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The Law Society needs to up its game when campaigning on residential leasehold matters.

Those who over the past 13 years have attended my presentations on flat leases will be aware that one of my pet gripes is the fact that the Law Society has so often failed to demonstrate a mastery of residential leasehold law. For instance -

(i) The Lenders' Handbook places the following responsibility onto conveyancers (who are not chartered surveyors)-

"If you consider any increase in the ground rent may materially affect the value of the property, you must report this to us..."

Why did the Society fail to challenge the inclusion of this potentially open-ended onerous obligation?

(ii) In contrast to the TA6, the Seller's Leasehold Information form (TA7) is not accompanied by a set of detailed explanatory notes.

(iii) Both the TA7 and LPE1 include questions that need rewriting.

(iv) Even the article written by the Chair of the aforesaid Law Society committee has failed in this article to articulate a clear vision for the future of leasehold law.