November 10, 2024

Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP visitors hit 29,000 in April

LKPCampaign against retirement leasehold exploitationApril3

Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP websites hit fractionally under 29,000 visitors last month – the highest readership ever recorded by the sites.

April 16 also saw the Leasehold Knowledge Partnerhip being named in the House of Commons by Sir Peter Bottomley. He also named and praised Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation’s Sebastian O’Kelly and Martin Boyd, who he urged to be appointed to the board of the Leasehold Advisory Service.

This time last year the visitor figure was about 6,000.

The figures are overwhelming confirmation that there is a desperate need among leaseholders – in both retirement and non-retirement accommodation – for clear, practical information to help them in their struggles in this murky corner of residential property.

We have been able to assist numerous leaseholders last month, who came to us with their inquiries.

These include a couple from Nigeria, Ade Bankole and his wife Otitokan Oluwo, who have spent an appalling winter living in a Peverel managed block in Bracknell where there is a hole in the roof and squirrels have been running amok.

This issue is now at last being taken seriously thanks to LKP and the problem is being sorted.

Another issue concerns high-end Troy Court, in Kensington, where leaseholder Claire Jenkinson was being charged an astronomic £912 sub-letting fee because the residents’ management company had had a sudden rush of blood to the head after some prostitutes moved in.

This ridiculous fee, demanded by property manager Blenheims, has already been slashed by £360 and will – unless there is a nasty legal surprise – be resolved at £40 plus VAT.

This is the fee that the Land Tribunal has repeatedly stated is a reasonably sub-letting fee given the minimal amount of administrative work involved.

In spite of this ruling, freeholders simply ignore it and continue sending out demands for £130-£250 – and, sadly, some leaseholders do in fact pay up.

Many leasehold residents who contact LKP or Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation are unnamed and do not figure on the website.

Sometimes this is their preference, or it may be that on-going litigation is required.

We hope to assist all callers or those who email the site. We have a network of now very well informed leaseholders and sympathetic professionals who are happy to share the knowledge that they have painfully acquired.

So much in leasehold is weighted against the homeowners, who just want to get on with their lives, in favour of freeholders and their employees who know how to play this game so well.

Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation must thank LKP’s accredited managing agents, and our regular lawyers, for their work unravelling these seemingly impenetrable disputes.