Leading leasehold experts have sharply criticised the much-hyped reforms announced by the government last week. The Leasehold Group of Companies - formerly led by...
Archive
11 January 2021
From: Breaking News

Millions of leaseholders will be given the right to extend their lease by a maximum term of 990 years at zero...
07 January 2021
From: Breaking News

A leasehold group has written to Housing Minister Chris Pincher pressing for an update on the government’s approach to reform for...
19 November 2020
From: Breaking News

Another attempt is being made to introduce property logbooks to the selling and buying process, and agents are invited to play a...
26 October 2020
From: Breaking News

Book review by Graham Norwood, editor of Estate Agent Today, Letting Agent Today and Landlord Today. If a letting agent wants to...
17 October 2020
From: Features

Many agents, certainly those in London, will have faced the difficult task of selling a flat with a shorter lease. A...
09 October 2020
From: Sponsored Content

A right wing magazine once edited by Boris Johnson has called estate agents “spivs with tape measures” who conceal information from...
09 October 2020
From: Breaking News

NAEA Propertymark has thrown its weight behind a Competitions and Markets Authority investigation into whether consumer protection law has been broken...
07 September 2020
From: Breaking News

The Competition and Markets Authority is today opening enforcement cases focusing on the sale of leasehold homes by four leading housebuilders. They...
04 September 2020
From: Breaking News

Wholesale reform of leasehold issues is still some years away, despite recent proposals by the Law Commission and pledges by the...
06 August 2020
From: Breaking News

The long-awaited proposals for leasehold reform produced by the Law Commission suggests giving owners the right to extend their lease for...
22 July 2020
From: Breaking News

The death has been announced of one of the country’s leading campaigners against the injustices of the leasehold system, Louie Burns. Burns...
22 June 2020
From: Breaking News

There’s been a broad welcome from agents and other industry organisations for the latest report from the Competition and Markets Authority...
02 March 2020
From: Breaking News

The government is being urged to make commonhold ownership compulsory on all new apartments - and the move could even begin a...
21 February 2020
From: Breaking News

Unfortunately for consumers, buying and selling properties is rarely plain sailing. But fortunately for agents, this provides you with an opportunity to...
03 February 2020
From: Breaking News

The Law Commission has set out three ways to cut the cost that leaseholders have to pay to buy the freehold...
10 January 2020
From: Breaking News

A 10 point manifesto to drive forward leasehold reform has been published by prominent campaigner Louie Burns, of The Leasehold Solutions Group. The 10...
06 November 2019
From: Breaking News

A London estate agency is attempting to help leaseholders with short leases who may be finding it hard to raise funds...
01 November 2019
From: Breaking News

A London agency has told Estate Agent Today that it makes some of its buyers pay upwards of £5,000 in Reservation...
23 October 2019
From: Breaking News

There’s no doubt that we live in politically charged times and every day appears to bring something new to the ‘party’. For...
05 October 2019
From: Features

The price premium paid by purchasers for a freehold property rather than a leasehold is at its highest for eight years. An...
26 September 2019
From: Breaking News

One of the largest surveys of housing concerns amongst consumers suggests that agents fees - once a major issue - is...
08 August 2019
From: Breaking News

The government has published proposals for far-reaching changes to the way estate and letting agents are regulated, trained and licensed. The proposals...
18 July 2019
From: Breaking News

The police have opened an investigation after a number of complaints have been made about the financial affairs of a sales...
05 July 2019
From: Breaking News
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A leasehold reform campaigner says government proposals risk creating a two-tier market and do nothing to assist leaseholders already hit by...
02 July 2019
From: Breaking News

The Competition and Markets Authority has formally launched an investigation into the sale of leasehold properties - including possible mis-selling. This follows...
11 June 2019
From: Breaking News

It may well seem that the government is pre-occupied with one issue, and one issue alone. While preparations for Brexit take up a...
01 June 2019
From: Features

A firm supporting leaseholders across the UK says the ongoing Competition and Markets Authority probe should “punish” what it calls “rip off...
24 May 2019
From: Breaking News

So far in our contribution to the campaign to replace leasehold with commonhold we have outlined the stories of some of...
18 May 2019
From: Features

The National Association of Estate Agents has welcomed the commitment by the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the mis-selling of...
17 May 2019
From: Breaking News

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has launched its long-awaited ‘How to sell a home’ and ‘How to...
08 May 2019
From: Breaking News

The leasehold scandal continues to generate plenty of column inches, with fresh stories emerging almost daily of people living in unsellable...
18 April 2019
From: Breaking News

Another property raffle - this time with what appeared to be a castle as its main prize - has hit trouble...
17 April 2019
From: Breaking News

The leasehold scandal has received plenty of press coverage, with horror stories of people living in homes that are impossible to...
06 April 2019
From: Features

Almost as soon as the government yesterday made its latest announcement to outlaw rogue leasehold deals, the measure was branded “pathetic. More...
29 March 2019
From: Breaking News

A large-scale survey by a consumer group has revealed that over half of home owners regard stamp duty as a growing...
26 March 2019
From: Breaking News

Over the last few years, there have a number of changes to the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) regime, which have...
23 March 2019
From: Features

The leasehold system has created many unsellable and unmortgageable homes and should change, MPs say. The all-party Housing, Communities and Local Government...
19 March 2019
From: Breaking News

The proliferation of big data is paving the way to improving our economy on almost every front as entrepreneurial digital companies...
09 March 2019
From: Features

There’s been a dramatic improvement in the speed of searches being completed and returned by local authorities, the government claims. Housing minister...
28 January 2019
From: Breaking News

Developers have continued to sell thousands of new-build houses with leaseholds, despite a government pledge to ban the “unscrupulous” practice a...
24 December 2018
From: Breaking News

