LEASEHOLD SCANDAL: Thousands of Bolton homeowners in leasehold living nightmare

WHEN Jo Darbyshire and her family moved into their new house, they did not think twice about not owning the land it was built on as their previous home had also been leasehold.

But less than a year later, the leasehold was sold and the new landlord told them it would cost tens of thousands of pounds to buy it outright ­— and charged them more than £100 for supplying that information.

Now Mrs Darbyshire is one of those leading the national fight against what they see as "people being ripped off by corporate greed".

Mrs Darbyshire moved into her house on the Silver Birches estate in Lostock with her husband Mark and two children, Adam and Heather, in December, 2010.

She and her neighbours asked about purchasing the leasehold so they would own the land and would not have to pay fees for permission for minor alterations.

She said: "Somebody needs to get to the bottom of all of this and we need some proper redress just like they have had for PPI and mortgages because there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that we have been mis-sold on this.

"I feel completely ripped off and angry that corporate greed has taken over. I just wonder how they sleep at night," she added.

Mrs Darbyshire's experience, and that of her neighbours, prompted her to form the National Leasehold Campaign two years ago in a bid to end the crisis.

The organisation now has more than 12,500 members and works across the country to keep homeowners and prospective buyers informed.

It also lobbies Parliament and collaborate with MPs, including recently giving evidence at select committee meetings.

Across the North West, almost 47,000 new-build homes have been sold as leasehold over the past eight years, the highest number in any region outside London.

In the North West, a higher proportion of leasehold homes are houses compared to any other region in England; almost two-thirds of new build leasehold homes sold in the region over the last eight years were houses.

In 2016, in the Bolton South East constituency, an estimated 73 per cent of houses were sold as leasehold, the second highest proportion in England and Wales.

The number of those sold in Bolton North East stands just a fraction less, at an estimated 72 per cent.

And the picture is not much rosier in Bolton West, where 60 per cent of houses were sold as leasehold, the 12th highest proportion.

Last week, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, John Healey MP, visited the region at the request of Bury North MP James Frith to hear from homeowners who feel ripped off by their leasehold contracts.

In recent months Bolton MP's voices have joined those calling for action to prevent the sale of leaseholds, protect homeowners and help those affected by the scandal.

However, some leaseholders discover too late that they are obliged to pay the inflated ground rents, while others choose their own solicitor and feel they were poorly advised when purchasing their home.

A survey conducted by NAEA Propertymark suggests almost six in 10 leaseholders didn’t understand what being a leaseholder meant until they had already purchased the property, and more than nine in 10 people regretted buying a leasehold property at all.

Across England, it is reported that there are more than four million leasehold properties. In some instances, ground rents charged by freeholders have been doubling every 10 years.

And the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, which has campaigned on the issue, estimates that around 100,000 homebuyers are trapped in contracts with spiralling ground rents.

In other cases, homeowners have found their freeholds have been sold to third parties, and they were being told they would have to pay tens of thousands of pounds in order to buy it.

Last year, the government set out plans to ‘ban new-build houses being sold as leasehold as well as restricting ground rents to as low as zero’.

Under the ban, flats can still be sold as leasehold, but ground rents will be restricted to a ‘peppercorn’ level and therefore be of little financial value to speculative buyers.

'It's a daily worry'

Shira Baram, who lives on the Chapelfield estate in Radcliffe, purchased her flat after carefully saving for her first home in 2007.

She said: “I was a first-time buyer. I wanted to get my foot on the property ladder and saw this as an opportunity. An opportunity I now regret ruefully.

“I thought this would become a home. I didn’t think it would become a millstone around my neck. It’s a daily worry,” she added. 

Shortly after Ms Baram moved into her flat the freehold was sold to a third party and she has been left with a pricey ground rent she describes as “basically untouchable” — meaning she is unable to sell up and move out.

She said: “I wish I had got things in writing. As many people are finding out, a lot of the things we were promised were not true.

“Myself and many others are now finding out so much about this situation that was just not made clear to us.

“I’m now just an income revenue for a large company that has been given my leasehold.  It has caused distress, anxiety, worry, fear; and I feel betrayed.”

Householders in Stonemere Drive, Radcliffe, were sold leasehold homes by housebuilding company Taylor Wimpey between 2007 and 2010.

Along with thousands of others who bought from the developer between 2007 and 2011, they became locked into a leasehold contract under which the ground rent doubled every 10 years.

The contracts saddled many buyers with what they call a huge financial burden, leaving their homes ‘almost unsellable’.

One way out of the situation would be to buy the freehold themselves, something which can prove costly and time-consuming.