It can’t be any coincidence that the name of the landlord on the leases of the properties in Broomfield Drive, Plymstock is one Wilfred Richard Broomfield.
Developed in the mid-fifties (around 1956/7) along with Fanshawe Way (named after the former farm that stood here), the ground leases of these properties are held on a 999-year contract and therefore still have some 950 years to run and to date it would appear that the residents have been in no great hurry to buy the freehold of the ground leases (forever fixed at £6 per year), which are currently being serviced by some firm of solicitors in London. Doubtless there are similar contracts dotted all around the country, the administrative costs of which must be mind-boggling.
£6 per year probably sounded reasonable when these houses were sold, at a price then of around £1,950, now, as their value approaches 100 times that amount, paying a four-figure sum (suggested by the solicitors) to purchase the freehold and therefore avoid paying £6 a year for the next 950 years, doesn’t sound all that attractive–after all £1,000 would more than cover the next 150 years and how many of us think much beyond that?
Meanwhile can anyone shed any light on Mr Broomfield – was he a builder, developer or landowner, or a combination of two or more of those things?
