MP calls for changes to leasehold practices
An MP has hit out at current practices in what he calls a “flawed” leasehold sector. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Federation of Private Residents’ Associations on November 12, Sir Peter Bottomley, Conservative member for Worthing West condemned “criminal behaviour in leasehold, price-fixing cartels, cheating freeholders, exit fee fiddles, opportunist lawyers playing the system and feeble judicial intervention”.
Sir Peter said: “Commonhold should be adopted. Forfeiture of leases should end. Lawyers and other leasehold professionals who play the system – bludgeoning leaseholders into line with terrifying legal costs – should be named and shamed.”
Sir Peter then urged the media to understand the industrial scale cheating that is endemic to leasehold – and at its worst in retirement leasehold.
“These things are bluntly scandals,” he said. “There are cases in the prime minister’s constituency, the chancellor’s, the secretary of state for defence’s and several other Cabinet members”
“People buy leasehold because there are no alternatives,” Sir Peter added. “Why they are stuck with this legal quagmire is beyond me.
“I predict that there are going to be serious legal charges against people in this field. I predict that there are some professionals who are going to be losing their licence or explaining or apologising because they are abusing their position in legal, accounting or auditing services.”
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