A story to make you angry, heat pump incentives, and Gove

AFTER a week away on the coast in Suffolk, it’s a pleasure to be back in God’s Own County, albeit a good few degrees colder up here than down there.

For those of us who are not fans of nuclear power it was also a reminder what a devastating effect Sizewell C is having on the landscape with residents fighting against it valiantly but most likely in vain.

That leads me onto our feature above on air source heat pumps, which can work well and are far greener and less combustible than nuclear energy.

Also this week we tell the story of Dan Rutter and his partner who unwittingly bought an apartment in Leeds that has non-qualifying leaseholder status and is caught in the building safety scandal.

They did all their due diligence as did their conveyancer but they were let down by the government and its woeful lack of information on the then new legislation that created the non-qualifying status.

A non-qualifying leasehold homeowner, in terms of the building safety scandal, is anyone who has a flat that is or was owned by someone with three or more rental properties in the UK.

In what is a bizarre and absolutely outrageous decision, non-qualifying status is attached to the apartment in perpetuity even though subsequent buyers may be owner occupiers not investors.

This has effectively blighted thousands of flats leaving them unsaleable.

We contacted Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn who has pledged to take up Dan’s issue with Michael Gove.

Talking of Mr Gove, it seems he has tried his best but failed to abolish ground rents due to opposition in his own party but we hear that he has battled to get a £250 cap on ground rent with a transition to peppercorn levels over the next 20 years.

We salute him for his work and deplore those who stood in his way and watered down his wish list. Shame on them.