The charity claimed that there was a need for regulation and that a rescue scheme should be set up. Speaking on the BBC programme The Truth About Property, Shelter’s North West area manager, Martin Goodsell, said there needed to be an investigation into adverts to make it clear to sellers that they would not get the market value for their homes when they sold, and that they could be forced to move out after six months.
The programme featured a case where a seller sold her valued £80,000 property for £60,000 to a company who eventually went bankrupt after borrowing £19 million to buy 230 properties, and ran up arrears of £600,000 before being closed down.
Goodsell claimed that the lack of regulation meant that the seller had no right to the property, and in the case featured on the programme, the property fell into a derelict state with the seller unable to access her home.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and Citizens Advice joined Shelter’s call to provide greater protection for consumers. Michael Coogan, CML director-general, commented: “The government needs to consider urgently whether regulation of sale-and-leaseback schemes is appropriate because it would provide protection for potentially vulnerable consumers.”
Michael Holt, managing director of SYH Charterhouse, said: “Consumers need to be made aware that these schemes are unregulated and offer no guarantees, or security of tenure for the occupants.”
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