Every day the Leasehold Advisory Service is dealing with issues and questions from leaseholders and professionals and every day the team delivers of its best to find solutions and address the problems. Sometimes the queries feel more like they need counselling and relationship advise than leasehold advice. I have said before and will keep repeating that leasehold is all about living in a community. With that brings requirements of give and take and sharing.
I know each time I say this there is a chorus that I am missing the point and it is the law that’s flawed and leasehold is all bad. Well in that regard there are areas that could be improved, but generally it is not the law. Generally it is feeling the service charge is too high; feeling the landlord is not fair; noise from neighbours; falling out between parties; what happens if someone wants to extend into the loft space; what to do about lease extension; and the list goes on!
Sure there are costs arising in handling some issues but that should be factored in to the purchase price of the flat. Knowing the rights and responsibilities is a factor on purchase to get clarity. All of these matters have to be highlighted and clearly explained so eyes are open.
To this end LEASE has initiated a new education initiative pulling together organisations from all sides of the leasehold sector and endeavouring to spread wider to consumer organisations to ensure that the delivery meets the needs and aspirations of all sides, as well as being accessible and made aware as widely as possible. Initially we are taking the twenty most frequently questioned areas of leasehold and putting on to the web in easy to access form. This project is at the earliest stages and we will keep all advised as it progresses and moves forward.
Leasehold has always needed explaining but as we see right to buy with housing associations come to the fore then there will be a host of new leaseholders created. This will mean more awareness and education is required to alert the new classes to rights and responsibilities.
One area that will stay in the focus of LEASE is creating more active initiatives to help leaseholders along with working to see fairness in management and running the properties. It is a constant, it is an area that we will keep pushing to see improvement and helping. At the end of the day we are in a marketing exercise. You will know Coca-Cola, you will know Apple, you will know Cadbury’s and yet they all still spend millions on advertising and marketing. There can never be too much reinforcement of a brand, an idea and initiative.
So LEASE will keep providing advice and keep assessing initiatives to deliver wider awareness and assistance to all.
