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One of the UK’s prominent residential ground rent investors who enjoyed a glittering career heading finance departments of some of the country’s top PLCs has admitted to grooming a teenage girl for sex. Julius Gottlieb resigned as managing director of Dorchester Ground Rent Management after he was arrested when he went to meet the 14-year-old, whom he believed he had been chatting with online. In fact, he had been chatting with a group of men dedicated to exposing child molesters. Gottlieb helped establis

Three companies were fined more than £1m after a worker died and two others were seriously injured when a temporary platform collapsed at an apartment construction site. Southwark Crown Court heard that in October 2012, a carpenter and a steel-fixer were standing on a temporary wooden platform above a stairwell opening on the 9th floor of the site in Putney when it suddenly gave way. Carpenter Justinas Kopickas was killed and Terry Cooper sustained serious injuries. A third worker was struck and serio

An Airbnb host returned from her holidays to find that guests had raided her flat and stolen more than £5,000 worth of electronic equipment. Tour guide Camélia, who did not want to give her surname, returned to the two-bedroom apartment in Islington to find that thieves had taken items including her Apple TV, Macbook Pro, iPhones, an iPad and her perfume. Camélia had agreed to rent the flat – which costs £129 a night – to three people. She told the Evening Standard: “We came in the flat and for the fi

A developer has announced the company that will manage one of London’s most upmarket new apartment blocks. SDL Bigwood will look after the maintenance work and concierge services for the Redrow-built apartments at 205 Holland Park Avenue, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. A total of 50 two- and three-bedroom flats have been built at the development, which includes nine affordable apartments and commercial units on the ground floor. Brett Williams, SDL Bigwood’s executive partner, said: “

A company that specialises in managing retirement housing has celebrated its 10th anniversary with a major milestone. Millstream Management Services (MMS) now manages more than 5,000 apartments across the country. Following additions to its portfolio from Cheshire and Cornwall, MMS has grown to operate 131 retired housing developments and provide services such as co-ordinating lifestyle events to 6,000 people. MMS, which employs 160 people across the UK, reported that it expects to continue to increas

Partners at property law firm Tanfield Chambers are celebrating after being recognised as one of the best for real estate litigation. The London-based firm has been given a Band 3 ranking for its work in residential property by Chambers and Partners UK 2017. The directory, which researches lawyers, said: “Tanfield is highly regarded with an established reputation as enfranchisement and residential property specialists. It is noted for its skill in handling a range of real estate issues from land registr

A law firm that has expertise in leasehold enfranchisement has become the latest member of a professional association that monitors the conduct and service levels of its members. Bennett Griffin LLP, which is based in Worthing, West Sussex, has joined the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP). The company was established in 1990 after the merger of two local solicitor practices to provide both corporate and individual clients with legal issues and acts for both freeholders and

Owners of flats who extend the lease of their apartment are likely to face an extra bill if their premium exceeds £40,000 thanks to changes in the law surrounding stamp duty. Legal experts have highlighted that if homeowners apply to extend the lease of their main residence, they will be caught out new stamp duty land tax (SDLT) laws if it meets certain criteria, and will have to pay the higher rate if they own another property. The new higher rate of stamp duty – which is known as the surcharge – was

The tenants of a flat who challenged the cost of granting a lease extension have been told they must pay 80% of their landlord’s fees. Paul and Lesley Wisbey had won an earlier legal argument to reduce a £1,725+VAT bill from Sinclair Garden Investments for the cost of arranging a new lease and a valuation. The couple challenged the costs incurred and pointed to a number of issues, including the fact that the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) had previously made a decision to reduce costs for a lease extension i

City centres have the highest proportion of leasehold properties than other places in the UK with London and Manchester leading the way, new research has found. The study by My Home Move analysed more than 20 million property transaction records in England and Wales using Land Registry data and found that across the two countries, an average of 15% of residential properties are leasehold with the remainder being freehold. However that figure rises sharply in London, where 53% of homes are leasehold, a

The vast majority of homeowners do not ask to see the VAT credentials of the tradesmen they hire, according to a survey. UK consumers admitted to home services market place plentific.com that 79% of them never checked to see if the trades they were planning to use were registered for VAT. Whilst tradesmen do not need to be VAT registered if they earn less than £83,000 a year, many claim to be so they can charge customers higher prices, the report claimed. The youngest homeowners – those aged between

Spiralling ground rents could “engulf” flat owners and might lead to their homes being “virtually worthless”, an investigation has claimed. The study by The Guardian reported that they were inundated with apartment owners who are struggling to sell their homes because banks are refusing mortgages due to clauses in leaseholds for fixed ground rent reviews every 10 years. It claimed that traditional 999-year leases were increasingly unlikely to attract “peppercorn” ground rents, and reported the case of