Challenging issues for leaseholders highlighted in new report

Challenging issues for leaseholders highlighted in new report

0:02 AM, 10th July 2023, About A year ago 7

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A leading industry body reveals 78% of agents believe that leasehold property with an increasing ground rent will struggle to sell.

The report by Propertymark has highlighted ongoing issues in the buying and selling of leasehold properties.

The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 restricts ground rents to zero but only on newly created long residential leases for single properties.

More than five million leasehold homes in England and Wales

The survey says consumer awareness around issues in leasehold has improved with 72% of agents believing homebuyers are more aware of issues surrounding leasehold property.

It is estimated that there are more than five million leasehold homes in England and Wales, of which approximately 3.6 million are flats and 1.5 million are houses.

Propertymark agents reported that more than half (51%) of buyers ask about cladding before they view a property with 11% of agents saying that buyers only ask after they have agreed to purchase a property.

Policymakers must do more to create a level playing field

Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns, at Propertymark said: “Property agents play a key role in supporting home buyers and sellers, so it is positive to see that consumer awareness about leasehold information has increased. However, increasing awareness is only one piece of the puzzle.”

Mr Douglas says the government needs to do more to help leaseholders.

“Policymakers must do more to create a level playing field with those who already own a leasehold property, make enfranchisement easier, simplify the process for lease extensions and where there is no managing agent, freeholders must sign up to a redress scheme.

Michael Gove’s plans to abolish the UK’s leasehold system

The report also reveals 54% of agents who sell property on behalf of developers report that they do not always provide the pertinent leasehold information.

The report comes after comments made by Michael Gove earlier this year who said he plans to abolish the UK’s “outdated feudal” leasehold system. According to the report, 42% of agents agree with the abolition of the leasehold, while 16% remain undecided.


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Ian Narbeth

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10:19 AM, 10th July 2023, About A year ago

As I wrote here the Government easily could have but failed to deal with the problem of escalating ground rents in existing leases. To do so would have hurt a few large landlords some of whom hold tens of thousands of freehold reversions. The pain to such landlords could have been mitigated by freezing the ground rents or by allowing increases only up to a fixed amount. Instead the Government let existing leaseholders down and outlawed even modest ground rents in new leases which are useful for keeping value in the freehold.
Commonhold tenure was mooted over 20 years ago but not taken up. "Abolishing" leasehold will not be easy as you need a proper system to deal with the repair, maintenance and management of the structure, common services and common parts of multi-occupancy buildings.

Crossed_Swords

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10:24 AM, 10th July 2023, About A year ago

Modest ground rents are useful for RMCs - they have funds of their own for company expenses such as lease extensions

Shining Wit

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10:56 AM, 10th July 2023, About A year ago

Escalating Ground Rents, of course, pale in to insignificance if you have "cladding" or other (Build-Time) fire safety issues. Then you can't remortgage or sell - and you probably won't be able to rent either.

Please don't believe the government propaganda that the Building Safety Crisis is anywhere close to being resolved. For those caught up in it, for example as a non-qualifying leaseholder, the nightmare continues.

Please help #EndOurCladdingScandal

John Clark

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8:14 AM, 16th July 2023, About A year ago

What UK outdated feudal leasehold system?. There never has been a domestic leasehold system in Scotland.

Cathy Lorimer

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15:16 PM, 16th July 2023, About A year ago

It reads above: "Policymakers must do more to create a level playing field".
But this is missing the point; Freeholders are NOT needed; Tey are a parasitic third party who provide nothing and never paid a single pennyf for whatever was built. Leasehold is a complex legalised scam; When buying a flat there should ONLY be a buyer and a seller, that s it. Flat owners can appoint a professional managing agent themselves; Aboliish!

Ian Narbeth

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9:38 AM, 17th July 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Cathy Lorimer at 16/07/2023 - 15:16
"Flat owners can appoint a professional managing agent themselves". Yes, but unless there are legally enforceable provisions about (a) someone insuring, maintaining and repairing the building and (b) for the flat owners to pay for it you have chaos. If the work isn't done or isn't done properly owners have no redress and if one or more owners refuse to pay their share of the costs, then either they are free-riders or the work does not get done or the contractor stops part way through.

A freehold owned by a company owned by the flat owners is a sensible way to arrange matters. Simply shouting "Abolish" (what? Freeholds, freeholders, leasehold tenure?) does not solve the problems.

Freda Blogs

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13:38 PM, 17th July 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Cathy Lorimer at 16/07/2023 - 15:16
It is very clear from both a practical perspective and is supported by various government consultations and evidence from experts in the field that there does need to be a means of managing buildings where there are multiple units, which in many cases share various services such as lifts and communal areas. One person/ entity has to manage those services and ensure compliance with various regulations etc for the benefit of everyone and to maintain the property and their values. Maybe freehold/ leasehold relationships don’t always work as well as they should, but I believe that part of that is due to ignorance of the terms of the lease by some parties.
I am not a fan of the Government but they have looked at the issue on more than one occasion and and have not yet produced a workable alternative.
Abolition of leasehold as suggested is throwing the baby out with the bathwater and would create far more problems than it resolves.

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