Two weeks to Christmas but no sign of our industry slowing down with more job moves announced in recent days. Please let...
10 December 2018
From: Breaking News

A house in Mayfair that was sold for £19.175m in 2014 and put on the market this year at £25m has...
08 November 2018
From: Breaking News

The cost of new-build leasehold properties has surged 16 times faster than freeholds according to research from property investment platform. The revelation...
16 October 2018
From: Breaking News

The National Association of Estate Agents has welcomed the government’s move to ensure most future new-build houses are sold as freehold...
15 October 2018
From: Breaking News

The vast majority of new-build houses are to be sold as freehold with ground rents for new leases capped at £10...
14 October 2018
From: Breaking News

The independent Essex estate agency Beresfords is celebrating its 50th anniversary next week - and is doing so in style with...
02 October 2018
From: Breaking News

The National Association of Estate Agents has given broad support for radical proposals from the Law Commission to end leasehold abuse...
21 September 2018
From: Breaking News

The Property Ombudsman has urged the government to bring the new homes build sector under consumer redress. New builds are not currently...
10 September 2018
From: Breaking News

Almost all buyers of new build houses who purchased a leasehold regret doing so, and the vast majority say they definitely wouldn't...
07 September 2018
From: Breaking News

A specialist property law firm is calling on the government to speed up changes in the law to avoid abusive leasehold...
23 August 2018
From: Breaking News

In our previous blog, we looked at the definitions outlined by the CPRs. In our next blog we’ll look at the...
21 August 2018
From: Sponsored Content

A new website has been set up specifically to help leasehold flat owners who have been served a Section 5 Notice...
04 July 2018
From: Breaking News

The government says its funding schemes such as Help To Buy will no longer be applied to what it calls “unjustified...
03 July 2018
From: Breaking News

The Money editor of The Mirror newspaper has finally sold a home he first put on the market in late 2016...
21 June 2018
From: Breaking News

As housing market stakeholders we’ve all had a month or so to try and digest the government’s own response to its...
19 May 2018
From: Features

Estate Agent Today understands several major national agencies and some smaller operators are involved in a project to understand why transaction...
09 May 2018
From: Breaking News

One of the three official redress bodies serving the estate and lettings agency industry has conducted a survey of complaints across...
02 May 2018
From: Breaking News

People living in leasehold properties should extend the remaining terms of their leases before they drop beneath 80 years, according to a...
26 April 2018
From: Breaking News

Stubbornly high house prices and concerns over leasehold-related charges top the list of worries amongst the public about the housing market. That’s...
19 April 2018
From: Breaking News

The government has announced further measures which will, in its words, “professionalise” house buying and the estate agency business. In yet another Sunday...
08 April 2018
From: Breaking News

At any given moment it’s difficult to say which issue dominates our marketplace, but I think it’s fair to acknowledge during...
31 March 2018
From: Features

Home owners seeking lease extensions may now have to pay more as a result of a controversial judgement handed down by...
25 January 2018
From: Breaking News

The Court of Appeal is today expected to rule on a legal battle which may be critical in determining the value...
16 January 2018
From: Breaking News

While there is a distinct market for flats held on particularly short leases, there is a middle ground where flat owners...
13 January 2018
From: Features

A specialist leasehold enfranchisement firm has branded government leasehold reforms as "incredibly weak". In an announcement lost in the noise following Damian Green’s sacking,...
22 December 2017
From: Breaking News

Earlier this month Fine & Country announced it was to offer an auction option to vendors - now the Surrey agency...
27 November 2017
From: Breaking News

Labour MP Justin Madders is working on a Private Members' Bill creating leasehold reform in a bid to help leaseholders who, he...
10 November 2017
From: Breaking News

Even so close to the event, I don’t think anyone will be deeming 2017 as the ‘summer of love’. The summer of...
16 September 2017
From: Features

Without wishing to blow our own trumpet at this time, we did say at the start of the year that 2017...
28 July 2017
From: Features

There has been general support from the industry for the government’s apparent intention to ban new homes in England being sold...
26 July 2017
From: Breaking News

The government says it wants to ban “unfair” leasehold charges imposed on buyers of new-build homes in England. Under the measure, subject to...
25 July 2017
From: Breaking News

With several agent partner programmes available across the country, estate agents can often increase business by offering sales by auction, with...
22 July 2017
From: Features

A leasehold enfranchisement expert wants government action over what he calls the "forgotten casualties" of the recent ground rent scandal. Louie Burns,...
14 July 2017
From: Breaking News

A cluster of conveyancing and legal experts, known as the Legal Sector Group, has published a raft of proposals on leasehold...
21 June 2017
From: Breaking News

The Conservative and Labour party manifestos do not go far enough to tackle problems with the leasehold system. That’s the view of...
30 May 2017
From: Breaking News

Auctions are a great way to sell property competitively, with a wide range of homes often selling under the hammer, and...
06 May 2017
From: Features

A sales progression tool claims to have reduced the average transaction time for a property from around 94 days to around...
27 February 2017
From: Breaking News

No longer just a domain for investors, developers and property traders, the auction room is now the preferred option of buying...
21 January 2017
From: Features

I recently came across a consumer comment expressing frustration at the length and complexity of UK conveyancing and raising the question...
17 December 2016
From: Features

Auction rooms across the UK are filled with people looking to buy property, from bargain hunters to seasoned investors, ensuring that...
22 October 2016
From: Features

The service charges for new-build flats coming on to the market this year are on average 96 per cent higher than...
09 March 2016
From: Breaking News

In January readers of Estate Agent Today and Letting Agent Today were given the opportunity to give their views on proposed...
25 January 2016
From: Features

The French government has taken billionaire Foxtons founder Jon Hunt to the High Court over his attempt to dig a so-called...