Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Andrew Bennett (Labour), on Tuesday, 19 November 1996, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 30 members in total.

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GROUND RENTS

That this House calls for the abolition of 999 year ground rents, noting that in many cases ??2, ??5 and even ??10 annual rents are costing more to collect than they are worth; recognises that many reputable and conscientious owners of ground rents are selling them, and they are being bought by unscrupulous people, who are in some cases, making threats to households requiring information and offering to sell the individual ground rent at exhorbitant prices with very high legal costs; notes that in other cases companies are behaving like Simarc Property Management Ltd. of 5 Spring Villa Road, Edgware, who are ignoring the custom and practice of the previous owners of the ground rent by not sending out reminders to the householders, and claiming massive legal bills on the strength of late payment, for example claiming a bill of ??171.48 for a late ground rent; and believes that all householders should be aware of such practices, and should either ensure prompt payment of the annual charge or consider using the government scheme to buy out the ground rent with its modest charges.

Amendments

The Early day motion has received an amendment.

GROUND RENTS (212A1)

The Early day motion has received an amendment sponsored by Terry Lewis (primary, Labour) and tabled on Thursday, 5 December 1996. It has been signed by 1 members in total.

after `costs' insert `demanding payments for retrospective permission for property improvments by home owners and using obscure terms in leases to force home owners to transfer their insurance cover to insurers chosen by the property management company.'.

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Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

212 

212A1 

Session

1996-97

Subjects

Ground rent

Link

View this Early day motion on www.parliament.uk