The warning follows the National Leasehold Campaign (NLC) complained to Rightmove that users cannot search for properties on the portal by tenure—freehold, commonhold, or leasehold—and called for portals to do more to ensure leasehold details are transparent.
Calls for mandatory disclosure online
Many agents already include this information on written property details. Rightmove offers agents the option to add the information to listings, but the NLC has called for this information to be made mandatory.
Victory for leaseholders in sprinkler battle
In London, Wandsworth Council has lost its bid to make leaseholders in high-rise blocks pay for retrofitting sprinklers. Water sprinklers would have been installed in all homes which are 30m or higher in the 100 blocks the council runs.
The council had attempted to use leaseholders' service charges to recover some of the £24m cost of the works. More than 2,600 leaseholders were to receive bills of at least £4000 for the installation, which was estimated to cost £24m in total.
Five residents’ associations lodged objections, and the council was forced to take the case to a First-tier Property Tribunal in July 2018, with the ruling finally being made just over one year later.
Leasehold properties
We've been working closely with Leasehold Solutions, the National Leasehold Campaign and Leasehold Valuers to raise awareness of the abuse of the leasehold system in newly built homes.