Sunday Times reports Taylor Wimpey ground rent scandal, as executives meet leaseholders

The Taylor Wimpey ground rent scandal featured in the Sunday Times yesterday, as it emerges that executives are being sent out to visit the complaining leaseholders. The article was in the form of a reader’s letter from a £130,000 leasehold house owner in Bolton facing doubling ground rents from an initial £250. Garry Evans says […]

The post Sunday Times reports Taylor Wimpey ground rent scandal, as executives meet leaseholders appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

End lease extension ‘injustice’, veteran MP urges Commons

Sir Peter Bottomley told the Commons yesterday that leaseholders are overpaying for their lease extensions and called on the government to end the “injustice”. The veteran MP, who is patron of LKP and co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group, strongly criticised existing methods to value short leases – almost all of which were commissioned […]

The post End lease extension ‘injustice’, veteran MP urges Commons appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Last year: £64.8bn leasehold properties sold. £13.7bn was new-build. Developers make £300-500 million a year from ground rent sales

Land Registry data shows the scale of the leasehold market ¬ and reveals the importance of freehold sales to housebuilders. Research by the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership shows that £64.8 billion of leasehold sales were registered in 2015. £13.73 billion of that was new-build residential property. From this information, we can roughly estimate the level of […]

The post Last year: £64.8bn leasehold properties sold. £13.7bn was new-build. Developers make £300-500 million a year from ground rent sales appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Taylor Wimpey ground rent explanation ‘not true’, BBC is told

The Taylor Wimpey ground rent scandal featured on BBC R4’s influential You & Yours programme yesterday. But its explanation that doubling ground rents compared to those linked to RPI amounted to “slightly less than 1% of the average sales value of the property” was dismissed as “not true”. The programme interviewed first-time buyer Clair Scott, […]

The post Taylor Wimpey ground rent explanation ‘not true’, BBC is told appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Ban revenue-generating leasehold houses, says Justin Madders MP. Redrow responds

Labour MP Justin Madders has demanded a ban on the building of leasehold houses where there is no justification for them. Leasehold houses have proliferated as housebuilders exploit the housing crisis to make extra revenues by selling off the freeholds, often to shady investors based overseas who hide behind nominee directors. Worse, some housebuilders – […]

The post Ban revenue-generating leasehold houses, says Justin Madders MP. Redrow responds appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

The All Party Parliamentary Group now has 51 members

  Current members: 51 Listed below are the current members of the All Party Parliamentary Group looking into Leasehold and Commonhold issues. This page is updated as new members join. If your MP is not a member of the APPG yet, please fell free to encourage them to join. They can contact either us at […]

The post The All Party Parliamentary Group now has 51 members appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Sunday Telegraph says ‘New homes, yes, but not leasehold’

The Sunday Telegraph today questions whether the government’s £3 billion boost to house building should be for leasehold houses and flats. Further measures are expected to be announced on Wednesday. The article, by Fleet Street veteran Liz Hodgkinson, writes: “In spite of attempts to reform the sector in revent years, critics say it is getting […]

The post Sunday Telegraph says ‘New homes, yes, but not leasehold’ appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

‘New-build ground rent scandal could spark legal battles,’ says Guardian

Lawyers have contacted the Guardian newspaper to say that buyers of new-build houses and flats with crippling ground rent clauses could take legal action. The full article can be read here  Graham Balchin, of solicitors Carter Lemon Camerons says: “It is a requirement of most lenders [see the CML Handbook section 5.14.9] that the lender […]

The post ‘New-build ground rent scandal could spark legal battles,’ says Guardian appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Taylor Wimpey CEO says doubling ground rent scandal under ‘review’. But Bottomley asks: ‘Have innocent homebuyers been shafted?’

