Leasehold campaigners have taken their concerns about a lack of tenure information in property listings to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Leasehold & Commonhold Reform.
The National Leasehold Campaign (NLC) has written to Rightmove again to press the portal to make it mandatory for agents to include tenure terms on their listings and has made APPG members Justin Madders and Sir Peter Bottomley aware of the complaint.
The portal told the NLC this week that there was an option for users to include leasehold terms after the activists warned agents that not including this information could breach Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs).
Kendrick said it was not enough to just provide an option.
She said: “As the UK’s largest property advertising platform, you have a responsibility to ensure anything material that would affect a purchaser’s decision is disclosed at the earliest opportunity under CPRs.
“Inclusive of that is not only tenure but any other large fees.
“As founder of the NLC and trustee of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership (LKP) I will escalate my concerns to the APPG on Leasehold & Commonhold Reform to raise this with government ministers.”
She urged Rightmove to work with the NLC to ensure agents conform with the CPRs and Codes of Practice by including leasehold details on listings.
Zoopla and OnTheMarket also encourage agents to include tenure terms, but as with Rightmove neither make it mandatory.
A spokesperson for OnTheMarket said: “OnTheMarket encourages all of our estate agent customers to include details of the tenure in a dedicated data field.
“Whether a property is leasehold or freehold is important information for consumers and it is the recommended code of practice that agents include this specification.”
It comes as the Law Commission is today set to reveal its recommendations on reforming how leaseholders can extend their lease or buy their freehold.
It always used to be on agents details but when the property misdescription act made it an offence to get it wrong, countrywide in their wisdom decided that it would be best to remove the details altogether. They clearly didn’t trust the staff to get it right so decided that a mission was the safest route. I know, I was working there at the time. I think many other agents then followed suit so when property portals came along they just follow the trend. With all the changes in the law around leasehold extensions, along with lenders elongating the term of the lease necessary to be mortgageable, it is now more important than ever to give a good indication of the tenure and maintenance charges along with ground rent and ground rent reviews. However their should also be clear and obvious rules set by the CML about mortgageabilty as well so that everyone knows exactly what is acceptable and what isn’t. Most buyers do not have a clue until it gets well down the route whether the tenure is good or bad as that is only relative to THEIR lender and THEIR solicitors opinion. More importantly the Law Society, Government and CML need to sort out a single acceptable lease and set it in stone for all new properties to adhere to and for all existing leases to be extended/amended to Under the Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act. SIMPLE but over complicated by too many cooks spoiling the broth. Also it’s a lovely cash cow for solicitors and surveyors.
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Most flat buyers do not realise that they are only buying a long term rental contract with the payment upfront.
With a flat you are not buying the bricks and mortar, you are simply buying the right of uninterrupted occupation. If you read them in detail, most leases and lease plans limit ownership to the surface of the plaster, or perhaps to the inner surface of the bricks underneath the plaster. There is then an obligation to pay for the maintenance of the building.
Nobody is taught at school what owning a leasehold property actually means.
Solicitors (until recently) have rarely pointed out what it means.
Some estate agents actually know but can’t possibly admit it to buyers who don’t.
You would be surprised perhaps at how many people don’t really know what leasehold truly means which is: at the end of the lease the leaseholder has nothing and the freeholder gets the flat back again completely free of charge. Worse still, if the flat is in bad condition the freeholder can actually sue the old leaseholder. Mad? Perhaps, but that’s British law for you!
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The lady who set up NLC doing a tremendous job in shaking up the industry. She claims she was mis-sold their home because the builder never told her they were going to sell the freehold when they already knew it and also promised her it would cost between £2K and £4K to buy. Once it was sold she was quoted a much higher figure.
The recommendations from the Law Commission seem to give leaseholders big savings when buying their leases but will the suggestions be adopted by the Government and if they do what will the freeholders do about it? They have threatened legal action against the government and the Law Commission have indicated that they believe their proposals are legal.
You do wonder whether there is a certain amount of crying wolf from the NLC though. Katie Kendrick the founder claiming she was trapped in her leasehold house but her next door neighbour who bought at roughly the same time seems to have sold at a pretty nice profit ahead of house price inflation for the area. I’m sure that hasn’t gone unnoticed by her freeholder. That of course doesn’t excuse any mis-selling and I’m sure some people are trapped in leasehold properties if their leases are particularly onerus but on the other hand freeholders (including ordinary people) may have bought freeholds which may be about to drop in value by a large amount.
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Dear Kingsroad. Yes I am shaking up an industry that needs shaking and I will not apologise for that. Your reference to me “crying wolf” you clearly fail to fully understand my ‘personal’ circumstance. As you have correctly identified my next door neighbour sold for a profit. What you dont know is he did have to reduce it to compensate for the fact it was leasehold. But regardless yes it was sold at a profit. Where you are Ill informed is the fact I have never said my lease is overly onerous. It’s less than the 0.1% so no my lease is far less of an issue than my neighbours over the road who have doubling ground rents every 10 yrs. I have NEVER said my lease is one of these onerous leases. My house is mortgagable thankfully unlike 2 thirds of my estate that have onerous leases. You are correct I feel I was miss sold this property. Will I fight any less for others trapped in their homes due to the leasehold scandal? Absolutely NOT ! My personal situation is better than alot of people but that wont make me fight any less for others. Actually once I’ve bought my freehold (as I’m sure you are following my story so should know ive served notice) I will still continue “shaking up the sector”. So your stuck with Katie Kendrick for a while. Until this leasehold scandal is sorted for everyone. Oh also I’m the trustee of LKP now so will continue to fight with the support of the APPG.
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Kingsroad do you have any further issues with the campaign group I run or my personal circumstances ??
There is no crying wolf here. The Leasehold Scandal is very real. I was lied to at the point of sale like many thousands of others.
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No idea why agents do not put tenure, length of lease, ground rent and maintenance on details. Not like they wont find out later down the line!
Surely you want to control the narrative not be on the back foot?
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The consumer has more protection when buying a TV or fridge compared to buying a house or flat.
Type of tenure, ground rent and increasing terms, service charges, permission fees and names of the freeholder and managing agent should be clearly visible at point of sale before expensive solicitors are involved. They can qualify the advert by saying home buyers should check the information with their conveyancing solicitor.
As others say many consumers do not know the difference between freehold and leasehold, that a lease is a long term tenancy and a declining asset, and the rights and obligations that come with being a long leasehold tenant.
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