Liam Spender

@richard_jm @LKPleasehold @FleeceholdPlay @mtpennycook @justinmadders @NLC_2019 I agree, but that isn’t going to happen overnight. So we also need to prevent landlords using leaseholder money to fight leaseholders.

@LKPleasehold @FleeceholdPlay @LiamSpender @mtpennycook @justinmadders @NLC_2019 we must do everything to ensure that any reforms make going to court unnecessary. That’s changing the fundamental ownership structure so leaseholders own & run their buildings outright & appoint & hold all ancillary management agencies to account

Leaseholder and litigant @LiamSpender tells APPG we need equality of arms in the courts with freeholders and we have waited long enough @mtpennycook @justinmadders @NLC_2019 leaseholdknowledge.com/pennycook-give…

@irena_vanat @LKPleasehold @mtpennycook @justinmadders @NLC_2019 Wrong. Landlords get their costs via the service charge if lease allows and unless a section 20C order is made (or even if an order is made and they just ignore it, as happened in my case). Same rule in Upper Tribunal.

@LKPleasehold @LiamSpender @mtpennycook @justinmadders @NLC_2019 Neither side normally gets costs in the First Tier Tribunal. Costs can be awarded tho if there is an appeal. I'm not sure about the Upper Tribunal.

Leasehold is going to 'wither on the vine': @mtpennycook assures APPG this week he will see through the reforms @justinmadders @NLC_2019 leaseholdknowledge.com/pennycook-prom…

NLC will be attending the Leasehold and Commonhold All party Parliamentary Group (APPG) with many other stakeholders this afternoon. #LeaseholdersTogether

Our report on first session of select committee @CommonsHCLG @mtpennycook @NLC_2019 Many thanks for thoughtful insights from @cattwil and @LiamSpender leaseholdknowledge.com/mps-furious-th…

Where is the Treasury parsimony when it comes to jokers like this? The last Help To Buy ended up with PLC housebuilders building flats with serious building safety issues and And with the former CEO of Persimmon getting a £75 million bonus. Not a penny of public money should go to housebuilders until they put right those buildings.

@gamecounsel @LKPleasehold @justinmadders @NLC_2019 It is currently drafted as dropping straight to peppercorn on the 40th anniversary of the Act being passed with no taper. Accounting for inflation means there is a taper because of the annual loss in purchasing power.

@LKPleasehold @justinmadders @NLC_2019 @LiamSpender Will there be tapering over 40 years or will Ground Rent just go straight from £250 to zero?

M&G's £722m 'exposure to ground rent assets' isn't saying how much is commercial. PR gloop with the CEO, inevitably, welcoming 'leaseholder protection' but regretting 'a proportionate solution that works for all parties'. @justinmadders @NLC_2019 @LiamSpender mandg.com/news-and-media…

And M&G’s “proportionate solution” was to continue ground rents at starting levels with a cap on escalations of the lower of RPI or 5% a year, which may actually mean some paying *more* than current terms. It is also unclear if the “value” figures being bandied about are the prices paid for these ground rents or the book value after applying some actuarial model, which may not reflect the price the investments would fetch in the market even before the £250 cap.

The Scottish equivalents were compensated when feuduties were abolished: leaseholdknowledge.com/death-knell-fo… English ground rent owners will still be compensated if people wish to extend their leases or buy the freeholds. Even those still holding after 40 years will still get the reversionary value for any extension. The underlying aim of the new law is that once passed there will be economic pressure on the freeholders to sell to the leaseholders whilst they still can.

@LiamSpender @cattwil @CarolineKen60 @Keir_Starmer I wonder how many professional freeholders became insolvent when this happened in Scotland? That seems to be the basis for the RFA objecting to reforms in England and Wales. I hope the government doesn't buckle when challenged.

#leaseholdreform Government announces cap of £250 on ground rents. Also publishes draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. Both sound death knell for leasehold in England and Wales. Draft Bill says this £250 limit will only apply for a transitional period of 40 years, after which it will fall to a peppercorn (Schedule 13). Draft Bill also contains provisions to abolish forfeiture and to prevent leases being granted over freehold houses for non-payment of estate rentcharges. A lot to work through, but Bill seems to follow Law Commission recommendations, including banning creation of new leasehold flats. Draft bill and supporting papers here: gov.uk/government/pub….

