Report comment

Every single day on the National Leasehold Campaign Facebook page there is yet another victim of a freeholder scam, often involving managing agents or the fact that new build buyers have been cheated out of buying their freeholds after 2 years because the developer has sold it on. Perfectly legally. Or the shock at discovering how much the new freeholder wants. That means the law itself is a charter for exploitation. It has gone through 50 incarnations and this next one had better be the last.
Buyer beware is not good enough when you are making a life commitment and your home might be repossessed and in fact the Property Ombudsman is clear nowadays (finally!) about the kind of advice and quality that must be given to clients by solicitors.
Leasehold has always been missold. You should not see "house for sale" but long term tenancy. Yes you are paying a kind of rent. Nobody is told that.
Now I know all this, at the top of the advice list should be that simple fact: you are not buying a home but renting it. It is a declining asset. Beware of the 80 year cutoff point. A 99 year lease is pointless as really is an 18 year lease. When you renew it be prepared for the shock. Etc etc. NOW it is all obvious but it wasn't. It should be obvious obvious to any conveyancing solicitor! And they should have warned their clients.