I HAVE long meant to write to SAM about ground rents and was finally prompted to do so by the recent TV programme 'Raising the Roof'.

My experience as the owner of a house has been that while I have been at my present adress the rights to ground rent have been sold on from a private person in Bolton to a local firm and then two London firms - with only one notification to myself.

On several occasions I have asked to purchase the freehold but been met with silence or evasion. At last I have discovered that my successive landlords are merely head leaseholders who purchased the right to collect my ground rent and come between me and the original freeholder.

The BBC programme provided worrying examples of why there is a market for ground rents and why firms might be interested in purchasing the right to collect £3.12 a year from a 1926 house on Oldfield Brow.

Failure to pay on time can lead to huge 'administrative fees' when demands are issued and there could be a hike in the rent if garages and the like are built without consent.

The law on leaseholds is archaic and ought to be abolished. I suspect that many people will agree with me that this cannot come too soon.

Colin Graham, Oldfield Brow, Altrincham.

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