ITV tonight (8th) new build snags&Lease covered

getmore4less

Can't see a link to this.

https://www.itv.com/hub/tonight/1a2803a1065

covers some new build hooror stories and leashold catches some are finding.

Worth a view to make sure you have anything they highlight covered.

JP1978

Just watching this on catchup.

Re the leasehold article - I've read the same stories on here and other forums.... Where i do realise that its a huge 'scam' - is it not the fault of the buyer not having their eyes open when they buy the property? Or, do they just get swept away with the emotional wave of buying a brand new fluffy home?

When we had info from the solicitor through over our sale/purchase I read it and questioned everything that just didn't sound right or make sense. Although there turned out to be no issues, our solicitor said to us that we were one of only a handful of people a year that actually ask him questions - the vast majority just let everything go through unquestioned.

I would like to bet that people ask more questions when they buy a car or an expensive laptop than when they buy a house.

martindow

JP1978 wrote: »

Just watching this on catchup.

Re the leasehold article - I've read the same stories on here and other forums.... Where i do realise that its a huge 'scam' - is it not the fault of the buyer not having their eyes open when they buy the property? Or, do they just get swept away with the emotional wave of buying a brand new fluffy home?

When we had info from the solicitor through over our sale/purchase I read it and questioned everything that just didn't sound right or make sense. Although there turned out to be no issues, our solicitor said to us that we were one of only a handful of people a year that actually ask him questions - the vast majority just let everything go through unquestioned.

I would like to bet that people ask more questions when they buy a car or an expensive laptop than when they buy a house.

It is good to ask questions if you are aware of potential problems, but many people are less knowledgeable. Buyers are paying solicitors to do the conveyancing but also to protect their interests which has not happened in some cases.

Rapidly increasing leasehold payments are a racket, but the responsibility also lies with solicitors and lenders not flagging up the issue. Hopefully lenders refusing to offer mortgages on houses with very disadvantageous terms will stamp this out.

getmore4less

the eye opener for many will be the extent of the "fees" that can be charged.

pay up to change mortgage lender....

now you may be happy with all you inquiries etc, BUT and this is the big one, will the next person.

Chances are the extent of the scam will be curbed going forward but what are the chances that there will be retrospective legislation to undo those that did get caught.

There could be a batch of properties that become very undesirable second hand.

Personally that would be a risk too far.

The other issue with all this is older freehold properties often have covenants covering changes and developer fees, I suspect these will be getting closer scrutiny going forward for anyone that has made changes.

Just about everyone on our estate has done things to their houses without developer(that left the site 20+years ago) consent,

Chanes

I truly feel that some (many) people put their trust in the developers and their solicitors because they are caught up in the excitement and stress of buying a new home and miss the money grabbing aspect of it. Selling property leasehold is like turning it into a cash machine with a huge chunk of cash on the purchase and the potential to make more much more over the years from lease fees or the sale of the Freehold. How this is allowed is beyond me, it's feudal.

And I do think there is some sharp practice in that the houses being sold are not stated as lease and seem to make people think they are owners and not tenants.

The old peppercorn lease properties are not like these new builds and their leases at all. And that is excluding estate fees!

PasturesNew

There are two basic issues. One/both/neither might apply:

- it is leasehold and it does "double" or something after each X years. They're only just finding that now - and - by the media, being persuaded to roll that forwards 60 years to see how much it is ... and it sounds a lot. In 60 years' time they'll either be dead, or that amount will have the same value as today's annual amount.

- the developers sell all the houses leasehold .... then they sell the freehold to companies whose entire business model is to buy up freeholds and then squeeze every £ out of everybody for anything as much as possible ...

It's not just new builds, it's just that it's more frequently seen in new builds. There was a programme on the telly a few years back where a woman/husband had bought a lovely house at the seaside - and 35 years on their charge had risen to something like £8k/year, but by then the wife was a widow on a basic pension so had to sell up.

My new build is freehold. So not all new builds are leasehold.

Chanes

PasturesNew wrote: »

My new build is freehold. So not all new builds are leasehold.

Can I ask if you have to pay annual estate fees? I gave up trying to find a new build, between dreadful leases and estate fees it seemed like a money spinner for someone else and, seemingly, in perpetuity with regard to estate fees! We bought a house that was Freehold but 25 years old instead.