The Times reports the case of a Fairview New Homes buyer losing a sale because he wanted to use his own solicitor and mortgage broker. George Perkins, 21, was excited to be buying a two-bedroom apartment at the Altitude development in Hornsey, north London, with Fairview New Homes, but was then told to consider using […]
Number 10 chief of staff Gavin Barwell ‘delighted’ to be invited to present award to LKP
The Leasehold Knowledge Partnership was presented with a prestigious award by the All Party Parliamentary Group for leasehold and commonhold reform, which represents 171 MPs. Former housing minister Gavin Barwell, the current chief of staff of Number 10, was to have presented the award to Sebastian O’Kelly, LKP chief executive, and to Martin Boyd, the […]
RBS kicks leaseholders facing forfeiture when they are down, LKP tells FT
LKP has accused the taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland of “kicking leaseholders when they are down” in the Financial Times. The issue concerns leaseholders facing forfeiture. This is usually avoided when lenders – whose mortgage is at risk on leases that face forfeiture – step in to settle the debt. RBS censured for tough stance […]
Law Commissioner wants to meet YOU: November 3
The Law Commissioner Professor Nick Hopkins is to address leaseholders on reforms to leasehold in Manchester on Saturday November 3, with an event in London to be announced shortly. Professor Hopkins will be discussing the Law Commission’s consultation paper setting out proposals that aim to make buying your freehold or extending your lease simpler, easier, […]
New trustees and changes at LKP
The Leasehold Knowledge Partnership announces changes today that will secure the organisation and prepare it for an enhanced role in the reform of leasehold. Sebastian O’Kelly has stood down as an LKP trustee and becomes the chief executive, tasked with taking on intern staff and freelancers assisted by the Open Data Institute, where we are […]
The Sun says … ‘thousands trapped in leasehold homes due to spiralling ground rent costs’
An excellent piece in the Sun by Hollie Borland, the Digital Consumer Reporter, appeared at the weekend giving a resume of the leasehold scandal pegged to the Which? report into the issue. It has the point that some leaseholders said they were charged £252 to own a pet or £60 to change a doorbell. But it […]
Pathetic efforts by plc housebuilders to address ground rent scandal exposed on TV
The efforts of Taylor Wimpey, Countryside Properties plc and the ground rent speculators to address unfair lease terms were exposed as public relations posturing on TV this week. The in-depth programme was made by independent producer Renegade Inc, and it goes out on Russia Today, YouTube and other media. It can be viewed here: Britain’s […]
Sebastian O’Kelly addresses retirement property managers. Were you lynched? No, they agreed: leasehold ‘granny flats’ have no future
Not a single voice was uttered in favour of the leasehold volume retirement flat model at the annual conference of the Association of Retirement Housing Managers last week. The keynote speaker was Sebastian O’Kelly, joint trustee of LKP and director of www.BetterRetirementHousing.com, who said: “The era of knocking out “granny flats”, loading the leases with […]
LKP tells BBC that property managers can’t regulate themselves. It needs government
LKP told the BBC R4 You and Yours consumer affairs programme today that professional self-regulation by property managers does not work. This was why former Labour minister Sally Keeble resigned as the ARMA regulator – a role that has been scrapped. In part this is an economy measure, as the organisation was also beset with […]
MPs tell government consultation: End leasehold houses. Scrap new ground rents. Ignore pleas for self-regulation. Ban Help To Buy on rip-off leaseholds
Self-regulation and codes of conduct have failed. Bring in commonhold and end the leasehold rip-offs. APPG pays “public tribute” to the work of LKP in revealing these abuses “LKP have helped hundreds of leaseholders keep their homes and continue to do so with very limited resources,” it says. Leasehold Sector ‘cannot be trusted’ All Party […]
Telegraph and Mail attack Nationwide for £54 million ground rent investments
The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail today criticised Nationwide for investing in ground rents after refusing to lend against leasehold properties with onerous terms last week. The Telegraph refers to a spokesman declining to reveal what proportion of the Nationwide’s investments were escalating ground rents. Nationwide said only that the “vast majority” of the fund’s […]
Police may need to investigate ground rent scandal, says Bottomley
Sir Peter Bottomley today told the Daily Mail that police may need to be involved in the ground rent scandal that involves the country’s largest developers. “Housebuilders should pay attention. This scandal needs dealing with by government and parliament,’ said Sir Peter. “Some of the worst practices should be investigated to see whether a crime […]
Developer recommended solicitors could face £500m bill, says Daily Mail
The same small number of legal firms recommended by developers when selling properties with onerous ground rent terms could face legal bills of up to £500m, says the Daily Mail. Many buyers were lured by discounts on purchase prices and on legal fees for using the recommended solicitors. Louie Burns, of Leasehold Solutions, was quoted […]
Why are leasehold house owners mobilising while flat owners suffer in silence?
Around 50 leasehold stakeholders and seven parliamentarians attended the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold reform on Wednesday evening. The parliamentary turnout was lower than expected, owing to the election. Sebastian O’Kelly, trustee of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, was the first speaker, welcoming owners of leasehold houses from the North West making their second […]
Leasehold needs to be reformed, BBC Money Box Live is told
This week saw a half-hour live discussion of leasehold issues on BBC R4 Money Box Live driven by mounting concerns over the leasehold houses scandal. The programme preamble, presented by Louise Cooper, pointed out that in the 1990s 22 per cent of all new builds were leasehold and the figure today is 43 per cent. […]
BBC R4 Today programme hears of ‘venal, greedy housebuilders’ playing the angles of leasehold
The influential BBC R4 Today programme this morning devoted five minutes discussing the ground rents housing crisis. It can heard here at 2:32 It featured a report of leasehold house owners in Clitheroe, Lancashire, who had bought their properties from Taylor Wimpey. Leaseholder Andrew Henderson told the programme that the ground rents doubled every ten […]
