Category: Government

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Councillors Cyclical Works Financial Government Housing ILA Islington LBI Leaseholders Repairs

Questions For Islington Council Causing Distress To Residents

Dr Brian Potter, sent the Letter of October 23 from MP Michael Gove to Victoria Lawson, CEO Islington Council to the tribune this week obo the ILA.

The Tribune published it in this weeks edition…

The letter discusses the Housing Ombudsman’s Special Report condemning Islington Councils  “severe maladministration rate [which] is four times the national average”.

Gove goes on  “This is unacceptable. The report identifies unreasonable delays, poor record keeping and communication with your residents, and a failure to follow your own policies and procedures. You failed to identify underlying issues – instead, you took a superficial look at problems such as damp and mould. It is not surprising that, as a result, many of your residents have suffered prolonged periods of distress”

Since it was dated Oct 23., Dr Potter suggests the Questions we should ask are…
Why did we not know about it until this week…?
and what has/will the council do about it now that it is in the public domain…?

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Councillors Financial Government ILA Islington LBI Leaseholders Leases

Millions could be raised in Islington leasehold sale

With the Leasehold reform bill on its way, its maybe time for Islington council to consider options like this.

Originally written by Jon Dean Thursday, November 1, 2012.

More than £20million could be raised for new homes if Islington Council becomes the first to adopt a pioneering scheme suggested by homeowners.

The plan, thought to be the first of its kind in the country, would see the town hall offer leaseholders a one-off chance to extend their leases by 99 years at a knock-down price.
With around 11,000 people owning former council properties, the initiative could raise in the region of £22million if the price was set at £2,000 as suggested.
The idea is the brainchild of Brian Potter, chairman of the Islington Leaseholders Association (ILA), who contacted Cllr Catherine West, leader of Islington Council, to put forward the proposal.
He said: “The beauty of this idea is that homeowners get security for two generations and can leave their home to their children, while Islington Council get some much needed funds.
“I think they will go for it – I mean, they will definitely want the cash. Other councils are raising money by selling off properties…they’re selling the family silver. 
“This way Islington get to keep the silver and make bundles of money by essentially selling cans of air.”
When people buy a former council home, they usually buy a lease for the property for a fixed period, normally 125 years, while the town hall retains the freehold. 
When the lease gets down to around 80 years, it can be hard to sell or mortgage the property and extending the lease can be a costly, complicated process. 
The cost of extending a lease on home worth £200,000 starts at around £7,500.
Under the proposed scheme the price of extending would be between £1,000 and £3,000 depending on the value of the property.
The council confirmed it was looking into the idea.
Cllr James Murray, Islington Council’s executive member for housing, said: “We are keen to look at new ideas like this, particularly at a time when we continue to face huge cuts to our funding by central government.

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Financial Government Housing ILA Information Islington Leaseholders Leases Service Charges

Law Commission publishes report on valuation in enfranchisement

On Wednesday 8th January the Law Commission published its report – “Leasehold home ownership: buying your freehold or extending your lease”. The Commission sets out options to reduce the cost that leaseholders have to pay to buy the freehold or extend the lease of their homes, and follows its September 2018 consultation paper. Click here for more information and a summary of the options in the report

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Government Housing ILA Information Leaseholders Leases Repairs Service Charges Website

Government’s approach to dangerous Grenfell-style cladding replacement consistent

Grim it may be, but the government’s approach to getting dangerous Grenfell-style cladding replaced on tower blocks certainly appears consistent. Credit: Private Eye, Housing News

 

Click Here

 

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Government Housing ILA Leaseholders Leases Website

Invitation to free webinar on consultation re consumer redress in housing market

Register now for the free webinar

LEASE is hosting a free webinar to help you make an informed contribution to the Government’s consultation  ‘Strengthening consumer redress in the housing market’.

The webinar will be presented by our experienced advisers, Nicholas Kissen and Kavita Bharti.

The webinar is on Monday 26 March 2018, 7pm – 8:30pm. Click here to register.

The Government is concerned that the current landscape is confusing for consumers both in terms of the number of schemes, differences in practices, and gaps where consumers have no recourse to redress. As a consequence the consultation explores and questions:

improving ‘in–house’ complaint processes, to ensure that issues get resolved as quickly as possible;

the practices and functions that should be expected of redress schemes and the powers that they need to do this;

How to fill existing gaps in redress, with a particular focus on private tenants, buyers of new build homes and leaseholders; and

The case for streamlining and improving services for consumers through the creation of a single housing ombudsman service.

Responses to the consultation should be submitted no later than midnight on 16 April 2018. You are encouraged to respond by completing an online survey.

Alternatively you can email your response to the questions in the consultation to – Housingredress@communities.gsi.gov.uk

Written responses should be sent to:

Social Housing Division, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Third Floor, Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

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Government ILA Information Leaseholders Mortgages

Anger as thousands unaware they face a ‘second mortgage’

Calls for the delay of a new loan set to replace a state-backed benefit in just 10 weeks’ time     Shane Hickey  ( The Guardian)   Mon 5 Feb 2018 

Many poorer families could be in danger of having their home repossessed as a state-backed benefit is taken away.

The government has been called on to delay a new “second mortgage” scheme, which replaces a benefit for homeowners on low incomes, after just one in 20 affected households have signed up for it.

From April, the government is axing “support for mortgage interest” (SMI) which helps financially constrained homeowners with their mortgage. It will be replaced with a controversial system where the government offers to loan people the money, which will be repaid later with interest.

However, new figures have shown that just 6,850 households have signed up for the scheme out of the 124,000 currently receiving the SMI benefit, prompting calls for the changeover to be delayed.  more info