Contributions
829 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q Thank you also for what you said about wanting all new apartments to be leasehold with a share of freehold, Ms Higgins. That was echoed by Mr Smytherman. In so far as new…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q As a leaseholder with a share of freehold, if commonhold were to become available, do you think that it would be equitable and fair to charge you for the privilege of…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Professor Steven, my question is to you. Last week, in the House of Lords, the Government indicated that they were looking at the Scottish system of tenements. Could you perhaps…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q Nothing takes away the capacity of people to disagree with each other. I want to ask you a further question, which Professor Hodges may also have a view on. In the early 2000s…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q Just to make you feel a little better about disagreeing with your Law Commission counterparts in England, of course they were constrained in what they could do by the parameters…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q Let me ask you perhaps a more difficult question: how many of the mortgages that are lent to shared equity owners default compared with normal freehold owners? Paul Broadhead:…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q Professor Hodges, my colleague Richard Fuller sought to make a point about caveat emptor to you. Is it your experience that the inequity of power and information between…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q Indeed. Thank you for that, and I think everyone will also want to thank you for your work on the Post Office inquiry. I want to ask you about introducing insurance commission.…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)We will hear about—18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q Thank you very much, Professor Steven. Turning to the value of the building and property rights, we heard from an eminent lawyer on Tuesday about property rights in relation to…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Thank you very much. Professor Steven? Professor Steven: I have nothing to add.18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q Mr Broadhead, I do not know how long you have been working in your present capacity, but I suspect it is since 1984. In 1984, your organisation’s report “Leaseholds—Time for a…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)That elegant comment. Paul Broadhead: Absolutely—I wish I could be as elegant, and I will try to be throughout this questioning. Our position is that leasehold does require…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Sorry, shared ownership—where you have shared ownership in the property. Paul Broadhead: I have not got those figures to hand, but we can certainly send those through to the…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q Interesting. Why do you think the arrears levels tend to be higher? Paul Broadhead: There are two things. One is the housing association rent aspect. Affordability tends to be…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Or that property prices are too high, of course. Paul Broadhead: Well, property prices are too high irrespective of tenure, even if you are buying as a freeholder.18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Their income may be stable and reasonable—being in shared ownership does not mean that your income is unstable in any way. Paul Broadhead: No, not at all.18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q I will pick up briefly on what you said to Mr Carter about the way in which sometimes your members were advising people, “Actually, this is leasehold, and there are these…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q In that case, my question to you is: why not? You know very well that there are “fleeceholders” out there: freeholders who fleece their leaseholders. They have a reputation for…18 Jan 2024HANSARDLeasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (Third sitting)Q But you rightly said, Mr Broadhead, that your members would advise a prospective purchaser not to engage in a mortgage where it was leasehold, if they felt that the service…18 Jan 2024