‘It’s the next mis-selling scandal’

WHEN Jo Darbyshire found it would cost £50,000 to buy the freehold on her Taylor Wimpey house – ten times the price five years earlier, she was horrified.

The cost of owning the freehold soared after it was sold to a management company, Adriatic Land. A hidden clause in her contract lets the ground rent double every decade, hitting £9,440 a year by 2067.

The 47-year-old, above, accuses Taylor Wimpey of ‘systematic abuse’. She bought her house in Bol-

ton for nearly £400,000 in 2010 on a 250-year lease. Her ground rent is £2 5 a year till 2020, when it doubles.

Mrs Darbyshire, a commercial director, said: ‘I’ve worked in financial services for years. You would never hide such critical information from a customer. It is a lack of transparency.’

Referring to the PPI and pensions mis-selling scandals, she said: ‘This is the next one.’