Conveyancers reject government stance on leasehold sales reform

The Conveyancing Association says it is continuing to campaign to reform the leasehold transaction process, despite the government saying there is no problem to address.

In August the association announced a number of recommendations it wished to see applied in order to cut back on what it sees as significant delays and overcharging taking place in the leasehold process.

However, also last month, Baroness Hayter raised a written question in the House of Lords regarding these issues in the leasehold process and the response from the Department of Communities and Local Government suggested the government did not see any problem. 

The response suggested leaseholders in dispute with their landlord could apply to the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in England and the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in Wales to seek redress.

However, the First Tier Tribunal is only granted jurisdiction in the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 over administration fees in respect of approvals or consents.

The CA says there is no form of redress for items such as Notice of Assignment, Deed of Covenants (unrelated to an application for consent), Certificate of Compliance or Transfer of Shares.

This has resulted in up to 75 per cent of leasehold home movers being charged unreasonable fees, according to the Conveyancing Association.

“Similarly, there are no provisions for redress in respect of delay in leasehold sales. Over 30 per cent of home movers according to our data have to wait over 30 days to obtain the information they need to sell their home and that is after they have paid the lease administrator’s often exorbitant fees” claims the CA’s director of delivery, Beth Rudolf.