Coppen estates?

timandjo

Coppen Estates are a scruffy door with piled up post behind and a regularly serve Article 6 (planning notices) for several properties in Sheffield and also pay our own ground rent. There is never a response. The proprietor, Mr Pennington is I am sure rarely there and you wont get an answer if you phone. I did once challenge one of his speculative warning letters and got no further response. However he seems a lot less grasping thant some of the big acquirers of ground leases such as Estates and Managament. Their way of extracting more revenue is charging for approving extension and alteration proposals - they did try it on one of my jobs. However there is rarely a reserved right particularly in late 19thC early 20thC leases and but many, without confidense in their legal postition will cough up. Never had this from Pennington though. If in doubt (another poster has already said this) read the lease or check the land registry abstract (which you will get at purchase).

bestford

They are my ground rent landlords too and are something of a pain!
I pay the rent for my own house and next door (£3.50 / year) and have lived here 10 years.
I've tried to buy the lease off them, to no avail, and have asked why I'm paying for next door - the answer?
'Knock and ask for their half of the rent'.....lol - yes, they did answer the phone on that occasion.
3 years ago my, then, neighbours moved and Coppen attempted to get 10 years 'back pay' off their solicitor - insisting that they had never paid rent.
Luckily I found out before they paid up and wrote a letter for them - they never heard another thing about it The solicitor said they were renowned for 'trying it on'.............
My building's insurance is now up for re-newal and I called Royal and Sun Alliance (Coppens' choice) this morning to see if I could get a cheaper quote but was told I had to contact Coppen to see whether they'd let me change - to be fair R and SA were really helpful but what a pain!!!!
I've just posted another letter to ask if they'll sell me my lease........:rolleyes:

bovvered_2

I am in the process of selling my house, and have just received a bill from Coppen Estates Ltd for £275. I have been paying my ground rent (1:50/year) religeously for 8 years. Aparrently this is some kind of charge for not using their preferred buildings insurers. I was never made aware that they had a preferred insurer, and as such was never really given the option to use them, nor have I received any request in eight years for the annual incurred payment of £35. Do I need to pay it or is there a sneaky way out? Help please...
p.s. My wife owns the house next door, and is legally qualified, and was also unaware of this situation! I doubt that the numerous other people on this road who pay ground rent to Coppen Estates are aware either...
p.p.s. I think these guys own something in the region of 30,000 ground rents, so you can imagine how a little scam like this could turn into a good earner...

tbs624

Bestford/Bovvered - have a look here on the insurance issue. They are trying it on.

Bestford - some of those properties do have leases contain a clause stipulating that, eg, the owners of the even numbered houses are responsible for collecting the rent from the neighbouring odd numbered property and paying it over. If you're having difficulty with Coppen over the purchase of the FH you will need to serve a Notice of Tenant Claim ( min of two years after you bought property) and if they don't agree a price with you you can apply to the RPTS link

zerocool

I deal with Coppen Estates directly each year for a property we rent out.

They work on behalf of the leasholder of the ground your property is leased on probably for a period of around 200 years from the early 1900.

So basically you should answer their calls and letters as they have the power to reclaim the property.

They are good folk to deal with and do not apply any excessive pressure to pay. At one point we had not paid for nearly 3 years as they had not got in touch, when we rang them they brought us up to date with their statement.

I found that origionally my solicitor when buying the house could not find the leaseholder and they started the process of taking a insurance policy incase after the purchase the leaseholder came forward. Just before the policy came forward Coppen Estates were found to be managing the house and the whole street for that matter. I was dissapointed but its not much money and my house still has 95ish years left on the lease.

My annual rent is £12 and that covers 4 properties, im meant to ask them all for their share but I really cant be bothered as most of them will have never heard of it and the price doesnt justify it.

It sounds like your the nominated house to collect the rents for the others.

If you want to confirm this is the case, pay £2 to the land registry for a copy of the document for your house and it will confirm what I have said, or I can email you a example of mine. denny_den_den [at] hotmail dot com

If you have purchased the house then its poor form on your solicitor to not inform you, if your a tenant then its likely that the landlord will sort it all out should you just pass on the letter.

beckies

We have owned our property for 18 years and bought the freehold to the land of ours and 3 other propertys. Therefore it's our responsibility to collect the ground rent.

So why for the last 2/3 years do we get letters demanding money from Coppen estates.

- Just wondering

psp3000

I have just unearthed the same problem with Coppen Estates - They were never going to tell me about the annual £35.00 charge (Ground rent is £27.00 per year and always paid on demand) and has been racking up for the last 7 years !

However on challenging I have got them to agree to reduce this charge !

bovvered wrote: »

I am in the process of selling my house, and have just received a bill from Coppen Estates Ltd for £275. I have been paying my ground rent (1:50/year) religeously for 8 years. Aparrently this is some kind of charge for not using their preferred buildings insurers. I was never made aware that they had a preferred insurer, and as such was never really given the option to use them, nor have I received any request in eight years for the annual incurred payment of £35. Do I need to pay it or is there a sneaky way out? Help please...
p.s. My wife owns the house next door, and is legally qualified, and was also unaware of this situation! I doubt that the numerous other people on this road who pay ground rent to Coppen Estates are aware either...
p.p.s. I think these guys own something in the region of 30,000 ground rents, so you can imagine how a little scam like this could turn into a good earner...

tbs624

psp3000 wrote: »

I have just unearthed the same problem with Coppen Estates - They were never going to tell me about the annual £35.00 charge (Ground rent is £27.00 per year and always paid on demand) and has been racking up for the last 7 years !

However on challenging I have got them to agree to reduce this charge !

See post 15 - they cannot insist that you use their preferred insurer.