Plans To Abolish 'Feudal' Leasehold System In England And Wales Dropped

[e3sa934 10]

Article in The Guardian, 10 May 2023

"Plans to abolish ‘feudal’ leasehold system in England and Wales dropped.  Row between Michael Gove and No 10 results in end of promise to scrap leaseholds"

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/may/10/plans-abolish-feudal-leasehold-system-england-wales

[Annie Bynnol 613]

    Leasehold will continue under Torie.

    Leasehold reform in England and Wales has been watered down to appease Tory financial backers and Michael Gove(Housing Minister) has been told that the Government will renege on their promise to abolish 'leasehold'.

[fools 447]

to appease backers, or because they'd get trounced in the courts trying to implement retrospective law without compensation

[Annie Bynnol 613]

12 minutes ago, fools said:

to appease backers, or because they'd get trounced in the courts trying to implement retrospective law without compensation

   More to do with large developers having included modified leases which are inflation proofed, into their business plan. They would lose out if 'commonhold' was introduced. Many of these 'financial products' are profitably traded.

[geared 321]

Are you in the least bit surprised?

 

of all things, did you really expect the Tory party to step up and solve this issue for the public?

[Arthur Ritus 30]

I have never understood buying a flat, buy a house and the building is yours and your responsibility ridge tile to footing, when you buy a flat what are you actually buying. Do you own walls, roof, floor? who owns the joist that support upstairs floor and your ceiling, if you need to access the services running in your plastered ceiling do you pop upstairs and say just pulling your carpet and floor boards up, not be long?  

[Organgrinder 1,946]

10 hours ago, e3sa934 said:

Article in The Guardian, 10 May 2023

"Plans to abolish ‘feudal’ leasehold system in England and Wales dropped.  Row between Michael Gove and No 10 results in end of promise to scrap leaseholds"

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/may/10/plans-abolish-feudal-leasehold-system-england-wales

No surprise.  Almost every political promise gets broken by our government and Labour are almost as bad.

[crookesey 635]

We pay circa £6.00 p/a for our home that is on a 900 years lease and don’t lose any sleep over it.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

Leases are not 'feudal', anyway. Most writers have no idea how a lease works, let alone what 'feudal' means.

 

But it's true that HMG has announced and re-announced this legislation many, many times.

 

Even when (if?) a Bill is introduced:

a. it will be unavoidably complex;

b. it will take many months before it is ever enacted; and

c. thereafter, the new procedural Rules and Forms will necessitate at least a year or two before it comes into force.

 

So don't hold your breath; and don't decide what to do about anything if you want to wait until then.

Instead, proceed as if there were going to be no new legislation at all.

On 11/05/2023 at 09:52, Arthur Ritus said:

I have never understood buying a flat, buy a house and the building is yours and your responsibility ridge tile to footing, when you buy a flat what are you actually buying. Do you own walls, roof, floor? who owns the joist that support upstairs floor and your ceiling, if you need to access the services running in your plastered ceiling do you pop upstairs and say just pulling your carpet and floor boards up, not be long?  

By definition,  a flat is part of a bigger building. There needs to be communal provision of :

a. maintenance of Common Parts, internal (e.g. halls/staircases, structure,etc.) and external (grounds, access areas, etc);

b. Block Insurance;

c. enforcement against those who default on paying Service Charge for a and b; and

d. properly-maintained financial arrangements.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

Duplicate thread merged here.

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Jeffrey Shaw

[topflat29 10]

Almost  20% of housing stock  in E & W  is sold under leasehold title .    The properties  are  sold under 99 year  or 125 year leases , which can be  sold / transferred   to the next buyers  etc ,  until the lease term  falls  to   expiry, when the premium  falls to zero.

 

When  property  under freehold title  is purchased , the buyer becomes the legal owner of the property.       When property under leasehold title is purchased , the buyer becomes the long term rental tenant   who pays  annual  ground rent and service charge for 99 or 125 years.     The leaseholder pays for everything  under the leasehold property system   but  gets  no interest in  the freehold title.  We can estimate that 5Mil leasehold  units  (  at  £250,000 each  ) = £1.25 Trillion  will be  lost  over 125 years .

 

The  lease  is  recognised  by  successive  Housing Ministers   as  " a   contract  on   unfair terms for leaseholders"  ,   but  these  leases   are  protected by the Government  , by foolish decision  and £1.25 Trillion will be lost   .

 

 

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

1. No, not all leases are for 99yrs or 125yrs; and not all leases reserve Service Charge: only those where there are communal services to be provided (i.e. mostly on blocks of flats).

2. A leaseholder's ownership is pre-defined before it's ever purchased- so the leaseholder can hardly argue that it all came as a surprise!

3. No changes to the law can abolish Service Charge, anyway- and nor can assets be expropriated without  compensation, either.

4. Finally, you're wrong to claim that "When  property  under freehold title  is purchased , the buyer becomes the legal owner of the property." A freeholder is a fee simple tenant of the Crown; and a leaseholder is a tenant of the freeholder.