T.A.N.T. Newsletter #1
Welcome to the inaugural TANT electronic newsletter! We hope you find it helpful and informative and would welcome your feedback. Please let us know about specific topics that you would like us to cover in future editions.
PLEASE SHARE
Firstly, thank you for signing up to receive our newsletters. Due to the National Trust’s reluctance to share information on their tenanted properties, we currently have quite a limited reach, so please share this newsletter with your friends and neighbours who live in a National Trust property or, better still, encourage them to join up to our mailing list themselves via our website: https://tantuk.org/join-our-mailing-list/
MONEY WORRIES?
With the imminent end of the furlough scheme, loss of the Universal Credit top up, increasing unemployment and reduced working hours due to the Covid pandemic, many of our tenant members are concerned about their ability to meet their rental obligations.
If you have financial concerns regarding your rent please contact your local Let Estate Manager in the first instance to discuss your situation and ask for assistance.
It is also worth checking whether you are claiming all the benefits that you are entitled to and seeking support from professional debt advice organisations such as:
Turn2Us: https://www.turn2us.org.uk/ who also have a helpful benefits calculator available on their website: https://benefits-calculator-2.turn2us.org.uk/
Citizens Advice offer debt support: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/
There are also a wide variety of benevolent funds that can assist with grants and support for current or previous employees of their industries, such as;
The Ben Fund: https://ben.org.uk/ for those who work or have worked in the automotive industry
Grocery Aid: https://www.groceryaid.org.uk/ for those who work or have worked in any area of the grocery trade
Please remember, you should never need to pay to receive debt advice, the organisations that we have linked to are free of charge to access.
LONG LEASEHOLDERS
New Website Section
TANT continues its work to ensure that all National Trust long leaseholders get a fair deal. We have added a dedicated section for long leaseholders on the website at https://tantuk.org/help-and-advice/long-lease-holders/. It contains the joint TANT/National Trust letter setting out the agreement for lease extensions, the latest updates on progress of the Law Commission reforms and contact details for leaseholder’s queries.
Current Position on the Law Commission Recommendations
We are not certain about the timing of the legislation although it has been confirmed that the government is intending to introduce the part relating to extended leases in the next session of Parliament. The latest information can be seen in the section on intended legislation at:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/leasehold-reform-in-england-and-wales/
You can find more detail by downloading the various reports set out on the website. We are continuing to monitor progress of the legislation through Parliament and will update long leaseholders through the website and email shots when possible.
The National Trust has said that it will not be offering 990 year leases until the Law Commission’s recommendations are passed into law. However, leaseholders who obtain an extension now will not be excluded from applying for a 990 year extension should that become available in the future. Any additional premium would need to be assessed at the time of taking the fully extended lease. The form of leases extended to 990 years has not been agreed with the Trust.
Lobbying MPs
A number of MPs approached by long leaseholders have confirmed their support of this part of the legislation in writing. A template letter for long leaseholders to send to their MP setting out our concerns about progress and urging them to support a speedy implementation of the lease extension provisions is available on the TANT website. You can find out the details of your MP at https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons.
If you have not contacted your MP to date it would be appreciated if you would and let us see any reply you receive.
Database
If you are a long leaseholder and haven’t already contacted TANT, please get in touch so that we can ensure that you receive our regular updates. Please email [email protected] in the first instance.
OTHER TANT WORK
Whilst supporting tenants, TANT is also busy working on other matters including; the protection of rural communities, concerns over National Trust residential properties being converted to holiday cottages, concerns about restrictive covenants, encouraging a review and improvements to the complaints procedure and much more. Further news to follow in our future newsletters…
Unfortunately, we have had to cancel our AGM planned for October. We will update you as soon as we have a new date which is likely to be spring 2022.
To find out more please browse our website and join our Facebook and Twitter communities.