For a fair deal for all home owners on privately managed estates. STOP THE ROT – ADOPT THE LOT!
HorNet in the press
Our numbers increase with time, so we have had to update our briefing paper for politicians and press to reflect this. The best place to find up to date numbers is in the “Who are We?” section of this web site.
The issues outlined remain the same as does the lack of government action!
We propose a number of solutions in our paper:
Starting 2022 with another news item on local radio about fleecehold. We are grateful to Graham Emmett, who is deputy Mayor for Northwich, for spreading the word on the issues arising out of fleecehold estate charges. It seems developers are still implementing this model under the radar – the interviewer hadn’t heard of it and neither was aware privately managed estates have been implemented for 20 years although it is true that builders are selling “fake freehold” or “fleecehold”homes instead of leasehold houses now that the latter have been banned.
You can hear the short clip below:
A short item on national news which highlighted the problems of estate charges and “fake freehold”. We briefed the reporter on the issues home buyers/residents face and hope that these will be followed up in greater depth in future articles.
We are delighted to hear Money Box has broadcast an article based on the experiences of a pensioner who bought “freehold” to avoid leasehold on a new build development. Later she started to learn of the pitfalls, and is horrified to be sitting on a bomb!!
We have contacted the program offering to provide them with more information/evidence from our substantial membership. They have responded positively and have promised to talk to us before any future items are broadcast.
You can listen to the program broadcast first on October 5th 2019, on BBC Sounds at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00092tk . The section starts just before 16 minutes in. Some excellent advice on what to ask during purchase by Beth Rudolph of the Conveyancing Association.
She advises potential purchasers to ask for “material facts disclosure” on the property along with estate maintenance budgets for the next 3 years plus management plans for the next 5 years. Our collective experience is that if people did ask these questions, the sale of new build homes on privately managed estates would dry up almost completely.