Sam Cam’s brother’s secret talks to save rip-off leaseholds
AN ARISTOCRATIC relative of David Cameron faced a backlash last night over his opposition to a Government crackdown on toxic leases.
William Waldorf Astor IV, the half-brother of the former Prime Minister’s wife Samantha, has campaigned against plans announced yesterday to slash ground rent to zero on new houses and flats.
The 38-year- old’s fund management company, Long Harbour, has the freeholds of more than 160,000 homes – with investors making money out of the ground rents.
Long Harbour has claimed slashing ground rents on new homes could devastate UK building.
But one housebuilding executive told the Mail: ‘‘These people don’t represent the industry and they’ve displayed staggering ineptitude in their desperate attempts to stop the inevitable end of leasehold.’
Announcing plans to ban leaseholds on almost all new- build houses and fix ground rents, communities secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘Real action is needed to end these feudal practices.’
One developer that Long Harbour deals with, McCarthy & Stone, which sells the freeholds on homes it builds for the retired, spoke out against the reforms as its shares fell 9.5pc. Other builders saw their shares also dip. The Mail has led the way in exposing abuses of leasehold, including clauses that mean ground rents double every decade.
Retirement developers such as McCarthy & Stone have argued they are a special case, because their ground rents do not rise aggressively and are used to maintain large communal areas for elderly homeowners.
Its chief executive Clive Fenton said: ‘The proposal will result in a disruption of housing supply and contradicts the stated objective of seeking new sources of housing.’
But there was little sympathy for investors who buy the freeholds of houses and flats.
Tory MP Andrew Selous said: ‘The Government has come to the protection of people who had unfair conditions imposed upon them and I don’t think investors have a leg to stand on from these morally questionable investments.’
Long Harbour hired public relations firm Pagefield to lobby across Whitehall, warning that scrapping ground rents would lead to 20,000 fewer homes being built each year across the UK.
Long Harbour director Jack Spearman then emailed property executives this week asking them to sign an open letter to the Government expressing concerns about the shake-up. An industry source said: ‘If anything, it hardened the Government’s approach.’
Sebastian O’Kelly, of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership group, said: ‘There was a bit of last-minute insider lobbying by Will Astor and, thank goodness, it has failed.’
Long Harbour said: ‘We have played a co- ordinating role over the past three months to engage with the Government constructively over leasehold reform. We have outlined on multiple occasions the impact on UK housing supply if all ground rents were reduced to zero, and the value of an institutional freeholder.’