A picture of relief and continued misery emerged from the meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold and commonhold reform last week. Relieved were two representatives of the 95-flat Citiscape site in Croydon, where Barratt – which built the site 17 years ago – is picking up the tab to replace the Grenfell […]
APPG, April 26 Both the MHCLG civil service and the Law Commission are genuinely enthused to reform the leasehold sector and moving fast to do so, encouraged by the Communities Secretary. This was the message of John Hall, director at the MHCLG, who was speaking on April 26 before the promotion of Sajid Javid to […]
The government is calling on all those who bought re-sale properties with doubling ground rents to contact it. This emerged after Andrew Selous, Conservative MP for South West Bedfordshire, raised the issue at the APPG meeting on April 26. “Taylor Wimpey sold a lot of leases in my constituency, but I have a constituent who […]
APPG, April 26 The Law Commission is examining lease extension, enfranchisement and commonhold, but it hopes its work will encourage the creation of a single, modern, streamlined law on leasehold. That was the message of Professor Nicholas Hopkins to the All Party Parliamentary Group on April 26. “One consistent thing that we heard [in our […]
APPG, April 26 The chief executive of FirstPort welcomed more professionalism in the residential property management sector, especially when dealing with vitally important issues such as tower blocks with defective cladding. Nigel Howell also told the APPG on April 26 how his company responded to the discovery of Grenfell cladding at Citiscape in Croydon, where […]
Two leaseholders at the Citiscape site in Croydon offered public praise to Barratt and thanked LKP for its efforts to get the issue raised in public and addressed. Anuj Vats and Srikant Alla are at the forefront of organising the leaseholders into a functioning residents’ association to address the crisis imposed on them after Grenfell […]
APPG, April 26 A very different scene was outlined to the All Party Parliamentary Group on April 26 by Nigel Pickford (left), a leaseholder at New Capital Quay, another site with Grenfell cladding of more than 900 flats built by Galliard Homes only four years ago. The house builder also owns the freehold and the […]
Taxpayers face a loss of £85,000 on a Help To Buy loan at New Capital Quay after Homes England accepted that a flat blighted by Grenfell cladding was now worth only £50,000. Cecile Langevin, 32, a mother of two, bought her £475,000 flat with a £95,000 Help To Buy loan, savings and a mortgage in […]
Louie Burns, the MD of Leasehold Solutions, has questioned whether the Law Commission’s examination of lease extension and enfranchisement will bring about the “seismic changes” that are needed. Mr Burns has criticised the “vague platitudes” of the Law Commission, which set out its terms of reference at the end of last week for its Residential […]
The number of articles in the national press on leasehold issues continues to grow. Today sees two articles published, one in The Times where it reports on cladding and one in The Sun. The Sun gives its readers a very sensible cautionary guide to leasehold purchases including a mini guide to leasehold from LKP trustee […]
Floorweald Limited and ABC Estates overcharged leaseholders £27,000, according to the Bristol Live web yesterday. Leaseholders at Grantham Apartments in Two Mile Hill won the tribunal ruling last week over a section 20 major works bill. Leaseholders claimed their management fees had also gone up from £50 to £178 a month, according to the website. […]
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 […]
Other freeholders and housebuilders should do the same, says Sajid Javid Last night it was announced by Barratt that it would pick up the £2 million fire marshal and Grenfell fire cladding bill at Citiscape in Croydon. Barratt told LKP this morning: “Following the recent ruling that the costs for necessary recladding at Citiscape will […]
A veteran leasehold campaigner from Carlex earliest days, Susan Wood, has just repeated a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about leasehold tenancies being described as “home ownership” that she first made in 2012. Her first complaint concerned Churchill Retirement. Now she complains about McCarthy and Stone describing their flats in an advert in Saga […]
Law Commission sets out today how it proposes to come up with a better deal for leaseholders and will look at alternatives to this system of residential tenure, that is unique to England and Wales. Today it set out the terms of reference for its work on enfranchisement and commonhold reform, agreed with government. The […]
My £475,000 home with Grenfell cladding is worth £50,000. So I’ll now pay off my Help To Buy loan, please … But taxpayers would lose millions A young mother has made an intriguing intervention into the dilemma of those whose new flats are blighted with Grenfell cladding. And it may prove a tempting get-out […]
By Sebastian O’Kelly, LKP trustee The retirement house builder McCarthy and Stone says that it is struggling, the newspapers are reporting. Profits are down more than 50 per cent for the first half of this year. And it is worried about the long-term implications of the government’s undertaking to reform ground rents, setting them as […]
By Sebastian O’Kelly, LKP trustee There is only one outstanding candidate to be chair of LEASE and that is Martin Boyd. He is the only person involved in leasehold activism with the knowledge and abilities that will hold credibility with the sector. He is respected on this subject by ministers, MPs and civil servants. As […]
