… It sacrifices its own 10-year doubling ground rent portfolio to preserve the rest of its freeholds … Unnecessary leasehold properties have been built. … 10-year doubling ground rents have ‘prevented proper value and sales’ … It pledges not to buy more 10-year doublers (there are not likely to be any) … But it repeats […]
… it is buying back freeholds from investors … E&J Estates says it won’t buy more freeholds to leasehold houses … Oh, and it ‘fully supports’ the government’s consultation over the scandal UPDATE: It seems the deal only applies to 4-5 sites where E&J Capital Partners are the freeholders AND where ground rents double every […]
Here is landlord and tenant solicitor Mark Chick, of Bishops & Sewell, explaining that ground rents are a really dull investment and who would have thought they would make the front page of The Times. “Ground rents will never ‘set the world on fire’ in investment terms …” Tell that to Vincent Tchenguiz, Goldman Sachs, […]
Going back to the “Good Old Days” if you could afford to buy a property you did. This gave a family stability and security and an asset to pass on to the next generation. It was seen as a waste of money to pay out on rent. When property prices rose, it was never more […]
Fatcat boss involved in leasehold scandal lives in one of his company’s newbuild homes A FATCAT boss involved in the leasehold scandal lives in one of his company’s newbuild homes. But he has avoided the rip-off ground rent fees that have ruined the lives of other homebuyers. Ted Ayres, chief executive of property giant Bellway, […]
The Daily Mail makes a good point today: tens of thousands of leasehold house owners – and a fair few thousand potential buyers – are in limbo land. They do not know what is going to happen to this form of tenure. LKP’s advice is: do not touch a leasehold house with a barge-pole. They […]
… And look at these dismal resale values Thousands of pensioners living in older retirement properties are facing a massive hike in ground rents: 88 per cent is not unusual, says Better Retirement Housing The older leases of mass retirement housing builder McCarthy and Stone are kicking in with huge hikes in ground rents. Ground […]
Another day … another demonstration outside the offices of a plc housebuilder: today protestors gathered outside the offices of the Galliford Try. The protestors are believed to be leasehold house owners at the Kaleidoscope site in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, in September last year. A number of frustrations – including those concerning the leasehold tenure of her […]
Pity the poor folk – well, as in unfortunate – who own flats at Neo Bankside, which is often confused as an art installation by gawpers in nearby Tate Modern. Their landlords – interests ultimately o wned by the dukes of Westminster and Buccleuch and Native Land – are flogging off the freehold to the […]
Ground Rents Income Fund Plc Ground Rents Income Fund Plc (GRIF) is a closed ended company established to provide secure long-term performance through investment in long dated United The Ground Rents Income Fund plc says it welcomes Sajid Javid’s consultation to reform leasehold. James Agar, the “Investment Director of Brooks Macdonald Funds, Alternative Investment Fund […]
How foreign investment firms exploit the UK property market with leasehold ground rents The government plans to reform the leasehold property system in the UK. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said: “These practices are unjust, unnecessary and need to stop.” * Around 4 million – or 21% – of privately owned properties in England are leaseholds. […]
“What on earth were they thinking? It’s the obvious question raised by the ground rent scandal at Taylor Wimpey. How on earth did the selling of homes with exponentially rising ground rents seem like a good idea? Why did no one senior at the company say, ‘This will come back to haunt us’?” Leasehold scandal […]
The sector fights back … er, deploying LEASE chair Roger Southam The blog of Roger Southam, the controversial chairman of the Leasehold Advisory Service, was removed this afternoon. The article was seen as an apologia of the existing leasehold system that has brought misery to tens of thousands of leasehold owners, particularly those in new-build […]
DCLG Consultation Paper On Leasehold And Ground Rents – Statement – McCarthy & Stone See our response to the DCLG consultation paper on Leasehold and Ground Rents It is a fair bet that McCarthy and Stone will be making a strong submission to the DCLG into the leasehold houses and ground rent scandals firmly urging […]
Buyers have themselves to blame, not solicitors, over leaseholds, say conveyancers – Legal Futures Conveyancers have hit back at suggestions they should have prevented the scandal of new homes being sold as leasehold properties with rapidly escalating ground rents, which the government announced plans to ban last week. Rob Hailstone, chief executive and founder of […]
Here is a good example of how the sector – that blob of property interests, from builders to offshore investors – view swathes of peoples homes in leasehold England. In 2012 Savills analysed the ground rent market, and did a pretty good job. Under the title, ground rents “An unusual yet attractive investment” the giant […]
From humble beginnings, from a few people having a moan about managing agents and service charges, from a few people deciding to put their complaints into the public domain, look where we are now? How untouchable did the freeholders/developers/managing agents think they were? Almost on a daily basis another scandal is uncovered that afflicts innocent […]
Thousands of leaseholders who signed informal lease extensions – or bought flats with them – are going to see the value of their properties fall, and the nesteggs they put aside for their old age fall away. This is the greatest scandal in leasehold and it is only a matter of time before it unravels […]
