The BBC website today features a first-time buyer of a leasehold house in Liverpool who pays £800 a year in ground rent and service charges. The BBC website reports the case of Ashleigh Wilson, 27, who bought her £200,000 home in Knowsley four years ago but now cannot sell it because of the lease terms. […]
A few hours after FirstPort – aka Peverel – was named in prime minister’s questions, it was named again – for not fixing a broken lift. First, Conservative MP Huw Merriman, for Bexhill and Battle, raised issues of “fleecehold” charges and high retirement service charges – “thanks to the dominant influence of FirstPort”. Later, […]
Tory MP Huw Merriman called for zero ground rents for retirement housing at prime minister’s questions today. He talked of pensioners trapped in McCathy & Stone properties, which have fast depreciating values. He named Vincent Tchenguiz, whose Tchenguiz Family Trust in the British Virgin Islands ultimately owns the old McCarthy and Stone freehold book, and […]
By Harry Scoffin One of the most powerful interventions in the leasehold scandal was when Nationwide publicly stated it would not be lending on doubling ground rent properties. Nationwide bans mortgages on doubling ground rent properties It made overt what LKP knew perfectly well was happening in the market: that lenders were getting decidedly windy […]
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, […]
And I won’t invest in plc house builders on moral grounds, says columnist The Daily Mail is not happy either … A devastating attack today by Merryn Somerset Webb in the Financial Times on the toxic legacy of Help To Buy which accounted for 18% of leasehold house sales in 2017. She concludes of our […]
By Harry Scoffin The housebuilder owner of Hopton Build who is completing a commonhold scheme in Yorkshire told the Law Commission last week that the tenure works and will benefit housebuilders. Stewart Moxon, of Hopton Build, which is selling a site in Liversedge, near Huddersfield, said: “Believe me, developers will do well out of commonhold. […]
Persimmon is to make a £1 billion profit thanks to taxpayers pouring in money through Help To Buy to get young first-timers onto the property ladder. And in return, what? The company has been the main offender in spreading leasehold houses around the country, creating homes which include an investment asset for someone else. So, […]
By Harry Scoffin The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against the way the Notting Hill Genesis housing associations is promoting the shared ownership of leasehold properties. It ruled that “home ownership starts with us” was over-stating a vulnerable tenancy arrangement, and the case was reported in The Daily Telegraph yesterday. Housing developer forced to scrap […]
London mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a new leasehold advice portal, and has condemned the taxpayer-funded Leasehold Advisory Service as “unfit for purpose”. He also backed “wholesale reform of leasehold, including a long-term shift toward alternative tenures such as commonhold”. Today’s statement from the mayor’s office reads: “Government funds the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) – […]
By Harry Scoffin Leasehold houses are STILL being sold under the Help To Buy scheme and taxpayers’ subsidy for them will remain until 2021, the Communities Select Committee has been told. Only in 2021 do the existing Help To Buy procedures end. Oral evidence – MHCLG annual report and accounts 2018 – 21 Jan 2019 […]
Britain’s feudal leasehold system is killing the dream of homeownership A landlord’s profit motive, however, will always clash with the occupier’s need to protect their investment. High service charges do not affect the landlord. They can “sweat” the asset, let the building become rundown, while padding service charges. Harry Scoffin, London leaseholder activist who works […]
Current number of members 161+ 11 friends Listed below are the members of the All Party Parliamentary Group looking into Leasehold and Commonhold reform in the new parliament. The list is updated as new members join and will be updated on this page throughout the parliament. Any member of parliament in the Commons or Lords […]
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 […]
Leaseholders at the upscale Neo Bankside beside Tate Modern on the south bank of the Thames have lost their battle for privacy against the art gallery. The Tate created a viewing gallery for the public so they could enjoy magnificent views across the river to St Pauls. Unfortunately for the residents, the viewing platform also […]
The taxpayer subsidy for offshore speculators in residential freeholds has been revealed in the Daily Mail: it estimates that 17,000 leasehold properties have been bought through the Help To Buy scheme. Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey uncovered the official figures showing Help to Buy had been used to purchase 17,586 houses leasehold since 2013. Mr […]
By Harry Scoffin Last Friday, the National Leasehold Campaign launched a petition calling for the abolition of the leasehold system. Leasehold is described as “a form of financial servitude where the leaseholder is forever compensating the freeholder for living on ‘their land’.” By the stroke of midnight last night, the petition had registered 10,000 signatures. […]
