HomeGround

On 26th March 2019, HomeGround signed its name to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Pledge to address a number of issues in the residential leasehold sector.

As part of this Pledge, we have made a commitment to remedy all leases with ground rent that doubles frequently. Full details of the Pledge and Government’s leasehold reform programme can be found in the links below.

Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government - Leasehold Pledge Press Release

Public Pledge for Leaseholders

Each of our leaseholders with leases including doubling rent reviews at 10 or 15 year intervals have either received or will receive a direct communication, offering a variation of the review clause to one linked to RPI. We have established a procedure allowing leaseholders who qualify for the process to vary their lease. The terms on which the variation will be offered may vary depending on a leaseholder’s circumstances, and any leaseholder already benefitting from a developer’s assistance scheme, such as that offered by Taylor Wimpey will need to apply to that scheme.

Any of our leaseholders who would like further information and guidance on leasehold issues, including their rights and responsibilities as leaseholders can visit the Leasehold Advisory Service’s website at https://www.lease-advice.org/.

If you own a lease that includes a doubling ground rent review clause at 10 or 15 year intervals, please contact legal@homegroundonline.com to find out what your options are for having your lease varied. Please include your 12 digit unique customer reference number and full address with your email so that we can locate your account quickly.

Following a review of the administration fees charged for the services Homeground administers on behalf of its Landlord clients, some of these fees changed as from 28^th August 2018.  In most cases fee changes are minor, and we are pleased to say that we have been able to make reductions to some of our fees to reflect more streamlined processes.  We have also updated and improved a number of the application forms and guidance materials we provide for customers and their advisers.

We regularly review the fees Homeground collects for its clients, in order to ensure these are reasonable and sustainable, and represent value for money for our customers.  We also look for ways to make the services we administer easier and more accessible for our customers, and the changes we have made to our application forms and guidance materials are with this in mind.

Our new fees, and updated application forms can be found in the Our Services section of the website, and for those customers registered to use the Tenant Portal, you can also access these when logged into your account. 

Earlier this year, The Ombudsman Service Limited, one of the three Government approved independent Redress Scheme providers, announced that it would be withdrawing from the property sector, and ceasing to offer consumer redress services for its property company members’ customers. As a result, HomeGround is pleased to announce that it has joined The Property Ombudsman Service (“TPOS” – www.tpos.co.uk), and that since 1^st August 2018, TPOS has been our independent redress provider for any customer complaints.  We have updated our Complaints Procedure to reflect this change. Our new Complaints Procedure may be found on our FAQs page, under “What do I do if I want to make a Complaint”.

HomeGround have put together an FAQ document which will help answer any queries you may have following recent media interest in leasehold matters.

Download the FAQ's PDF

Significant changes to data protection laws in the UK came into effect on 25th May 2018. It is a really positive step towards everybody having more control over how their data is used and how they're contacted. The changes will also help to better protect personal data.

HomeGround take the security of your personal data extremely seriously and we have updated our Privacy Notice in accordance with the requirements of the GDPR.

This Notice explains how we collect, protect and store your data, as well as your rights under the legislation.

Download the Privacy Notice PDF

As a business which was founded to improve fairness and transparency in the ground rent sector by attracting institutional investors and professionalising the way leaseholders are treated, HomeGround and its clients welcome today's publication of the DCLG consultation paper on 'Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market'.

HomeGround intends to constructively and positively participate in what it hopes will be a sector wide debate over the next two months.

It believes the outcome will be greater certainty in relation to the existing and detailed regulations and legislation covering the sector which will be to the benefit of all stakeholders, in particular leaseholders.

HomeGround especially welcomes the Government's proposal to amend the Housing Act 1988 in order to address an issue currently causing unnecessary difficulties for some leaseholders looking to sell their properties.

All of the team at HomeGround were very shocked and distressed by the tragic loss of life as well as the destruction of so many families’ homes caused by the fire that engulfed the Grenfell Tower in North Kensington during the early hours of Wednesday 14th June. Our thoughts are very much with the victims, their families and friends, and the members of the rescue and emergency services who did, and continue to do, so much to try and help the residents and the local community.

As Landlords’ agents responsible for the administration of a large portfolio of residential properties, including many blocks of flats, we would like to assure you that we take the safety of our residents very seriously.

As part of our supervision of and liaison with the managing agents we appoint to look after the properties on a day to day basis, we focus on their compliance with current health and safety and risk assessment requirements, including how quickly and effectively they deal with any risks which may be identified during the regular risk assessments carried out at each and every property. If an issue is identified at any of our properties which may increase the risk of fire or might otherwise impact the safety of residents, we will then work closely with a number of stakeholders which may include one or all of the managing agent, the building insurer, local Fire Authorities, and any independent experts appointed to find a suitable resolution to address the problem and improve the safety of the property.

If any of our residents are worried about the way in which fire safety in their building is being managed, they must contact our Estates Management team (estatesmanagement@homegroundonline.com) giving the details of their concerns, so that we can ensure this is taken up with the managing agent or responsible management company.

The plight of the residents of Grenfell Tower is one which no Landlord would ever want to see repeated, and both we and our clients wish to help rebuild the lives of the bereaved and surviving individuals and families. We are also deeply grateful for the professionalism of the UK Fire & Rescue Services, and the work they do to raise awareness of safety standards up and down the country, as well as saving lives when responding to incidents like this terrible fire.

We are therefore making a donation to the charities raising funds for the Grenfell Tower fire, to be divided equally between the British Red Cross London Fire Relief Fund, and The Fire Fighters Charity. We also hope that the investigation into the causes of the Grenfell Tower fire, and why so many people lost their lives, results in further improvements to safety as well as an enhanced awareness of fire safety across the UK.