By Harry Scoffin Almost two years on from the announcement of a ban on the sale of new-build houses as leasehold tenancies, developers are continuing to cash in on the practice. According to government figures published yesterday, the first half of 2019 has seen Help To Buy equity loans taken out on 395 leasehold houses. […]
Feudal Dubai cracks down on bloated service charges in flats … and puts added oomph in commonhold
By Harry Scoffin The property law may have been issued by royal decree, but there was nothing feudal about the package of measures that took effect earlier this week in Dubai. Following debates over high and opaque bills eroding owners’ capital values and rental yields, the emirate has moved to end rip-off service charges and […]
Tory trailblazers get Tower Hamlets to come out for commonhold in London first
By Harry Scoffin Campaigners calling for commonhold homeownership received a boost last night as Tower Hamlets voted against landlord-controlled leaseholds. The motion put forward by Tower Hamlets’ two Tory councillors, and amended by the dominant Labour party, passed unanimously. It makes the local authority the first London borough to formally acknowledge the controversies surrounding the […]
Don’t forget about 10 million voters, Bottomley tells the government … which omitted leasehold reform from the Queen’s speech
By Harry Scoffin As MPs debated the Queen’s speech on Monday, Sir Peter Bottomley demanded the government urgently brings forward legislation to help the “10 million people” at risk of abuse in leasehold properties, “a very high proportion of our electorate”. The Tory veteran remade the case for bold action on the leasehold scandal, saying […]
Welsh policymakers back monetary ground rents while pondering ‘compulsory commonhold’
By Harry Scoffin Developers should continue to be able to profit from selling the freehold reversion, a report commissioned by the Welsh government has concluded. Although the UK government has recently re-committed to banning ground rents on new leases in England, ministers in Wales may still come out in favour of monetary ground rents. Housing […]
Seize ‘golden opportunity’ offered by Help To Buy 2021 to end taxpayer-funded spread of toxic leasehold, urges Tory MP Crispin Blunt
Let’s be Blunt, Mr Brokenshire … Witness what MP Crispin Blunt from Surrey has to say No time for mincing words No time for wasting taxpayers’ money And certainly no time for land inequality By Harry Scoffin In the run-up to last Thursday’s announcement that future leasehold houses and monetary ground rents on flats are […]
‘The genie is out of the bottle,’ three lawyers solemnly explain to industry insiders in Estates Gazette
By Harry Scoffin The Estates Gazette has recently provided insight into the thinking of the obfuscators of the leasehold sector. The opinion piece makes delicious reading for leasehold campaigners and others pushing for fairness in this murky corner of the housing market. * The genie is out of the bottle The volume and pace of […]
Exclusive: Commonhold can only work if ground rents are banned, said Ministry of Justice – in 2009!
By Harry Scoffin As government stands ready to issue its verdict on the Communities Select Committee report and the findings of the public consultation from November, Leasehold Knowledge Partnership turns back the clock to 2009. There was no LKP, no All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold reform, and no social media movement like the National […]
Tory maverick MP Crispin Blunt is urged to back Help To Buy ONLY on commonhold
By Harry Scoffin Conservative MP Crispin Blunt is being urged to throw his weight behind an LKP-backed proposal to make state support for developers contingent on selling ALL new-build flats as commonhold or share of freehold. The appeal to a Tory backbencher who has characterised leasehold tenure as an “arcane feudal system” may have resonance […]
Estate Agent Today supports LKP’s campaign to introduce commonhold
The trade news website Estate Agent Today has come out in favour of LKP’s campaign to introduce commonhold. It is the latest endorsement of a campaign to reinvigorate commonhold, which has been on the statute book since 2002 but has not had take up because developers and assorted speculators make so much money playing the […]
Leasehold first-time buyers trapped in leasehold homes with £800 ground rents, says BBC
The BBC website today features a first-time buyer of a leasehold house in Liverpool who pays £800 a year in ground rent and service charges. The BBC website reports the case of Ashleigh Wilson, 27, who bought her £200,000 home in Knowsley four years ago but now cannot sell it because of the lease terms. […]
Housebuilders WILL benefit from commonhold, Hopton Build developer tells Law Commission
By Harry Scoffin The housebuilder owner of Hopton Build who is completing a commonhold scheme in Yorkshire told the Law Commission last week that the tenure works and will benefit housebuilders. Stewart Moxon, of Hopton Build, which is selling a site in Liversedge, near Huddersfield, said: “Believe me, developers will do well out of commonhold. […]
Leaseholders and the sector react to Law Commission reforms to commonhold and right to manage
There is bound to be a contrast between successful professionals in the leasehold sector discussing reforms, and the reactions of more emotive leaseholders who see themselves as the victims of its injustices. Examples of both were evident on Tuesday at the Law Commission’s symposium at London University’s law faculty. Consultation on the proposals to reform […]
LKP persuades government to allow commonhold tenure on Help To Buy
The government has back-tracked on the bar on Help To Buy for commonhold properties and will now allow purchases of this form of tenure, which prevails in the world outside England and Wales. For God’s sake! Now it emerges £8.3 billion Help To Buy scheme – that turned house builder executives into multi-millionaires – is […]
LKP praises Law Commission over commonhold in Telegraph
Commonhold is slowly working its way into the national consciousness – 16 years after being introduced to the statute book. Last Friday, Sam Barker in the Daily Telegraph reported the Law Commission’s study of the tenure. Commonhold exists almost all jurisdictions apart from England and Wales, where flats and over a million houses are held […]
‘The time is right for commonhold,’ announces Law Commission. (Pity the government doesn’t agree …)
Push for alternative to leasehold system Expansion of the commonhold system of home ownership as an alternative to leasehold tenancies has been urged by the government’s law reform adviser. Commonhold – where people own their homes without an expiring lease – was introduced 14 years ago, but has been little-used. Meanwhile, there have […]
