Increasing numbers of home owners are concerned about gazundering and their property value falling into negative equity.
The HomeOwners Alliance 2019 annual survey identified the key concerns among property owners and those looking to buy.
It found that 45% of the 2,000 respondents to a YouGov poll were concerned about gazundering, up 5% year-on-year.
This was blamed on the more price sensitive climate in the UK, and the report claims the planned pilot of reservation agreements should reduce concerns over gazundering.
Similarly, 3% more were worried about their homes falling into negative equity, at 45%.
The report also highlighted housing quality as the most common issue, with 63% concerned about the design and build of their homes, while the proportion of people citing leasehold as a serious problem hit a five-year high of 60%.
Among all leaseholders, 40% reported no problems, while others report high cost of works and management fees (26%), unfair service charges (22%) and lack of control over what works are done (23%).
Almost a fifth of leaseholders (18%) reported difficulty getting necessary works done. Others found a lack of transparency about costs (17%) or difficulty finding or communicating with their freeholder (15%).
Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance, said the Government can’t “hide behind Brexit while homeowners continue being missold leasehold, left trapped in their own homes with rising ground rents and unable to buy the freehold”.
She added: “It is shocking in a country that is a leading world economy that so many people have serious concerns about the quality of our old and new housing stock, whether they are renting or are owner occupiers.
“We need more decent housing for more of us.”
Saving for a deposit and house prices were the main concerns among those looking to get on the property ladder, while more than half of adults looking to move were also put off by Stamp Duty costs.
Comments (2)
If you are worried about gazindering now just wait a month or too. We are going to have a Genera Election. The right vote will split between Tories and a UKIP-like party and Corbyn will be PM. In first budget we will have major legislation on landlords and (critically) a Land Value Tax which will raise taxes on top end property dramatically. If you haven’t sold already you are going take a huge bath in London.
There is no viable political party at present. You can commit suicide and vote conservative or or commit suicide with extreme pain by voting labour. UKIP are dead in the water.