In a damning report on new-build homes, consumer body Which? has revealed that home-seekers have been routinely misled by property developers and conveyancing lawyers into buying leasehold properties with punitive fees and charges attached.
Some developers include ‘doubling clauses’ in leases that hike ground rents at an alarming rate, ultimately trapping people in homes they cannot sell.
Homeowners were also forced to pay extortionate fees to make even minor alterations to their homes. This is Money asked Homeowners Alliance founder and chief executive Paula Higgins for her advice for leasehold property owners.
One homeowner discovered her ground rent fee would double every decade instead of every 25 years, as she had previously been told by her conveyancer
If you have a leasehold agreement, what are your rights?
This really depends on how well informed you were about the terms of the agreement when you took on the property. If you feel the terms of the leasehold agreement were not adequately explained to you, you may have a case for suing your conveyancing solicitor.
This may sound drastic but if you’ve been unwittingly led into a terrible agreement by a property professional then you certainly have grounds to take action.
Check all the documents your solicitor provided in their report on title to see if there is any mention of the ground rent of the lease. If there is no mention of ground rent or their implications or if no real details were given you could have a very good case for suing.
If your solicitor did in fact inform you of the terms of the deal your next step should be to consider buying the freehold of your home. To work out how much it should cost you need to calculate the total ground rent you owe your freeholder for the remainder of your lease, taking into account inflation.
Your freeholder may suggest using an informal agreement. You should avoid this at all costs as it almost always leads to a worse deal and will leave you without any legal protection.
Do you need to keep paying escalating ground rents?
Paula Higgins, Homeowners Alliance founder
Unless you buy the freehold or enter into a new leasehold agreement by extending the lease then, yes, sadly you’re legally obliged to pay ground rents, even if they are extortionate.
Is there anything you can do to move off a bad leasehold agreement?
Aside from buying the freehold, you can extend the lease on your property via a statutory agreement, under the Leasehold Reform Act.
Lease extensions carried out formally should mean rents are reduced to a peppercorn (essentially you’ll pay no rent at all). You can extend your lease if you have owned the property for at least two years.
It’s worth noting that if you reach an informal agreement with your freeholder to extend your lease you may still have to pay a ground rent.
What if your lease has been sold to a third party?
Unfortunately this does happen. If you live in a leasehold flat, under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987, you should be given first refusal to buy the freehold before it is sold to someone else.
If you haven’t been given this you can serve what is known as an information notice on the new freeholder requesting details of the terms of the sale.
Once you have this information you can serve notice on the new freeholder which basically required him/her to sell you the freehold on the same terms he or she bought it. Sadly this doesn’t apply to leasehold houses.
Will the upcoming Government review solve leasehold problems?
We hope so. At Homeowners Alliance, we’ve been campaigning for an overhaul of the leasehold system for many years. Last year our Homes Held Hostage report found over one and a half million British owner-occupiers do not truly own their own home in the eyes of the law and identified widespread confusion among consumers over the leasehold system.
We made a series of recommendations to the Government including outlawing the creation of new leasehold houses, banning ground rents and introducing standardised leasehold contracts and thankfully the Government seems to have taken a number of these on board.
However, I hope we will also see action taken to help those people currently trapped in the leasehold sector.
Any other advice for leasehold homeowners?
While steps are being taken to improve the system, at present there is widespread malpractice and a huge lack of consumer understanding.
Protect yourself by getting as much advice as possible. At Homeowners Alliance we regularly help our members who are stuck in unfair leasehold agreements.
Don’t feel like you are on your own, make the most of the help available to you.