4 2GM Tuesday July 21 2020 | the times
News
Builders face a ban on selling leasehold
homes after the government’s legal
advisers called for reforms to stop
freeholders exploiting flat owners.
The Law Commission publishes a
two-year review today which recom-
mends that England and Wales ditch
leasehold in favour of “commonhold”.
In future people buying flats would
not have to pay ground rent or
“excessive” service charges and fees to
third-party investors. Commonhold al-
lows residents of blocks of flats to own
the freehold for their units and manage
the shared areas through a company.
The commission also proposes
making it easier and cheaper for Brit-
ain’s four million leasehold owners to
buy out their freeholds or manage their
own developments.
Ministers will now consider the
recommendations; building companies
are expected to lobby against a ban.
Building companies face ban on
‘exploitative’ leasehold contracts
Leasehold has been likened to a
“feudal” system of property ownership
because the tenant is only buying the
right to stay in the property for a set
period, usually 99 or 125 years. Over the
term of the lease, the freeholder collects
a ground rent and levies fees for
maintenance and repair. On many
developments, leaseholders have to
apply to their freeholder and pay fees to
be able to make internal changes.
Leaseholders say that the fees are
often excessive and they have little
control over their homes or how their
developments are run. Trying to buy
out a freehold can be costly because the
leaseholder has to pay the freeholder’s
legal costs.
In recent years, builders such as
Taylor Wimpey have sold the freeholds
of their developments to the highest
bidder, with many being held offshore
by anonymous investors.
In the report, the Law Commission
states: “Commonhold can be used in-
stead, and we would go as far as to say
it should be used in preference to lease-hold, because it overcomes the inher-
ent limitations of leasehold ownership.”
Commonhold has been available in
England and Wales since 2002 but few-
er than 20 developments have used it.
The commission says that developers
prefer leasehold because it allows them
to secure “ongoing income-streams”
once they have sold the property.
“Government must therefore decide
whether... commonhold should be
made compulsory or whether develop-
ers should (as is currently the case) be
left to choose between using leasehold
or commonhold for the sale of flats.”
Building companies say penalties or a
ban on leasehold sales would increase
the cost of flats when the government
has set ambitious housebuilding targets.
Katie Kendrick, 40, a nurse who has
campaigned for the changes, took on a
£1.7 billion fund last year run by David
Cameron’s brother-in-law in a group
action. With more than 60 owners of
new leasehold houses across the north-
west, Mrs Kendrick is forcibly buying
the freehold of her home from AdriaticLand 3 (GR1) Limited. Their joint free-
holder is controlled by Long Harbour, a
fund founded by William Astor, the
half-brother of Samantha Cameron.
Mrs Kendrick and her husband,
Stephen, who have a son, Jack, eight,
paid £214,995 for a leasehold house in
Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, in 2014. The
price of their freehold trebled to £13,
when the builder sold it to Adriatic.
After the group notice was served,
Adriatic agreed a price close to the
£3,500 the housebuilder had originally
told Mrs Kendrick. “I’m expecting our
and their legal costs to be almost as
much as the freehold. In future, you
wouldn’t have to pay that.” Home-
ground, Long Harbour’s freehold man-
agement arm, has said that inaccurate
pricing at the time of purchase is a
matter for those involved in that sale.
Luke Hall, the minister for housing,
said: “The current system needs reform.
We will carefully consider the recom-
mendations, which are a significant
milestone in our reform programme, as
we create a better deal for homeowners.”Andrew Ellson
Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Jonathan Ames, Martina Lees
Lives adrift Boats seized from migrants trying to cross the Channel are piling up at a secure compound in Dover. More than 2,500 have made it to Britain this year
A&E four-hour targets may end as doctors back change
Kat Lay Health Correspondent
Mayor racially abused
The mayor of Bristol has revealed
that he was racially abused by
Britain First supporters and Black
Lives Matter protesters after
deciding to remove a sculpture of
Jen Reid, a BLM campaigner,
from the empty plinth on which a
statue of the slaver Edward
Colston had stood. Marvin Rees
said that BLM activists had called
him an “Uncle Tom”.Taxi driver crackdown
New rules designed to root out
rogue taxi drivers will be brought
in after child exploitation scandals
in towns such as Rochdale and
Rotherham. The national
standards, which councils will be
expected to implement, will
require drivers to undergo an
enhanced criminal record check
every six months instead of up to
every three years at present.Police officer targeted
A police officer arrived for work
to find their belongings had been
vandalised with a swastika by a
colleague. Greater Manchester
police are investigating the
“disgraceful and disgusting act” as
a hate crime and said that there
was no place for such behaviour
in policing. The force would not
confirm the gender or religion of
the victim to protect their identity.Material is a cut above
British engineers have helped to
create the world’s first uncuttable
material. Inspired by the skin of
grapefruit and the shells of
molluscs, Proteus is made of
ceramic spheres encased in a
cellular aluminium structure. The
research team, including scientists
from Durham University, say it
could be used to make bike locks
and lightweight armour.Privatisation warning
Speculation is growing that the
London transport network could
be part-privatised after the
government said it would
consider Transport for London’s
“current model” as part of a
review being carried out after a
£1.6 billion taxpayer bailout in
May. TfL runs the Underground,
buses and overground trains. An
official said the study would also
look at higher fares and more
driverless trains, but Mick Lynch
of the RMT union promised “the
mother of all battles” in response.A A A B C C D D
D E E F G I I L
M M M N N N O R
R S S S T T U YSolve all five clues using each
letter underneath once only1 Offer ( 3 )2 Mannequin ( 5 )3 Grace, elegance (7)4 Become smaller ( 8 )5 Major tennis tournament (5,4)Quintagram® No 74 7
Solutions MindGames in Times
Cryptic clues Page 10 of TimesGARETH FULLER/PAThe four-hour A&E waiting time target
is a step closer to being scrapped after
senior doctors said that they would no
longer oppose the plans.
The Academy of Medical Royal Col-
leges (AoMRC), which represents 23
medical royal colleges and faculties,
writes in a letter to The Times
published today that it is time to “move
away from one-dimensional metrics,
appropriate and they have been piloting
plans to replace it. Critics say the gov-
ernment wants to drop a target it is
embarrassed by and that was last met in
July 2015. In February, before Covid-
hit the UK, only 82.8 per cent of patients
were seen within four hours and at
major A&Es the figure was 72.9 per cent.
Despite reduced patients, hospitals
achieved only 92.8 per cent last month.
Carrie MacEwen, chairwoman of the
AoMRC, said: “We need to move awayfrom one-dimensional metrics, such as
the four-hour A&E target, towards a set
of clinical standards that will drive
improvement for patients from the
minute they seek urgent help until they
are discharged.”
Dr Katherine Henderson, president
of RCEM, said: “Last winter was dread-
ful, we were at an all-time low. The idea
that we could drift back to that state is
just too much to think is possible.”
Letters, page 30such as the four-hour A&E target”. The
Royal College of Emergency Medicine
(RCEM) is also now backing the
change, highlighting the need to avoid
a repeat of last winter when patients
were frequently left on trolleys in corri-
dors as hospitals were swamped.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary,
and NHS England officials claim the
goal to treat, admit or discharge 95 per
cent of patients within four hours of
arrival at A&E is no longer clinically