Letter received about leasehold scandal claims?

martyp

Hi all,

I don't know if the timing of this is coincidental or if somehow my situation has been flagged up to this company. I am currently remortgaging and have a 50% shared ownership property. Today I received a notice of a big rent increase from the housing association as well as this letter addressed not personally to me but to the 'resident' from a legal firm about my house being leasehold.
It referred to my address as being a potential case as identified as leasehold.
I don't know if it even applies to me as I don't think I pay ground rent. I pay rent monthly to the housing association and have the option to staircase to outright purchase of the property.
I'm thinking this is where properties remain leasehold forever?
My lease started in 1991 I think and when I bought the house in 2005 it advised there were 72 years left on it.
Anyone know if it applies to me in any way?

m0bov

Lol i got a letter as well!

martyp

I suppose it's not too difficult for a company to identify leasehold properties and send out a mass mailing, wonder how many they sent out!

rachel230

Yes letters are being sent out - there are two companies in the main that are focusing on this. One has initials SM and the other FS..
They are dealing with hundreds of cases of mis selling. There are some prerequisites to them taking on your case no win no fee. Particularly leasehold houses bought in the last 6 years with onerous ground rent terms and promises made at point of sale that you could buy the freehold in two years time but then finding that the ground had been sold from under your feet!
There are other scenarios so it is definitely worth a call to them. They will know the questions to ask you to decide whether your circumstances fit. You can join the National Leasehold Campaign on Facebook for more information as many there are going through this and they have thoroughly checked out the solicitors to ensure it is totally no win no fee (no hidden charges or success fees).

Tom99

rachel230 wrote: »

Yes letters are being sent out - there are two companies in the main that are focusing on this. One has initials SM and the other FS..
They are dealing with hundreds of cases of mis selling. There are some prerequisites to them taking on your case no win no fee. Particularly leasehold houses bought in the last 6 years with onerous ground rent terms and promises made at point of sale that you could buy the freehold in two years time but then finding that the ground had been sold from under your feet!
There are other scenarios so it is definitely worth a call to them. They will know the questions to ask you to decide whether your circumstances fit. You can join the National Leasehold Campaign on Facebook for more information as many there are going through this and they have thoroughly checked out the solicitors to ensure it is totally no win no fee (no hidden charges or success fees).

There will undoubtedly be a substantial success fee, a percentage of the compensation you might get.

chunkytfg

martyp wrote: »

Hi all,

I don't know if the timing of this is coincidental or if somehow my situation has been flagged up to this company. I am currently remortgaging and have a 50% shared ownership property. Today I received a notice of a big rent increase from the housing association as well as this letter addressed not personally to me but to the 'resident' from a legal firm about my house being leasehold.
It referred to my address as being a potential case as identified as leasehold.
I don't know if it even applies to me as I don't think I pay ground rent. I pay rent monthly to the housing association and have the option to staircase to outright purchase of the property.
I'm thinking this is where properties remain leasehold forever?
My lease started in 1991 I think and when I bought the house in 2005 it advised there were 72 years left on it.
Anyone know if it applies to me in any way?

I don't be more concerned with the fact your property has 58 years left on the lease so is virtually impossible to sell except to cash buyers really cheaply And certainly unmortgageable without a very expensive lease extension

eddddy

martyp wrote: »

My lease started in 1991 I think and when I bought the house in 2005 it advised there were 72 years left on it.
Anyone know if it applies to me in any way?

The issue is whether you solicitor made clear to you the implications of buying a 72 year lease on a shared ownership property.

The claims company (who sent the letter) are suggesting that you could make a claim for professional negligence against your solicitor, if they didn't make it clear.

But... a claim might only be possible for 6 years since you bought the property, or for 3 years from the date you realised the solicitor's negligence has caused you damage.




(The above is essentially what the claims companies say - I have no idea whether what they say is realistic.

'No win, no fee' claims companies in general often have very bad reputations.

And when there is a well publicised "scandal", you sometimes get a flood of incompetent people starting up claims companies, trying to cash-in. )

martyp

Thanks all, the surveyor did ask to see the lease details. Maybe the remaining lease could have been the reason my house valuation changed from £150k to £108k which is £2k less than I paid for it in 2005? I didn't think of that possibly affecting the value but might be wrong?