What The King's Speech Means For Leaseholders (2023)

[@cM-pb4ke]

Thank you Nichole for your advocacy and helping me through this terrible situation . Your really impactful words and empathy for us still stuck

[@NicoleSage]

It feels like the least I can do now, having lived through it I know how awful it is and hope for a better future for leasehold. Really appreciate the comment and watch, thank you.

[@krishnamehta4786]

Thanks for the beautiful explanation given...we need more info, especially with every year the charge of ground rent going up and than on top the service charges and we can do nothing as the management companies charge whatever they want

[@NicoleSage]

Yes, there is still not enough information from the proposals, once the draft bills have been finalised there should be further detail on this which I will report on. There was no mention of service charge increases in this though rather unfortunately

[@paulho5673]

i hope this will go trhrough asap. its been a nightmare selling my leasehold. The management agent is awful and do nothing but charge through the roof for anything.

[@NicoleSage]

So sorry you’re going through this now, it’s honestly such a stressful experience. Keeping my fingers crossed for all leaseholders on this

[@johnnyhorton5984]

It's really worth examining what other countries do regarding the shared ownership of buildings. For example, a lot of blocks in Norway are owned communally by all the owners of the flats in the property. Effectively, these community owned blocks of flats work like tiny democratic nations. There is no leasehold because all the flat owners own the land under the property communally. All decisions regarding the property are made by a vote of all the owners. If for example, the block of flats needs a new roof all the owners of the property meet to discuss how much can be spent on the new roof and which contractor is used to do the construction work building the new roof. The final decision is done by a vote of the flat owners. In the awful English system, using roofs as an example again, if a private block of flats needs a new roof, it is the freeholder who owns the land under the property who makes the decision as to which contractor to use and how much to spend. The owner of a flat in such a property just has to pay their portion of however much that new roof costs without any say. Sincerely sorry, however, for this reason in England you are an idiot if you buy a leasehold and that won't change even if leaseholds can be extended for , 990 years - as welcome as that proposal is. But, if you have bought a leasehold, please don't jump off a cliff, we have all done stupid things, and if you haven't done anything stupid yet, you are either lying to yourself or you will do something stupid at some stage. Let's just hope the bill goes through so that you can extend for 990 years so that it is easier for you to sell and move so that you can get a freehold as your next property and relax knowing that someone else doesn't own the land under your house and make decisions about the contractors who do work on the property without you being allowed any influence in the matter.

[@ayumisae6864]

👏👏👏👏

[@arakassabian5879]

In New Zealand, we have Unit Title, I am the chairperson of a body corporate of 24 apartments, we each own part of the land, we collect an annual Levy that covers our day to day expenses, common area electricity, rubbish collection, maintenance, annual fire test, annual inspection of balustrades, guttering, stairs, etc. We have an Accounting firm and a Body Corporate Manager. It is a Community, we have Rules and most unit owners abide by but we get the odd tenant who shows no respect but we have means of getting them out by working with the unit owner and the property manager. We also have a Long Term Maintenance Budget to paint the building, renew the roof, the garages and the grounds. it work very well if you have a committed Body Corporate Management Team and if everyone cooperates.

[@vexraio5372]

Thanks for a great breakdown on what's happening. I'm nearly halfway through waiting out the two year ownership period to extend my lease. Once that's up I'll only have a couple of months to get the ball rolling before the lease drops below 80 years and in to marriage value territory. Fingers crossed this all goes through before then

[@NicoleSage]

Thanks so much for watching. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, with those time scales it's quite probable it will be passed by that point!

[@thetonypyo]

Thanks for the very informative video. I keep hearing/reading it will be easier to buy the freehold. What does that mean in practice?

[@NicoleSage]

Thank you! There wasn't enough information given on this at all, the 'cheaper and easier' is very ambiguous at the moment, once the draft bill has been released we will have a lot more detail to go on, I will keep you updated

[@HarryNicNicholas]

i'm going to court in the new year over admin and subsequent legal fees, and as these fees appear on the same invoice as my service charge, i've withheld two years of service charge as well as these admin and legal costs - i'm not really expecting to win my case, although i haven't "done anything wrong", but what i am wondering now is, if leasehold law changes, and ground rent is done away with, does the WORDING of a lease have to change? because if my lease is no longer legally binding, cos the wording is not relevant, i'm wondering if i can capitalise on that in some way?

[@NicoleSage]

Well done for challenging this as so many don't and I hope it goes in your favour. I would say YES, leases would have to be amended at the cost of the freeholder as else the lease would be 'defunct' - watch this space...

[@jimbojimbo6873]

I don’t get how it can be cheaper to extend the lease when the terms increases by 1100%? Unless they finally remove the requirement for paying the leaseowners fees (surveyor and legal)

[@NicoleSage]

I think the making the lease extension process 'cheaper' did include not having to contribute towards the freeholders legal fees which would make a small difference, the 'cheaper' aspect is still a little bit too vague at the moment

[@bojack3827]

The UK needs rent controls (look at the German example) and severe restrictions on non-dom ownership, and ownership of more than 1 house/flat which has vastly inflated prices.

[@NicoleSage]

Yes, completely agree, there is no regulation at all

[@raymonray5444]

is the ground lease and the structural lease clearly defined ?

[@NicoleSage]

I'm not sure about the structural lease, could you clarify?

[@corrigana1]

I am a leaseholder but I wish I wasnot

[@NicoleSage]

Sorry to hear that, it's really difficult being a leaseholder having been there myself. Definitely recommend the National leasehold campaign Facebook group for like minded people if you ever need support on any issues

[@krishnamehta4786]

Nicholas please how can we contact you for some advise.

[@NicoleSage]

Hi, it's Nicole! Please drop an email to [e-mail] and I'll be happy to help, thanks

[@jamespayne3992]

Ahhhh flats...xx

[@missm10]

It dosen't matter what these leasehold proposals are because they will not become law. Sunak cannot control his party so is unable to pass anything in Parliament. He will likely be out of power by the end of year and is using proposals like abolishing leaseholds as window dressing to distract people from him and his family looting the country. Once a more competent government is in power, only then is it worth taking any political proposal seriously.

[@NicoleSage]

Yes, I agree that the right party matters for who gets the job done, I think there is more hope with Labour, but again, a lot of stuff has been promised in the past and not fulfilled, it is a waiting game but desperately hope something is done for leaseholders

[@BAmalakas]

The is a consultation open on ground rent capping (Department of Levelling Up) it is worth filling this in if ground rent is a concern for you (it can massively affect the cost of extending a lease and make properties really difficult to sell)

[@beastylad7418]

So these are just proposals? WHAT chance have they got of becoming LAW reading some of these comments doesn’t feel me with confidence’ it’s a bit like me promising to give everyone £1000 next month’ 😢 And all this coming from a King 😅 really’ How much property does he own? probably doesn’t care about the average person anyway, take a look at Europe they appear not to have the same problem’ perhaps we should follow them.

[@NicoleSage]

Yes! How long is a piece of string rings to mind! It's too difficult to say, passing bills can take a couple of years, and it's dependent on what happens with the next general election too. I completely agree, it's dangling a carrot in front of leaseholders and there is still not enough being mentioned to help such as the regulation of freeholders and capping of charges such as service charges. Just need to wait until the draft bill has come out and there will be a bit more detail on there, but again, no timescale

[@acidthunder1]

A promise,just like the "promise to pay the bearer" worthless fiat money getting inflated away