My heart goes out to all leaseholders who are experiencing emotional and financial turmoil of living in an unsafe building. The government and developers of these buildings need to step up make things right!
I have sympathy with the leaseholders because it's not their fault but unfortunately old, archaic laws going back centuries surrounding leaseholding says they can be made to pay. I was taught from being a teenager some 30 years ago by my parents to never ever have anything to do with any leasehold property. You pay an amount similar to a mortgage but never own a brick. You just own a piece of paper that allows you to live in the property for x number of years. No matter how nice the property istelf is, 30 years ago I was taught that it's still 'poisoned' by the status of 'leasehold'. It really surprises me how many professionals such as solicitors are themselves trapped in one of these flats. Surely they must have known what they were signing up for if a working class country boy like myself knows about leaseholding. Either way, I think there should be basic property knowledge taught in schools so that everyone knows enough at least understand the possible consequences of taking on leasehold property. My advice, from experience buying my own home to anyone would be, if your looking at a property then make sure you read everything throughly and understand everything before you sign anything (don't be afraid to ask if you don't understand anything), view the property multipul times before you put in any offer so that you can explore it throughly and identify any problems with the property before you make an offer and reflect any defects in the offer you make, don't be in a rush to buy and don't let your heart rule your head, don't be afraid to walk away, cool down and think about it for a while, be sure it's the right deal for you.
My building is all brick, fortunately! But the crisis goes beyond just cladding. I think the government and building industry need to take responsibility and foot the bill, not the leaseholders
Great video. It's an absolute travesty that the lease holders are left to fit the bill as always. I would never buy a flat that is not free hold. It's risky business.
@@SelfInvested I remember my nan had to pay £10000 for lift repairs because she owned her flat even though she is a pensioner and didn't use the lift as she lived on the 1st floor of a flat and those who were renting didn't have to pay a penny 😣
@@TheMalcolms7 And did she own her flat or just the right to live there for a set period of time? The cruel thing with the current leasehold system is that you pay to maintain a building you don’t own, which will revert back to the freeholder once the lease expires.
@@SelfInvested well. She own the flat but there is a decent lease number of years left. The flat is literally falling apart and the roof is leaking and it's difficult to sell despite being in London. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that there are plans to demolish them and build new homes.
