A potential homebuyer is calling for a boycott of Persimmon Homes as it is selling its houses leasehold and flogging the freehold off to anonymous investors.
The buyer’s And his MP, Andrew Selous, backs his concerns and says Persimmon’s approach “stinks”, according to the Leighton Buzzard Gazette.
The man, who is due to complete on his purchase in the coming week, said:
“The issue is the leasehold tenure, so we are pushing to get them to convert the entire development to freehold not just our property.
“There is absolutely no reason for them to be sold as leasehold – apart from making a small fortune by selling the freehold to investment firms.
“It’s an outrageous example of a money grabbing scheme, robbing hardworking people of their money in order to line their corporate back pockets”.
He said home owners at Lake View would have to pay:
£150 per year ground rent fees payable to Persimmon Homes or whoever buys the freehold in the future
£131 per year service fees for the maintenance of the development’s roads and landscape.
£50 towards the lake which, he said, would potentially benefit the entire town. He said: “This means total annual costs of £331 per household for a property which has no need to be sold as leasehold, other than to financially benefit Persimmon.”
“I want to raise awareness of this scandal and ask locals to boycott buying the homes at Lake View until Persimmon reverse their plans to sell them freehold. We hope they may do this if sales dry up.”
Mr Selous said he would be looking to raise the matter in the House of Commons next week. He said: “I feel really strongly on this and am really upset and completely agree with what he is saying.
“This stinks and I will do everything I can to shine a spotlight on this. People who want to buy a freehold should be able to do so, there is no reason they should be leasehold.
Read more at: http://www.leightonbuzzardonline.co.uk/news/business/call-to-boycott-new-homes-on-leighton-estate-over-leasehold-row-1-7827041
Related posts:
Buyer pulls out of Persimmon £219,995 leasehold house purchase
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Mass email dump: leasehold home owners demand their freeholds after Persimmon caves into court action
Outrageous: Persimmon builds leasehold houses – for the never ending income stream
Taylor Wimpey help should extend to buyers of re-sales with rip-off ground rents, says Andrew Selous
‘No other law so blatantly allows the wealthiest to rip off those less so,’ says the Sunday Times of leasehold
