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 […]
For God’s sake! Now it emerges £8.3 billion Help To Buy scheme – that turned house builder executives into multi-millionaires – is not available on commonhold properties!
The Help To Buy scheme that has hugely boosted plc house builders share prices – and turned the likes of Persimmon’s Jeff Fairburn and David Jenkinson into multimillionaires – is not available for commonhold properties. This astonishing revelation comes from small house builder (and former leaseholder) Stewart Moxon, of Hopton Build. He trying to selling […]
Commonhold is back! House builder offers flats without leasehold tenancies
Five flats might not amount to a revolution, but it might be an indication of where market sentiment is heading. If so, Stewart Moxon, founder of Hopton Build, is going to be well ahead of the curve. He is selling five two-bedroom apartments at Liversedge, near Huddersfield, as commonhold units rather than leasehold. And the […]
Law Commission sets out how it hopes to create a better deal for leaseholders – and look at alternatives
Law Commission sets out today how it proposes to come up with a better deal for leaseholders and will look at alternatives to this system of residential tenure, that is unique to England and Wales. Today it set out the terms of reference for its work on enfranchisement and commonhold reform, agreed with government. The […]
Leasehold needs to stop being a means to produce ‘ever-increasing profits’, says Conveyancing Association
The Conveyancing Association says it is going to deliver a “full and frank” response to Sajid Javid’s consultation on the leasehold sector. “It’s clear that we want to move away from leasehold being used purely as a motive to generate income, and produce ever-increasing profits for whoever might own the freehold,” writes Eddie Goldsmith, the […]
Urban Owners finds 41% of leaseholders have not had lease terms explained by solicitors
Less than 2% worried about about ground rents when buying a flat Less than 5% have a good understanding of commonhold, but … … APPG on September 11 is to consider the ground rent scandal, the government response to it … and the need for commonhold to replace leasehold The LKP-accredited management company Urban Owners […]
Spire View, in Pickering, shows a commonhold future with no leases at all, says Sunday Times
Just before Sajid Javid’s ban on leasehold houses and pledge to reduce ground rents to “as low as zero”, commonhold tenure – on the statute book since 2002 – has raced back onto the housing agenda. The issue is now up for consultation. The Sunday Times today reports how Spire View in Pickering, North Yorkshire, […]
Philip Rainey QC: Reform of the law is a duty (and for landlord and tenant law it is overdue)
In an address to the ARMA conference last week, Philip Rainey QC (right) did nothing less than urge the whole-scale reform of landlord and tenant law that has provided him with a comfortable living. Although prefaced with the lawyerly proviso – “it should not be assumed that I agree with all or any of the […]
Housing Bill omits necessary ‘changes to leasehold and commonhold’
… and forfeiture needs changing, too Housing minister Brandon Lewis is facing trouble over his Housing Bill with Sir Peter Bottomley today telling the commons: “The Bill totally misses out the necessary changes to leasehold and commonhold. “Some years ago, the House passed a Bill to allow commonhold to come in. It has defects and […]
Ban leasehold by 2020, says MP Jim Fitzpatrick … and introduce commonhold instead
Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a patron of LKP, has moved an amendment to the Housing Bill that will see leasehold ended by January 1 2020. Instead, flats should be sold through commonhold tenure only. This is the first time since the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act of 2002 that […]
Commonhold – How did it go so wrong?
Commonhold was meant to be a shiny new replacement for leasehold, where each flat owner in a block of flats or each house owner on an estate also owned a share of the company which owns the site. A new system supported by all the main political parties throughout the 1990’s. A system which was […]
Council of Mortgage Lenders urged to help LKP end forfeiture
Forfeiture and how to bring it to an end was the subject of a LKP meeting with the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association in London this afternoon. LKP is trying to push the subject of forfeiture up the political agenda: for all leaseholder readers new to this site, forfeiture means you […]
Less ‘legal torture’ and more happiness in leasehold, says Sir Peter Bottomley
Sir Peter Bottomley made another strong speech over leasehold issues today at the Chartered Institute of Housing meeting in Crawley. It was titled “Less legal torture and more happiness in leasehold”. “All cases of forfeiture should be reported to the Master of the Rolls, who heads the civil courts,” said the MP, who along with […]
