Leasehold group wants conveyancers' home moving reforms to go further

Leaseholds Solution - the company behind the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners - says it wants recent proposals to modernise the home moving process to go further.

Earlier this month Estate Agent Today reported on the Conveyancing Association’s proposals for sweeping changes to the house buying and moving system to create a "more certain and transparent process."

In a 40-page submission responding to the government's White Paper on how to modernise the house moving system in the UK, they CA outlines a 12-point reform programme - including a portal for house movers where they can find every document and chase up every element of the sale and conveyancing chain.

Although Leasehold Solutions welcomes the proposal - including the CA’s specific point to “amend the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 to resolve the unreasonable cost and delay now associated with the leasehold sales process” - the company says the suggestions should go further.

“Issues such as the inclusion of onerous ground rent clauses in leases, informal lease extensions and the flawed valuation models used to calculate the cost of lease extensions and freehold acquisitions are causing misery and profound financial hardship for many leaseholders and a wholesale reform of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 is required” insists Louie Burns, managing director of Leasehold Solutions.

“Now is the time to take action, as the number of leasehold transactions in England and Wales is on the rise, meaning increasing numbers of home owners are faced with extortionate fees and delays during the house moving process.”

The firm says action is needed now to prevent the “unscrupulous behaviour of certain freeholders.”