Nick Hargrave: It’s time to put leasehold reform at the top of the agenda
Nick Hargrave is a former special adviser to David Cameron and Theresa May. He writes here in a personal capacity. One of my regrets from my time in Downing Street is that I didn’t do more to agitate on the subject of leasehold.
Related posts:
Richard Davidoff fails to block right to manage – from a residents’ management company where he is the only director
Property tribunal tightens up how it appoints section 24 court-appointed managers after the Richard Davidoff debacle
Well, can Sir Keith Lindblom do anything about Richard Davidoff’s continuing role as an officer of the property tribunal?
Property tribunal chamber president Siobhan McGrath says Richard Davidoff has two other section 24 court appointments – ‘as far as I can ascertain’ – and proposes a new practice code to encourage section 24 appointees to behave
Richard Davidoff, of ABC Estates, ‘breached his fiduciary duties’ after disastrous performance as a court-appointed manager, rules property tribunal
Richard Davidoff fails to block right to manage – from a residents’ management company where he is the only director
Whilst any publicity on this topic is welcome it’s classic Conservative hypocrisy here. Nick Hargrave did nothing when he was in a position of influence, but now he’s in a situation where the issue directly affects him he’s woken up to the injustices and exploitation in the property market by Management Companies and Managing Agents who are all self-regulating. Let’s see some more vocal campaigning Nick.
You may well be right, Andrew – indeed I say as much in the first paragraph if you read the article! The alternative would have been to say nothing of course. I suspect – for reasons far beyond this case alone – there will be good momentum for reform under Mr Gove now. Happy to play a very small part in nudging that along.
I did read your article, but let’s agree to disagree. The bottom line is nothing has happened. Sir Peter Bottomley has done an excellent job in highlighting these issues, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears within his own party and it was upsetting to see so many MPs voting against people with hazardous cladding in blocks below 18 m receiving funding. As usual the buyers are to blame for other people’s mistakes. Let’s hope Mr Gove gets on to this, but I fear the task of sorting out the existing leaseholders and freeholders stuck with these predatory companies is not going to be solved. Also, the issue is complex and most people in power don’t understand the difference between a rentcharge or a ground rent…..let alone an estate rentcharge. I’m convinced that some of the agreements, particularly in relation to estate rent charges can be challenged in a court of law as many Management Companies are not run that well. The problem is freeholders in this case, don’t want to spend large amounts of legal fees in fighting the case. Sadly, I have been to a number of so-called specialist property solicitors (one is promoted on the LKP website) who have all lacked the know-how to tackle these issues which I assume is why so many properties have been missold to buyers. When people say buyers should have understood what they were signing up to I would counter with that who reads the software licence when they download a program. The construct of these deals has been designed to favour the Management Company and not the resident with solicitors failing to give them adequate scrutiny. I consulted with my local MP Greg Clark and his solution was just to pay them off. Unfortunately even that doesn’t seem to be a possibility as they will not respond. We are contemplating non-payment to bring them to the table, but that has potential risks if they choose to enforce draconian covenants. If there is a solicitor/legal person reading this I would welcome a conversation.
The Association of Residential Managing Agents, the First Tier Tribunal, the Institute of Residential Property Management, the Property Redress Scheme and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors have various powers to sanction errant managing agents. Some might argue that they issue these sanctions too sparingly.
The crux of the matter is that none of these entities have the power to stop a managing agent trading.
We therefore have an absurd situation where managing agents such as Richard Davidoff and ABC Block Management Limited can continue trading even if their practices have been deemed by a court to be abusive and unacceptable.
If a managing agent’s practices have been deemed by a court to be abusive and unacceptable (as in this case) we need an entity with the power to stop the managing agent trading. This can only be achieved by an independent regulator.
Self regulation simply cannot work,
The Landlord & Tenant Act is quite a good act, conferring reasonable rights and obligations on everyone.
However, it is flouted here is an email recently received about asking for insurance documents:As previously stated,
“we are not authorised to disclose the documentation requested.”
Kind regards
?????? BEd (Hons) NPQH MIRPM AssocRICS
Associate Director, Head of Property Management
A teaching qualification >>> NPQH >>>> National Professional Qualification in Headship
If the RICS, ARMA, and IRPM et al REQUIRED ALL their members to have a Quality Management System to ISO 9001 in place one would have an ANNUALlY AUDITED system of regulation.
It works for computers, cars, aeroplanes, etc etc.
Agreed. Somebody was telling me from another development that when they wanted to change their Managing Agent, their Management Company insisted the company was ‘approved’. with an industry body. When I looked up the Management Company they weren’t even a member of any of the organisations you highlighted. There are too many representatives from with the industry on the boards of these organisations to make them impartial. Personally I have found the Property Ombudsman and the First Tier Tribunal of no help either. It’s far easier for them to obfuscate and push you away and than try and deal with a tough issue.
I wholeheartedly support Nick Hargrave’s call for an independent regulator for property managers.
Lord Best’s recommendation to establish an independent regulator (RoPA) was made as far back as 2017 and since then there has been radio-silence.
There is now an urgent need for an independent regulator with authority on a par with the Upper Tribunal because the IRPM, ARMA and FTT hold no fear for rogue managing agents, such as Richard Davidoff (aka Raziel Davidoff) and ABC Block Management Limited (aka ABC Estates).
WE ASRE .LEASEHJOLDERS IN A BLOCK OF FLATS AND WHEN THE MANAGING AGENTS IS ASKED FOR THE CONTACT ADDRESSOF THE FREEHOLDER:M OAKLAND PENSION FUND THEY ARE ANSWERED WITH ANY COMPLAINTS I DEAL WITH THEM, YET AT ONE TIME WHEN CHJECKING ONLINE IT STATED FOR OUR ADDRESS THAT THE FREEHOLODER WAS MISSIONGH, YET THEY SEND US ACCOUNTS QRTERLY WHICH INCLUDES CHARGING US FOR GROUND RENT INN THE OAKLAND PENSION FUND NAME IS THIS A POLICE MATTER ASS IN TAKING MONEY UNDER FASLSE PRETENCE?? THE MANAGING COMPANY IS NAM,ED FRYZER PROPERTY SERVICES LTD AND ASDDRESS IS OAKLAND COURT GORING STREET BN12 5AR
Fully agree with Gulliver and others above regarding the urgent need for an independent regulator of managing agents.
Another prime example is the failure of the A.R.H.M. ( Association of Retirement Home Managers ) and failure of their Code of Practice.