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 […]
Ending ground rents will hurt leaseholders, says Long Harbour …
… which won’t say who owns freeholds it manages A last gasp effort to save ground rents was made by Long Harbour executive director Richard Silva in the recent issue of News on the Block. The scandal of onerous ground rents has been driving the call for reform while “only affecting a small fraction of […]
Long Harbour hits reverse on forfeiture to £800,000 flat over £400 ground rent … and JB Leitch halves its legal bill
Both Long Harbour and debt collectors JB Leitch hit reverse gear after a forfeiture threat to an £800,000 flat over a late £400 ground rent bill was raised publicly by the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership. And JB Leitch has now halved its £2,000 legal costs demand to £1,000. Millie Li, a Chinese citizen, visited China in […]
Barking fire site is owned by anonymous investors in Adriatic Land
And what the balconies were like before the fire: LKP has been informed that the headlease owner of De Pass Gardens on Barking Riverside, which witnessed a serious fire today, is Adriatic Land 4. These companies are part of the £1.6 billion ground rent fund Long Harbour. The ultimate beneficial ownership of these freeholds / […]
Are hedge funds behind Long Harbour, asks Tory MP
Tory MP Stephen McPartland questioned last week whether investors in the ground rent ground fund Long Harbour are “hedge funds and speculators”. Long Harbour, founded by William Waldorf Astor, has claimed publicly that its £1.4 billion ground rent fund holders are pension funds, although ultimate beneficial ownership is always hidden and some of the assets, […]
Tchenguiz group says profiting from Grenfell cladding scandal would be ‘abhorrent’ and won’t happen
The Tchenguiz group has assured leaseholders that it would not redevelop a site made unviable by Grenfell cladding costs for its own gain. Leaseholders at Northpoint, in Bromley, south east London, had “expressed concern that we may seek to profit from leaseholders’ predicament, should they be forced to walk away from their leases, by carrying […]
Pull the other one, Vincent! Leasehold reform hasn’t stuffed Fairhold. It was downgraded in 2015 …
In today’s Financial Times interview, Vincent Tchenguiz says the sale of his Fairhold Securitisation Limited has collapsed because of buyers’ concerns over government reforms to leasehold. Vincent Tchenguiz pushes back on UK leasehold reform Property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz is lobbying against proposed changes to the leasehold system that his company says threaten “unintended detrimental […]
Anonymous freeholders are the reliable long-term custodians of blocks of flats, Select Committee is told
And sector offers up yet another ‘code of practice’, this time for freeholders (whoever they may be when hidden offshore) One of the greatest fictions of the leasehold sector is that freeholders – even anonymous offshore ones – are the only reliable long-term stewards of a block of flats. The leasehold owners would be incapable, […]
Communities Select Committee lifts the lid on the residential freehold racket
By Sebastian O’Kelly On Monday (November 19 2018), MPs of the Communities Select Committee at last flushed out the developers and ground rent speculators who profit from turning ordinary families’ homes into long term investment assets. A murky sector that habitually hides behinds the courts, lawyers, lobbyists and trade bodies finally had to justify its […]
Long Harbour lobby MP Kate Osamor bars leasehold activist from Twitter feed
Corbynite Labour MP Kate Osamor, who asked a series of parliamentary questions on behalf of residential freehold fund Long Harbour, has barred a prominent leasehold activist from her Twitter feed. Baz Jafar, a doubling ground rent leaseholder, found he was blocked from his Edmonton MP’s official Twitter feed yesterday after raising the issue of the […]
Government thinking freeholders are paternalistic long-term custodians of a building is where it has gone wrong over Grenfell cladding
Sorry, they are just speculators in it for the enforceable income By Martin Boyd Translating freeholder or landlord as “building owner” is a bad idea that has led government to make a mess of its efforts to resolve the issue of Grenfell cladding on private sites. LKP explained to both Dame Judith Hackitt and the […]
Private Eye identifies yet another murky offshore landlord, Vuillard Holdings Limited, with Grenfell cladding
“Snakes and cladders” is Private Eye’s headline revealing Vuillard Holdings Limited as the latest landlord with Grenfell cladding on site. Owned by shy proprietors David and Patrick Kennedy, it owns the freehold of Victoria Wharf, two sites Limehouse in East London, where leaseholders have so far “been forced” to pay £165,000 for fire wardens. LKP […]
Kate Osamor MP asks parliamentary questions for Long Harbour on ground rents, says Daily Telegraph
Labour frontbencher Kate Osamor asking a series of parliamentary questions on behalf of ground rent speculators lifts the lid on lobbying for the sector. Miss Osamor, the shadow international development secretary, submitted six questions drafted by lobbyists Pagefield acting for the £1.6 billion Long Harbour fund, the Daily Telegraph has claimed. LKP has contacted Labour’s […]
Retirement housebuilders and speculators plead to be allowed ground rents in the Evening Standard
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, […]
Sesame Apartments: Yet another anonymous Long Harbour freeholder demanding £2.2 million over Grenfell cladding
Labour MP for Battersea Marsha De Cordova is championing the cause of leaseholders facing bills of thousands of pounds at Sesame apartments. She told the Commons yesterday: “Leaseholders are still being left in limbo about whether they will be footing the bill. “But it is not leaseholders who have failed to upgrade buildings or cut […]
Will Astor ‘tried to nobble reform of ground rents’, Daily Mail claims
The ground rent speculator – and former employee of Vincent Tchenguiz – Will Astor mounted an eleventh hour lobbying effort to derail reform of leasehold, reports the Daily Mail today. The Mail claims that the 38-year-old, who is the half brother-in-law of former prime minister David Cameron, hired London-based PR firm Pagefield through his £1.3 […]
