The Conveyancing Association has published a White Paper on ‘Modernising the Home Moving Process’ which calls for changes to the house buying and moving system in the UK to create a “more certain and transparent process”.
Leasehold Solutions welcomes The Conveyancing Association’s call to “Amend the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 to resolve the unreasonable cost and delay now associated with the leasehold sales process.”
In its White Paper, The Conveyancing Association highlights two major problems with the current leasehold sales process:
- Significant delays routinely occur in identifying the Leasehold Administrator responsible, and;
- Due to a loophole in the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, there is no requirement for fees, other than those connected with the supply of consent or information, to be reasonable, and no jurisdiction in the First Tier Tribunal to challenge the fee. This leads to increasingly excessive charges with fees charged which are six times the figure deemed reasonable in tribunal decisions.
The Association has called for the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 to be amended to ensure reasonable fees and a clamp down on duplicate fees in the presence of ‘multiple administrators’. The Association is also calling for the Land Registry to hold a Lease Administrator’s Register to make it easier to locate the correct person or body.
Louie Burns, Managing Director of Leasehold Solutions, said: “These reforms would be a welcome improvement over current legislation and would go some way to developing a fairer system, with transparent and reasonable costs, as well as an obligation to provide the data required within an appropriate timescale. 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.
“However, while Leasehold Solutions welcomes The Conveyancing Association’s recommendations, further reforms are required to the Act to tackle the unscrupulous behaviour of certain freeholders. 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.”