This afternoon Pete Redfern the CEO of Taylor Wimpey has responded to the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold reform saying that the issue of homeowners with doubling ground rents is under “review”. Mr Redfern’s full letter is below. He points out that the doubling ground rent leases, which LKP is aware apply to leasehold […]

The post Taylor Wimpey CEO says doubling ground rent scandal under ‘review’. But Bottomley asks: ‘Have innocent homebuyers been shafted?’ appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Telegraph reports ‘marketing cobblers’ of 999-year ‘virtual freeholds’ with lethal ground rents

The Daily Telegraph website has reported the issue of eye-watering ground rent multiples sold to homebyers by mainstream developers. Louie Burns, of Leasehold Solutions, offered the example of flats in Islington, north London, where grounds rents starting at £250 per year per flat would grow over the term of the 999-year lease to… £68,719,476,736,000. Mr […]

The post Telegraph reports ‘marketing cobblers’ of 999-year ‘virtual freeholds’ with lethal ground rents appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

LKP poised to mine information on leasehold, after being admitted to Open Data Institute

LKP is delighted to announce that it has been accepted onto the Open Data Institute’s start-up accelerator scheme. This is a very prestigious accolade. Of the 83 applications for the scheme, four were accepted  The ODI was co-founded in 2012 by the inventor of the web Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Nigel Shadbolt, an authority […]

The post LKP poised to mine information on leasehold, after being admitted to Open Data Institute appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Bottomley tells Taylor Wimpey to explain ‘sharp practice’ ground rents – and asks for names of directors who approved them

Sir Peter Bottomley (right) has demanded that Taylor Wimpey explain its “unfair ground rent” provisions to the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold reform. Yesterday he told fellow MPs at the APPG meeting chaired by Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse: “The ground rent increase may have been legal. It is clearly undesirable. […]

The post Bottomley tells Taylor Wimpey to explain ‘sharp practice’ ground rents – and asks for names of directors who approved them appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Pete Redfern: Stop pontificating about the housing crisis and sort out the ground rent scandal of Taylor Wimpey’s own making

This morning Pete Redfern, Taylor Wimpey CEO, was on the Today programme (BBC Radio 4) discussing the housing crisis. This afternoon MPs are demanding he explain a housing crisis of Taylor Wimpey’s own making: building leasehold houses and flats where ground rents double every ten years. This has left first-time buyers with homes that they […]

The post Pete Redfern: Stop pontificating about the housing crisis and sort out the ground rent scandal of Taylor Wimpey’s own making appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Carlex and AgeUK reject Law Commission draft on exit fees

Law Commission backs developers over huge exit fees, and dumps OFT qualms over ‘likely’ unfair contract terms What began as an exercise supposedly to help pensioners and their families facing exit fees in retirement properties has ended up with the Law Commission backing the charges. The Law Commissioner Stephen Lewis met Carlex / LKP last […]

The post Carlex and AgeUK reject Law Commission draft on exit fees appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Philip Rainey QC: Reform of the law is a duty (and for landlord and tenant law it is overdue)

In an address to the ARMA conference last week, Philip Rainey QC (right) did nothing less than urge the whole-scale reform of landlord and tenant law that has provided him with a comfortable living. Although prefaced with the lawyerly proviso – “it should not be assumed that I agree with all or any of the […]

The post Philip Rainey QC: Reform of the law is a duty (and for landlord and tenant law it is overdue) appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

ARMA conference ‘worried’ that developers are exploiting new home owners

The annual conference of ARMA held yesterday in central London was the most rigorous and clear-eyed discussion of leasehold and its many defects yet held by a trade body in the sector. At one point in the proceedings, the audience of 550 managing agents, lawyers, senior civil servants and … two trustees of the Leasehold […]

The post ARMA conference ‘worried’ that developers are exploiting new home owners appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

First-time buyers facing £8,000 ground rents stuffed by plc housebuilders

First-time buyers are contacting LKP after finding that they cannot sell leasehold houses or flats which have draconian ground rents introduced by plc housebuilders. An epidemic of leasehold houses is now being built across the country, with a heavy concentration in poorer regions, such as the North West. LKP reported earlier this week that £1.9 […]

The post First-time buyers facing £8,000 ground rents stuffed by plc housebuilders appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Taylor Wimpey woes reported in Estates Gazette

Veteran columnist Peter Bill addresses leasehold houses in Estates Gazette today.

The post Taylor Wimpey woes reported in Estates Gazette appeared first on Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

Recent Articles: