen McPartland has repeatedly tried to amend the Building Safety Bill – and before that the Fire Safety Act – in order to prevent ordinary families picking up the bill for failings of developers or regulators. He hasn’t endeared himself to the party managers for doing so. But maybe, under Michael Gove, he will make more progress with his amendments.
Former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith shows he is no enthusiast of the government’s handling over the building safety crisis, or leasehold which he called to be banned. He has a lot of it in his Chingford and Woodford Green constituency in north London
The rally held a 72-second silence in remembrance of the dead at Grenfell Tower in 2017.
London mayor Sadiq Khan gave his backing to the rally. He has successfully urged that all new shared-ownership leases be 999 years where possible.
Karim Mussilhy, of Grenfell United, delivered a powerful, humbling speech about the repercussions of the Grenfell fire, in which a family member lost his life
Martin Boyd, LKP chair, is responsible for all the parliamentary meetings on cladding since the scale of the building safety disaster became clear to LKP in the autumn of 2017. We have repeatedly, and in detail, tried to warn ministers and officials of these issues. Had they listened we would not be in the position we are in now. Four years after Grenfell these issues are still unthought through, as evidenced by the Building Safety Bill – dreamed up by safety experts who ignored the fundamental consideration of leasehold law. Unless there is change, we will still be arguing over this in four years time. Meanwhile, Australia has largely solved its, admittedly much smaller, cladding crisis.
The other part of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership gets his finger out: Sebastian O’Kelly raises the crowd at the start of the rally (and forgets he is wearing sunglasses)
Giles Grover, of Manchester Cladiators, is a key figure in the cladding action groups and has worked hard to make the Leaseholders Together Rally the success it was.
Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds Central, has been pushing hard for leaseholders and repeatedly asking detailed and pointed questions to ministers, and shared the usually robotic responses with LKP.
The risk the organisers took in organising a £20,000 rally in Parliament Square on a day in September should not be underestimated. But the sun shone on the brave and the Leaseholders Together Rally was an outstanding success
The Rt Rev Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans, played a key role in attempting to amend the Fire Safety Bill to prevent it dumping the cost of historic defects in a block on the hapless leaseholders who just bought a flat in good faith. He will be doing the same good work when the Building Safety Bill – which was supposed to address this flaw – comes through to the Lords
Sarah Jones, Labour MP for Croydon Central, has been alert to the cladding injustice since it first surfaced over Barratt’s now evacuated Citiscape scheme in her constituency. She has been a passionate supporter of justice for leaseholders in numerous debates in the Commons.
Leaseholders show off their banners, which show that their dissatisfaction goes beyond building safety unfairness but to the heart of leasehold tenure. If we are going to build flats on an unprecedented scale, the fiddling of this easy-to-fiddle form of ‘ownership’ has got to be stopped with England and Wales joining the rest of the world with commonhold ownership.
Liam Spender (left), a solicitor and LKP trustee, joined leaseholders Jane Hewland and Hayley Tillotson – a former leasehold made bankrupt by building safety costs – in a panel session on stage. Liam has provided technical analysis of legislative flaws with MPs and the wider media. Journalist Pete Apps (right), of Inside Housing, has done superb work on the building safety issue and the shocking revelations of the Grenfell Inquiry.
Job done. Exhausted Katie Kendrick, of the National Leasehold Campaign, and Will Martin, of the UK Cladding Action Group, at the end of the rally

Related posts:

cladding scandal demoCladding scandal Westminster demo, February 25: three mayors, 27 MPs, 300 leaseholders, a swarm of media … Paul Dennett Andy BurnhamNorthern mayors and MPs to join cladding demo outside Parliament on February 25 Robert Jenrick £1 billion claddingCladding leaseholders rejoice after Robert Jenrick secures £1bn in Budget … on top of £400m already pledged ‘Get out of your ivory tower’: Tory MP turns on Jenrick over ‘shocking betrayal’ of cladding leaseholders Chris PincherFire Safety Bill ricochets around Parliament as 31 Conservative MPs again vote against the government

Category: Cladding scandal, HomeSlider, Latest News, News, NewsSliderTag: Baroness Kath Pinnock, Bishop of St Albans, Cladding scandal, Daisy Cooper MP, Ian Duncan Smith MP, Justin Madders MP, Lucy Powell MP, Mike Amesbury MP, Sadiq Khan, Sarah Jones MP, Sir Peter Bottomley, Stephen McPartland MP

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 (45) Commonhold (52) Competition and Markets Authority (41) Countryside Properties plc (33) FirstPort (42) 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 (67) Katie Kendrick (37) Law Commission (60) LEASE (66) Leasehold Advisory Service (62) Leasehold houses (32) Long Harbour (48) 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 (201) Taylor Wimpey (106) Tchenguiz (33) The Guardian (33) The Times (31) Vincent Tchenguiz (43) Waking watch contracts (40)
Previous Post: «Countryside Properties plc CMA forces Countryside Properties plc to strike out doubling ground rents: it was selling them as late as May 2017!
Next Post: LKP quits FoPRA as it appoints Roger Southam an ‘esteemed honorary consultant’ – after re-surfacing from the Cayman Islands Roger Southam»

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. A. Leasehold Victim

    September 17, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    Again … there was not one mention of the demonstration or any reference to the leasehold or Grenfell scandals on the BBC website, could it be that that Aunty BBC’s news items are vetted by the same people making ..un-earned money.. with the leasehold racket..?

  2. Kim

    September 17, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    Not one pic of my banner…. “MAFIA MANAGING AGENTS =LEASEHOLD MISERY “.
    Sebastian O Kelly took a photograph of it and told me me how great it was…..
    Hey Seb, give me some credit….. I really am on LKP/ NLC et al side. C’mon show my banner.

    • Sebastian O'Kelly

      September 18, 2021 at 8:37 pm

      Oh, alright.

      KimIshola

      • Kim

        September 20, 2021 at 10:56 pm

        Thank you Sebastian, you have made an old gal very happy!! I am on your side.

  3. Bryan Wildman

    September 18, 2021 at 9:52 am

    I was so proud to be part of the demonstration that was so well co-ordinated and professionally put together. We’ve come a long way in the last 4 years.

    • Andrei

      September 23, 2021 at 1:37 pm

      I am also glad that I was able to attend the demonstration which was very well organised. I am pleased to meet you and others. Hopefully, I’ll see you next time.
      Take care. Andrei

  4. Rita Mary Mooney

    October 14, 2021 at 3:09 pm

    Well done to the organisers of the demo. A peaceful demo something to be proud of. Shame on the BBC for not showing how angry people are.(but people on the day did not show their anger by showing violence at the demo. ) About time something was done about the Builders they have made enough money out of the Leaseholders. About time they are made to cough up and pay for cladding. they put it up ,they should pay up. Also stop the unsavoury leasehold when selling houses. Let people buy the leasehold back from the money grabbing “off shore” well to do’s that builders sold the Lease to. Not even giving the buyers the first chance to buy their Lease.. Just a way to make more money (for them that are already stinking rich)

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