Articles

Many thanks to the Guardian for featuring my fellow leaseholders and I in the leasehold nightmare challenges we found ourselves over the last 6 years. In this nightmare we have had everything - from low quality construction to fraudulent freeholder, incompetent managing agents who couldn’t care less, to even violence by the freeholder against a leaseholder. The managing agents (being paid with the leaseholders’ money but employed by the freeholder ) run deliberate maladminist...

I am sharing my experience on the Abolish Leasehold website, I aim to highlight the real and often hidden abuse that leaseholders can endure at the hands of unscrupulous freeholders.

The year is 2020. A little-known company called The Old House Group – a one-man show run by Nasser Alanizy – buys the freehold of a 7-storey modular building in NW London named Mar House. The purpose of this acquisition is to build two new floors (allowed wi...

Mar House, a 7-storey building with nearly 100 flats in North West London, serves as a stark example of the flaws inherent in the current leasehold system. The building has experienced a cascade of systemic issues: from maladministration and questionable financial practices to outright legal violations. Leaseholders faced exaggerated service charge demands, with some bills reaching an astonishing £99,000 per annum per flat. The building’s balance sheets inaccurately claim millions...

“A Dream”

It was supposed to be a dream come true. It was 2015 and I was buying my apartment. I was very aware that this “purchase” is a purchase of a fixed term – something like a long term rent, even if for 999 years. I didn’t like the fact that the contract called me a ‘tenant’ and I have a landlord. Just like until recently when I was renting a flat in London.

To some people, like some of my colleagues, t...

Introduction

In the heart of England and Wales, an archaic property ownership system continues to persist, causing frustration and financial burden to homeowners across the region. The leasehold system, once a practical solution for urban development, has become an outdated and convoluted process, leaving many feeling trapped in their own homes. In this article, we explore the obsolete system of leasehold ownership in England and Wales and the growing desire...