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The original campaigner against residential leasehold, Nigel Wilkins has sadly died at the tragically young age of 66.  An active campaigner for the abolishment of leasehold, he was often seen at conferences with a quip or comment aimed to highlight issues and abuses.  I first met him a decade ago when I spoke at the CARL conference in 2007.  I was the first managing agent to be asked to address the conference. Whilst Nigel and I may not have always seen eye to eye, I always respected his determination an

A painter who has been fined £10,000 for parking his van outside his own flat on an upmarket estate claims he is being bullied for being a tradesman. Dave Tooke has been given 53 tickets in the past two years totalling £5,300 for breaching rules that state commercial vehicles cannot be parked on the estate.    He has racked up a further £5,000 due to non-payment. Mr Tooke said: “I think it’s direct discrimination. What I would like to know is who authorises the right for someone to say it’s OK to issue

A pilot died after his plane crashed into an apartment block in the USA.    Al Lavender was on a one-mile final approach to Lawrence Municipal Airport when his Sonex aircraft crashed into the building in Methuen, Massachusetts.    Miraculously, none of the 25 people who were in the apartments at the time of the crash were injured.

Urban planners in a packed Chinese city have come up with a creative way of solving space issues – by building a light railway track through a hole in a 19-storey block of flats. A special railway station has also been built into the block of houses, set into the sixth to eighth floors of the building in Chongqing in the south east of the country.    The city has a population of 49 million packed into 31,000 square miles.    A city transport spokesman said: “Our city is very heavily built upon and that

Flat owners who believe they were “mis-sold” their properties are preparing to sue builders, including some of the UK’s biggest firms, and solicitors.   Disgruntled house buyers have set up Facebook group called the National Leasehold Campaign when they discovered that they faced huge increases in ground rent.    They allege they were lied to by builders’ sales staff and badly advised by solicitors when they bought their newbuild homes.   Thousands of people have demanded answers from the bosses of builde

Almost one-fifth of landlords could end up breaking the law because they are unaware of energy rules that are being introduced next year.    A report from letting agent Urban.co.uk, warned that 17% of landlords in the UK did not know that it would become illegal to let properties with an EPC rating of F or G in 2018. New legislation will eliminate many properties from the market and could result in many landlords being left with investments that are no longer viable for rental.   The findings were made du

A developer has been ordered to demolish an “eyesore” block of flats because they look nothing like the original plans.   Wandsworth Council planning bosses have ruled that the block of 20 homes in Earlsfield, west London, must come down.  The builder was also accused of leaving tenants in cramped accommodation because he added extra bedrooms after plans were approved.   The original plans included nine one-bedroom and three, two bedroom flats, but the builder crammed eight two-bedroom and four one-bedroo

Homeowners should keep electronic logbooks showing detailed maintenance history and improvements before they can sell their property, new proposals recommend.     If the plans are introduced, they would provide potential buyers and insurance with a full service history of a home, similar to that of a car’s service book.    It would mean anyone looking to buy a home would be able to see at a glance whether maintenance is overdue and if the property has been well looked after.  The proposals, outlined by th

Practitioners will be aware that for a collective freehold claim under the 1993 Act, getting the participation agreement (PA) right is the key to success.  An inadequate PA, or worse, no PA at all, can and does lead to arguments between the participators which can take away much of the benefit of getting the freehold.  This is a non-exhaustive look at the aspects which should be covered in any PA to get the project off on the right foot. Before you even get to the PA, make sure that the participants have

Property and construction consultancy Ingleton Wood has strengthened its position in the private sector with the appointment of a new Director of Building Surveying. Daniel Legg has joined the practice’s London office in a newly created role. He will be responsible for developing new areas of growth - expanding Ingleton Wood’s current offering andspecialising in multi occupancy residential buildings. Daniel, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, who joins the practice after 10 years at K

Scanlans has expanded its property management division with three new arrivals at the firm’s Manchester office.   Paul Christopher, Mark Elves and Victoria Thomas have been appointed as property managers to help Scanlans meet growing demand for its services. Paul previously worked at Scanlans for more than a decade and has rejoined from Zenith Management (NW).   In his new role, he will spearhead the introduction of a new online client portal and electronic maintenance management system.   Mark was previo

Ground rents in long leases of new-build flats and houses are big business. Developers such as Taylor Wimpey and Bellway Homes have recently been in the limelight over the sale of long leases of new-build flats and houses which contain ground rents that double every 10 years. What seems like an affordable ground rent of £1000 per annum will increase to £2000, £4000, £8000 in a matter of 40 years. The owners of newly developed homes, bought in the last 10 years, claim that they were not told about the grou