Builder backs down on rent
TAYLOR WIMPEY TO END SOARING FEES
HOUSEBUILDER Taylor Wimpey will axe contract clauses that double the ground rents for thousands of leaseholders every 10 years, after pressure from regulators.
The Competition & Markets Authority said the clauses meant leaseholders struggled to sell their homes or even get a mortgage, and their property rights could be at risk if they fell behind on their ground rent.
The regulator, which launched its probe into housing developers in September 2020, said Taylor Wimpey voluntarily agreed to strike out the doubling clauses and fix rents at the level people paid when they bought their leasehold properties.
The firm pledged to stop selling homes with doubling clauses.
Also, customers who had doubling clauses amended so their rent rose in line with inflation will see clauses axed. Their ground rent will also be fixed at the amount they originally paid. Taylor Wimpey joins Countryside and Persimmon in settling with the CMA. CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli urged Barratt Developments, the last of the four housebuilders the regulator is investigating, to “do the right thing and remove these problematic clauses”. He said: “If they refuse, we stand ready to take further action, through the courts if necessary.” Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, added: “Unfair practices, such as doubling ground rents, have no place in our housing market.” Taylor Wimpey chief executive Pete Redfern said: “We are pleased that [these] voluntary undertakings will draw this issue to a full close.”