So says the headline in today’s Independent newspaper. The same story is already covered in almost every other paper.
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation readers may remember we wrote about the ex Housing Minister Grant Shapps and his double life nearly a month ago. https://www.betterretirementhousing.com/mechanised-plagiarism-and-psycho-babble-are-grant-shapps-little-earners-outside-politics/#more-2604.
Since then most of the web sites we reported as being run by “Mr Green”/the Shapps family, including the “power of dreams” site, have been taken off-line.
The Independent today reports Mr Shapps has been referred to the Advertising Standards Authority. In typical Shapps style a spokesperson has responded “”Mr Shapps hasn’t been involved with this company for four-and-a-half years. These websites are no longer online and any blogger can make a complaint about any website which then has to be investigated. This is in the hands of the ASA.”
The reason why the ex Housing Minister’s behaviour matters to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation readers is that it was Grant Shapps who insisted on dropping two key sections of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act. Two sections which could have offered important financial protections to those living in both retirement and residential properties. Shapps argument for not adding these protections was that he though the law was already “balanced” and that he “did not wish to further burden landlords and managing agents”. Lets not forget his other claim: that problems in leasehold sector only impacts a “tiny, tiny” proportion of those involved.
Not quite sure what you are insinuating here, but with having a new Minister in charge do you think the Government will be more sympathetic to our cause.
It seems difficult to imagine that the new Housing Minister would be less sympathetic than Grant Shapps. Let’s see if anything happens over the next few months?
Yes I agree I will write a letter through my MP Mr Gibb today to ask him to refer it to the new housing minister– I tried twice with Mr Shapp’s–all I got was Leasehold is a very established tenure
BLAH BLAH BLAH stuff
You may want to wait a week or so before writing to your MP. We could have some interesting news you might want to mention to him!
More on Grant Shapps !
http://blogs.channel4.com/michael-crick-on-politics/grant-shapps-and-the-mysterious-testimonials/1765
I see shelter have done an investigation into rogue landlords– the findings are complaints are up 30%
http://england.shelter.org.uk/news/october_2012/complaints_about_landlords_up_almost_30