Gazette reports more than £20million could be raised for new homes if Islington Council take up Dr Brian Potter ( ILA chair) suggestion and offers leaseholders a one-off chance to extend their leases by 99 years at a knock-down price. more
Tag: Ila
From: Dr Brian Potter ILA
To: Catherine West (catherine.west@islington.gov.uk), james.murray@islington.gov.uk, paul.convery@islingtonlabour.org.uk, richard.greening@islington.gov.uk, richard.watts@islington.gov.uk
Dear Catherine.
Since the ILA’s last proposal to raise cash for Islington (99 year Lease Extensions) appears to have drawn so much attention (including from other borough’s!) we hope that you will also consider another of our schemes, which although not as lucrative as the first, will potentially raise a great deal of much needed cash, very quickly.
Very briefly…
A/ In Islington’s leases, Leaseholders only own the glass, not the window frames!
B/ A major source of problems has been due to window repairs/replacement for which contractorsgrossly over charge. (Most windows have under gone extensive work through the Decent Homes Project already)
C/ So..When contacting leaseholders re a 99 year lease Extension…also offer to sell them their windows…at a discount…as a one off offer…in the same time frame as the lease extension?
Back ground…
Formally, to buy your windows through HFI you were required to seek planning permission and alicense…all of which cost money and involved administrative costs to the order of approximately £1000-2000 per property.
The ILA has finally convinced HFI that both the planning permission and license were an unnecessary cash burden, which prevented leaseholders from buying their windows via a “Deed of Variation”. However, as a result of years of negotiations with HFI, leaseholders can now purchase the DOV within a couple of weeks, at a total cost of £380. (I purchased mine last month).
If this sum was reduced to £180 in a one off promotion, I am sure that the majority of Islington’s leaseholders would be happy to take part.
Peripheral advantages to this scheme…
1/ Many more leaseholders would be inclined to use the small local builders…thereby generating bothcash and employment in the borough, and reduce both the council’s responsibility and contractual work load!
2/ The large contracts currently being allocated cost the borough a fortune, and are totally un-manageable and impossible to monitor…and, invariably uses sub-contracted labour from…who knows where?
3/ If the leaseholders are satisfied with this arrangement they will have no need to challenge the billing at law (LVT), so saving the borough a great deal of cash during the course of the year in defending issues related to cost and quality of works by employing very expensive external firms of solicitors. See Tremlett Grove…!!!
Legal safe guards…
In order to ensure that the leaseholders comply with council requirements in regard to conservation areas etc…Caveats can be included, if and when required…
Possible income of…non-ring fenced cash…
Math…11,000 x £180 = £??????????
Brian.
Lease Extension Presentation ILA 10 Oct 2012 by Nadeem Hussain of LEASE.
Download here Lease Extension Presentation ILA 10 Oct 2012
(This is a Power Point file, so you must have that app on your computer for file to open)
Below is a link to LEASE’S online booklet on lease extensions.
http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents/document.asp?item=8
Islington Gazette reports calls for investigation into Islington Coucil “…Islington council had a vested interest in overcharging by contractors …… The message being sent out to contractors by Islington council is ” if you get caught overcharging, don’t worry we will pay the legal cost with public money to defend your actions…..”
Full Islington Gazette articles here
This is a precis of the ruling earlier this year by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal regarding work that took pace on the Tremlett Grove Estate. The case featured on the Dispatches programme broadcast on Monday 20th August 2012.
It is written by a layperson, not a lawyer, and should not be relied upon for legal use or to encourage you to take legal action. It is written for your information.
If you wish to dispute your bill in any courts or at the LVT, the ILA strongly suggest you should always seek legal advice from lawyers experienced in UK leasehold contracts. You can find the original decision at the Lands Tribunal website.
Summary of Tremlett Grove findings
The actual costs involved are detailed in Appendix 1 on page 27 of the actual LVT ruling
Islington Council ( PFI) managing agent for street properties “Partners” have recently said that they will only obtain Listed Building Consents (LBC)/ planning permissions on works that they have done on properties in conservation areas or that are listed buildings IF the matter is brought to the attention of Partners directly by the resident concerned.
Islingtons Planning Conservation department on the other hand says that ” that unauthorised works carried out to listed buildings is a criminal offence. As such persons with a material interest in the property may be liable to prosecution”
Leaseholder may also find that they have an issue if they ever wish to sell their properties, and they need to obtains the the LBC’s to give to potential buyers. Trying to get consents from Partners in 2 or 10 year after works have been done may be tricky.
The ILA can’t give advice, so this shouldn’t be taken as such, but If your a leaseholder in a Conservation Area or Listed building you may want to check with the Islington Council conservation section of the Planning Department. whether the Major Works that Partners have done on your property should have had or require LBC., and if so bring it directly to Partners attention.
Please also let the ILA know if the Councils planning department confirm that council’s agents ( e.g. Partners,[the former] HFI etc) or Housing Property Services have done works to your property without getting the appropriate consents. contact
Categories
ILA Meet Wed 8.8.12
Islington Leaseholders Meeting
on
Wednesday 8 August 2012
in
Islington Town Hall Chambers
at
7 – 9pm
Hosting the meeting:- Dr Brian Potter
Guest Speakers:- To be advised
Please impress upon any other leaseholder’s that you know that it is in their interest to attend these meetings regularly…
Please see Dr Potters letter published in the Islington Tribune on 20 July 2012 –
Out in the cold in race to be champion.
A report from the Smith Institute last week (quoted by Jules Birch in “Inside Housing”) concluded that over 60 per cent of new homes in central London are currently being bought by overseas investors and that a large proportion of them are being kept empty.
If there is extra overseas demand for limited supply that is already inadequate to meet domestic demand then that must be increasing (or propping up) prices and making the overall affordability situation worse. That has to be a cause of concern for the UK government, especially when overseas governments are taking action in their own markets. Full Story Here
The Leasehold Advisory Service(LEASE) recently made a presentation to an ILA meeting on Right to Buy – Residential Leases.
The ILA are pleased to make this LEASE presentation available which includes an example of a typical Local Council lease which would be made on a Council property purchased under the Right to Buy (RTB). and an explanation in plain English what each Clause means. more
Islington Leaseholders Meeting
on Wednesday 11th July 2012
in Islington Town Hall Chambers
at 7 – 9pm
Hosting the meeting:- Dr Brian Potter
Guest Speakers:- LEASE solicitors
Please view our Website www.ila.org.uk
twitter @ilaorguk
facebook http://on.fb.me/mWzios
Please let other leaseholders know of this meeting or fw emails or tweet / RT this event.
Many residents will by now have received the latest of Islington Council’s proclamations entitled “Your housing service needs you!” in which they attempt to convince us that they are genuinely intending to promote meaningful consultation in the borough.
Sadly, although not in the least unexpected, I fear that once again they are desperately trying to sell us another of their “Chocolate Teapot” promotions. … council officers have euphemistically titled the proposed new main assembly “The Islington Housing Executive”, however, since this particular body is simply there to observe the council’s decisions, without the power to either reverse or prevent their implementation, what they truly represent is, in reality, a loosely camouflaged replica of the old ALMO board of directors, claiming to be tenant representatives!
So…all in all…absolute rubbish…!
Why waste public money on this nonsense, when all that is in fact required, is a scrutiny panel,comprised of delegates from the main housing bodies in the borough, charged with reporting their findings directly back to their organisations, and afforded the power to ameliorate, or even, if necessary, challenge unacceptable council decisions…!!!
Dr B. S. Potter.
Chairman: – Islington Leaseholders Association (ILA)