@jayldn100 Extending to 999 years is in the 2024 Act but not yet effective. 90 years is the current maximum extension.

@LiamSpender I had to extend my lease in 2022 for £14k and the leaseholder - a charitable london housing association - would only grant another 90 years. Why didnt they give 999 years ? And does this bill enable that to change?

The 0.1% cap on ground rent that can be taken into account for extending a lease, end of requirement to share marriage value and legal costs are part of the 2024 Act. That will be implemented alongside the new law. No timetable because it is bogged down in judicial review and amendments need to be made to address some technical problems with it.

@LiamSpender @angel_icing @simon170528 @CarolineKen60 @Keir_Starmer I thought at one point the Govt was considering a 0.1% cap on the cost of extension/enfranchisement. That sounds to me like the easiest of all solutions! And surely all the arcane bluster about deferment rates is ready for the scrap heap anyway?

@rnazir Depends on how lenders react. They would need to change their policies.

@LiamSpender Thank you for your hard work. But it will take 2+ years to be a law. Would it just ease the remortgage process now or need to wait for another 2+ years?

Hi Lucie. For existing sites the bill provides for a two stage process of buying the freehold and then converting to Commonhold. Sites will have a choice whether to stay as an enfranchised site or convert. Provided the freehold can be acquired then it should be possible to convert these sites.

@LKPleasehold @LiamSpender @mtpennycook @justinmadders @NLC_2019 @EOCS_Official @LiamSpender May I ask - does the draft bill make provisions for commonhold conversion for a common public-sector tenure structure where council is the freeholder and HA is 999 head lessee of the whole site incl. estate wide infrastructure, and leaseholders have underleases?

Huge thanks to @LiamSpender for his analysis of the Commonhold Bill announced today @mtpennycook @justinmadders @NLC_2019 @EOCS_Official leaseholdknowledge.com/death-knell-fo…

@OlympicHomes_AG @LKPleasehold @mtpennycook @justinmadders @NLC_2019 @EOCS_Official The draft bill makes provisions for Commonhold schemes with separate sections for the different types of unit. Similar to the method already used in New South Wales.

@LKPleasehold @LiamSpender @mtpennycook @justinmadders @NLC_2019 @EOCS_Official Any thoughts on how mixed tenure developments would convert to commonhold (if at all)?

@ChelseaBridgeWh @ecoboy247 The freeholders are seeking permission to appeal the LAFRA judicial review decision but it has not yet been granted.

@LiamSpender @ecoboy247 Could you give more information on the judicial review please. Does that mean freeholders did appeal their defeat in action against LAFRA? This has not had any media coverage it seems..

It should change the rates used to calculate the premium and reduce the cost. A rent payable up to a capped level with no inflation protection and limited to 40 years is worth much less than an uncapped ground rent and that should result in a higher discount rate. Ultimately there are no easy solutions to these issues.

@LiamSpender @simon170528 @CarolineKen60 @Keir_Starmer 40 years still makes enfranchisement unaffordable for those that want to get out of leasehold in the shorter terms. I’ll be dead long before the 40 years is up to make a material difference to my enfranchisement bill! So today changes nothing at all for me.

@angel_icing 40 years from when Act comes into effect.

@LiamSpender So is it 40 more years of ground rent starting from 2028, then reverts to pepper from 2068, or is it ground rent only payable for 1st 40 years of the lease then revert to pepper?

It is 40 years with no inflationary protection, so that £250 will have lost virtually all of its value in real terms by then. And any doubling or other increase that was scheduled is also banned. It mirrors what happened in Scotland in 1974 when they banned new feu duties and then abolished them altogether with effect from 2004.

@LiamSpender Another 40 years of capped ground rent doesn’t sound like a death knell, does it, Liam? Do we have to wait 40 years? Why isn’t @Keir_Starmer being more radical?