Agents refusing to sell cladding hit homes, claims campaigner
Jim Illingworth of the Birmingham Leaseholder Action Group wants to hear from flat owners affected by ongoing cladding-related problems when selling properties or applying for mortgages.
Leasehold campaigners are calling for evidence of mortgages being refused as ground rents and service charges are too high following the cladding scandal.
The leaseholder group from Birmingham has also appealed for case studies of estate agents refusing to list flats in cladded blocks.
BrumLAG (Birmingham Leaseholder Action Group) wants to put together a case to present to MPs with the aim of changing government policy.
Outlaw
Jim Illingworth (main picture), BrumLAG chair (main picture), has told The Neg the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will do nothing to help flat owners.
The bill will outlaw the sale of leasehold houses but not flats, and reduce ground rents to a peppercorn value.
It is happening that service charges and ground rents are far more than any mortgage will ever be.”
“The Government is making it all very difficult,” he says. “It is happening that service charges and ground rents are far more than any mortgage will ever be,” Illingworth says.
“This is in city centres where there are high rise flats, but anywhere there is leasehold.”
He also says the advice from some estate agents to people in cladded flats is to carry on renting because only a cash buyer can purchase, and they want a 30% discount.
This is even the case even where the cladding has been full replaced, he says.
“Estate agents say ‘I would rather not take it [a flat] on – it is just blocking my window,’” he adds.
Vastly different
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has asked for evidence, BrumLAG says.
“Insurers are saying there is no problem. But what they say and what is happening on the ground is vastly different,” Illingworth adds.
For more information and to offer case studies please visit BrumLAG here
Picture: BirminghamLive
