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 billion Long Harbour fund in a bid to water down the reforms.
Long Harbour director Jack Spearman also sent an email this week to property executives asking them to sign an open letter to the Government expressing their concerns about the shake-up.
A Long Harbour spokesman said: ‘Long Harbour have played a co-ordinating role over the past three months to engage with the Government constructively over leasehold reform.
“We have outlined on multiple occasions the impact on UK housing supply if all grounds were reduced to zero, and the value of an institutional freeholder.’
Law to ban ‘feudal’ practice exploiting home buyers to be announced
Communities Secretary said the new law will end ‘toxic’ leasehold rip-off Exploitation saw developers retaining ownership of land the property is built on Unwitting buyers were paying sharp increases in ground rent, devaluing home Daily Mail led way in exposing the issue dubbed ‘PPI of housebuilding industry’ Developers are to be banned from selling new houses with ‘toxic’ leaseholds attached, Sajid Javid will announce today.
The Mail claims Astor’s fund has the freeholds of 160,000 homes on its books.
It is unknown whether Mr Astor in appointing Pagefield has dumped Crosby Textor, the PR / lobbying company founded by Australian PR guru Sir Lynton Crosby, the so-called “Wizard of Oz”. Crosby failed to work his magic for the Conservative Party during the last election, when it lost its parliamentary majority.
The argument that ground rents are essential to the viability of developments was always a piss-take too far.
Developers do not sell leasehold properties any cheaper than freehold ones: simply for the highest conceivable figure possible.
The new housing market has been driven by taxpayers pouring billions into the Help To Buy market.
The result? Outrageous remuneration packages for top executives such as Jeffrey Fairburn, CEO of Persimmon, getting more than £100 million in bonuses: a deal so disgraceful that the Persimmon chairman has resigned.
The leasehold scandal has been the first real push-back to the arrogance of the nation’s cheating, complacent and over-paid housebuilders.
This is a sector that needs a good deal more scrutiny.
We congratulate Sajid Javid and Gavin Barwell for refusing to be swayed by their dodgy lobbying.
Related posts:
Daily Mail ‘reveals’ Will Astor’s ‘links to leasehold rip-offs’
‘Cameron’s brother-in-law Will Astor and the toxic leasehold scandal’, Daily Mail
Daily Mail says blue chips are cashing in on ‘rip-off ground rents’
Daily Mail on leasehold houses and doubling ground rent scandals
Kate Osamor MP asks parliamentary questions for Long Harbour on ground rents, says Daily Telegraph
Leasehold houses to be banned and future ground rents set to zero, announces Sajid Javid
Thank you very much LKP , Patrons and APPG for leasehold reform.
At the Backbench meeting, please can the MPs now demand the PRA and FCA to order the banks to withdraw lending on ground rent income except where the leaseholds are buying the freehold title of their block of flats. .
Many of the freehold titles were bought without any RFR offered to Leaseholders and the banks should not financing the purchase of freehold titles when the rest of the world have moved to Commonhold.
We want Rothsay Life Insurance and other Lenders to withdraw loans on ground rent income to freehold companies immediately.
It is wishful thinking to believe Rothesay life will withdraw loans (though pension funds may well do.)
Rothesay Life have granted loans against the assets of freeholding companies over a 65 year term at enhanced interest rates plus management fees being payable to them.
To a large extent they have re- financed the Tchenguiz property portfolio (whilst technically leaving him in control)
The value they placed on the portfolio is much less than the valuation that Tchenguiz and the banks put on it, but substantially more than the value of the portfolio being put into administration.
That ground rent income is becoming less certain at a time when inflation rates are rising is very bad news for the off shore ground rent grazers.
Rothesay Life was established in 2007 and has grown to be a leading life insurer specialising in bulk annuities and other derisking solutions for defined benefit pension schemes and insurance companies.
We provide unique solutions for clients seeking to mitigate financial and longevity risk, aiming to create structures that are tailor-made to suit the needs of scheme members, trustees and corporates
18th December 2017
Rothesay Life announces today that funds managed or advised by Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities business (“Blackstone”), GIC (“GIC”), and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (“MassMutual”) (together the “Shareholders”) have completed the acquisition of Goldman Sachs’ entire shareholding in Rothesay Life.
21 Dec 2017
UK Government announced it will end the leasehold abuse , by giving leaseholders the right to enfranchise at 10 times annual ground rent. ( We want this reduced to 7.5 time ground rent which T is the price of freeholds sold in 1995 by Bellway Homes without any offer of RFR to many 1000s of leaseholders.).
Tchenguiz Tamily Trust based in BVI has taken over Solitaire and Pembertons in 2006 , Peverel in 2007 and M&S in 2008 without offering RFR to any leaseholders financed banks such as HBOS, and Merryl Lynch ( BofA) and Kaupthing which all went bust . Tchenguiz arranged for the 4 Peverel Companies to be put into Administration in 2011 and made to waiver a loan of £540 Mil which means some bank has lost that amount.
Rothsay’s financing of Tchenguiz’s portfolio may be in line for the same treatment.
This was reported by Daily Mail online ( 21 Dec 2017) :
Communities Secretary said the new law will end ‘toxic’ leasehold rip-off
Exploitation saw developers retaining ownership of land the property is built on
Unwitting buyers were paying sharp increases in ground rent, devaluing home
Daily Mail led way in exposing the issue dubbed ‘PPI of housebuilding industry’
Advice for Rothsay : Withdraw from financing leasehold abuse
Rothsay Life Insurance are part of the exploitation chain started by Developers, the ball is picked up by the ground rent investment companies and using actuarial valuation process to the rack up asset value and refinanced by Rothsay. to support the exploitation game..
The Directors of Rothsay should read the Daily Mail and Guardian Newspapers .
The Directors of Rothsay Life Insurance are :
Ray King , Non Exec Chairman
Addy Loudiadis, CEO
Tom Pearce , MD
Andrew Stocker , CFO
Richard Berliand , NED
Glen Earle ,NED
Charles Pickup, NED
Bill Robertson NED,
Robbin Jarrat, NED
Qasim Abbas , NED
Dermot McDonogh, NED,
Tim Corbet, NED
Have these Directors done their “Client Due Diligence” on the E & W Leasehold System and the background of Tchenguiz Family Trust based in the British Virgin Islands ?
Does Rothsay know that all the freeholds acquired by TFT, the sellers and buyers never offered RFR to leaseholders ?
Sorry, missed out name of Director : Naquib Kheraj, NED
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and thanks to all at LKP it appears that it is not just the turkey that has been stuffed this year! (Sorry Lord Astor)