Persimmon contracts

[Ginjanotaninja]

Hello,

Has any one recently bought a Persimmon new build and is so do you recall the details in the TR1 regarding the estate charge and charges for alterations to property? Where there any other restrictive covenants that you thought were a bit dubious?
I'm half toying with looking at a 'freehold' Persimmon property, but I am very wary of it actually being a Fleecehold. I also suspect that if I ask the sales staff on site that I could be lead up the garden path a bit, or fed the line of You'll have to ask your solicitor and to be honest I'd rather just know up front what I am getting in, rather then get invested both financially and emotionally then find out its the proverbial crock of s**e.
Many thanks
Ginja.

Be very wary of buying a Persimmons home (or actually any new build). Maybe it wasn't so bad in the past but new builds now are often poor/rushed/cheap quality materials and have major flaws. The guarantees promised often involve fighting for years to get major problems admitted and corrected. On top of that, the new build model has now become an income stream for freehold investors through increasing ground rent terms, permission fees, unregulated and uncapped service charges.
Do lots of research. There are many Facebook groups.
If you do go ahead, employ your own leasehold specialist solicitor - not one recommended by Persimmons ( no matter what incentives they offer!). Many onerous clauses are deeply embedded in the lease which the lay person would not understand the long term, legal significance of.
Trying to sell on a new build further down the line, particularly if it is shared ownership, can be a nightmare too and at present, new builds lose value from the minute you buy as you pay a premium.

The charges for alterations are normally expressed as "a minimum of £x" so you'd only find out if you needed it.

Persimmon's restrictive covenants are normally pretty standard. It's the escalating estate charges you need to watch out for.

Onerous ground rent terms (i.e. doubling or RPI increasing) are becoming a major issue with lenders. Many presently will not lend if g/r is over 0.1% of property value at any time during the length of the lease. More and more lenders are following suite resulting in people having great difficulty selling their leaseholds.

Wishiknewthen OP is consider buying a freehold house not a leasehold. Ground rents are irrelevant for her.

*considering

Think how much the boss of the company has received in wages/bonuses in recent years - I would imagine some of that money has come from fleecing buyers and skimping on build quality!

MM that's true but it will not be freehold I.e. free from hold. At best it will be fleecehold, at worst it will be leasehold. Many, many new houses are 999 years leasehold. Leasehold in most cases = income stream investors.

I have just been to the sales office of a huge new Redrow development near me. New houses being built are 999 years leasehold. Service charges are around £3,000 a year. To begin with! They will rise yearly.

The most important thing to do is to use a totally independent solicitor.

They might encourage you to use a recommended one, but you don't have to, and you will be far, far better off using someone who is in no way incentivised to gloss things in the builder's interest.

I know what freehold means thank you Wishiknewthen. There is no such thing legally as "fleecehold". Stop confusing the OP. They referred to a TR1, so it's not being sold as a leasehold.

MinnieMountain. Happy you know what freehold means. Unfortunately many don't as they assume it means free from hold. If everyone was smart like you then tens if thousands of people would not have fallen into the "fleecehold" trap. Fleecehold may not yet be an official term. However it has certainly become a recognised word to describe exactly what it means - Just like 'false freehold". MPs who are fighting this growing scandal use the word "fleecehold" when discussing in Parliament so if good enough for them, then good enough for me.
Incidentally only today I went into the sales office of one of the biggest new home builders. The houses are freehold..rather fleecehold. Service charges start at £3000 a year.

In fact from three different local new build developments I have visited today and Saturday, the houses ranged from Leasehold (long leases) and fleecehold - none were free from hold. Service charges were similarly high on all of them and will probably rise yearly. The developers of the houses sold on the 999 years leases had sold the owners the freehold for around £6000 but the ridiculously high service charges remained.
There was an in-depth study carried out recently by the CMA due to leasehold/fleecehold abuses. We are expecting the conclusion next month.

Google Kentish gazette persimmon homes. They have built an estate near Canterbury where huge flaws including dangerous ones are coming to light. Be very careful.

Run!!!!
And join Hornet group on Facebook. Google Helen Goodman MP and Fleecehold. Do not buy!

On a private estate with communal areas you need have to have some form.of mechanism for looking after them especially private roads otherwise mortgage lenders don't like it.

Be wary of Rent Charges on a freehold this is what large developers put in place. If the rent isn't paid the house can effectively be leased by the holder of the rent charge. There is no mechanism by which to challenge the rent charge. There Re usually long contracts in place with linked managing agents who charge.£££ for basic services.

On smaller developments developers tend to set up a management company and each purchaser becomes a member of said company. Ideally the communal areas.are transferred to the man
Co and the man. Co then handed to the residents to run - they are in charge of their own destiny so to speak.

we looked at some freeholds on new builds. ALL were fleecehold (service charges)!.

Weve bought eleswhere. Wouldnt touch a new build/ service charge with a barge pole.

The service charges are totally unregulated for freehold. So if after a year you get a bill for +£1000.....you gotta suck it up buttercup. Its written in the deeds as a charge you must pay or risk losing the house.

I asked the sales team at the office on a new build open day. The silence............

If I hadn`t brought it up, it would never have been mentioned. Same for all developers I found.