HOUSING Secretary Robert Jenrick is
plotting a crackdown to tackle the
leasehold mis-selling scandal, The Mail
on Sunday can reveal.
He is planning to take action within
weeks, giving hope to thousands of
homeowners who claim they were mis-
led when they bought leasehold proper-
ties and now find themselves trapped.
His intervention is likely to heap more
pressure on the major housebuilders,
which have been criticised for making
huge profits and paying multi-million
pound bonuses to bosses while failing to
fix Britain’s housing crisis.
Thousands of homeowners claim it
was not made clear at the point of
purchase that the house was leasehold
and not freehold.
That means while they own the prop-
erty, the developer owns the land it is
on and can sell it on to third parties.
Many have complained about exorbi-
tant ground rents,
including high fees for
repairs, and of the dif-
ficulty of selling a lease-
hold home.
Jenrick’s predecessor,
James Brokenshire,
brought in rules limit-
ing the sale of new-build
homes as leasehold. But
homeowners and cam-
paigners want the action
to extend to existing
leaseholders who feel trapped.
Jenrick, who was appointed in July by
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has cam-
paigned in his Newark constituency in
Nottinghamshire against leaseholds.
Speaking for the first time about the
scandal, the Housing Secretary told
The Mail on Sunday that the ‘inappro-
priate use of leasehold is wrong and
must be brought to an end’.
He added: ‘I am very concerned by
the number of homeowners who appear
not to have fully understood the
arrangements they were entering into.
‘Buying a home is one of the biggest
and most important purchases people
ever make and so it’s essential buyers
understand the contract they are
signing and receive good quality
advice from their professional advis-
ers and the salespeople they are deal-
ing with.’
Any move would coincide with an
investigation being carried out by the
Competition and Markets Authority,
which is looking into whether home-
owners were mis-sold leaseholds or are
paying unfair ground rents.
It would also likely receive support
from Johnson, who has told MPs he will
tackle the ‘injustice that many lease-
holders have been facing’.
Last week, Jenrick, 37, revealed plans
for a shake-up of shared ownership
equity rules in an effort to allow home-
buyers to increase their stake in a prop-
erty in smaller steps. People who own
their property with a housing associa-
tion will be able to buy as little as
1 per cent of their house every year.
His latest move follows revelations
last week in The MoS that housebuilder
Persimmon had struck an out-of-court
settlement with Cardiff Council over
alleged mis-selling of
leasehold homes.
D o z e n s o f b u y e r s
claimed they were not
told at the point of sale
that their properties
were leasehold.
Persimmon admitted it
‘could have communi-
cated better or more
clearly’ when people
purchased leasehold
homes there in 2016 and
2017 and offered all leaseholders the
freehold title for free and said it would
reimburse ground rents paid.
After the scandal emerged in 2016,
housebuilder Taylor Wimpey reviewed
its contracts and set aside £130 million
to compensate some buyers. It apolo-
gised for the ‘unintended financial con-
sequence’ of spiralling ground rents.
There are more than four million lease-
hold properties in England. Campaigners
estimate 100,000 homeowners are locked
into onerous leases, including where
ground rents double every ten years.
Jenrick said: ‘We have committed to
reducing ground rents on future leases
to zero and to legislating to ensure that
in the future – save for the most excep-
tional circumstances – all new houses
will be sold on a freehold basis.
‘We have already seen a significant
reduction in the number of new lease-
hold properties to as low as 2 per cent
of all new homes.’September 1 • 2019 The Mail on Sunday^
Minister: I’ll rescue the
leasehold home victims
Crackdown brings hope
for thousands – but could
hammer housebuilders
93Fixer for super-rich
is feeling the pinch
Picture: BeN StANSALL / AFP / GettyimAGeSBy Sarah Bridge
By Jamie Nimmo
Financial
Mail on Sunday
My over-55s
workout for
David Lloyd
Interview
Page 96THE luxury concierge group
co-founded by the Duchess of
Cornwall’s nephew Ben Elliot
has had a tough year as sales
fell and losses increased.
Quintessentially provides
‘lifestyle management’ services
for the super-rich who pay an
annual fee for help sourcing
hard-to-get theatre tickets,
exclusive restaurant tables,
rare luxury items or even help
with children’s schools.
It was set up by Elliot and
business partners Aaron
Simpson and Paul Drummond
in 2000. Membership fees can
run into thousands of poundsa year and the company also
works with corporate clients
such as airlines and credit
card companies offering
membership perks.
Turnover fell slightly in the
12 months to April 30, 2018
from £24.9 million to
£23.1 million according to
accounts filed this weekend,
due to the loss of some
corporate contracts.
Pre-tax losses widened from
£ 2 .7 million to £3.4 million
thanks in part to historic baddebts caused by a customer
going into liquidation being
written-off.
Last year Quintessentially
opened new offices in
Singapore, Malta, Indonesia
and China and the company
said it was ‘well placed’ to
cater for the expanding global
marketplace.
Prime Minister Boris
Johnson named Elliot as co-
chairman of the Conservative
Party last month and he is also
the Government’s first ‘food
waste champion’, tasked with
cutting the amount of food
sent to landfill.Now Persimmon
is under pressure
to cancel ALL its
leasehold deals
FLASHBACK: Our story about
Persimmon leases last weekWELL-CONNECTED: Quintessentially co-founder Ben Elliot with his aunt Camilla and Prince Charles