Sellar by name, seller by nature

Sellar by name, seller by nature, developer by relentless application. Disbelief was the reaction to the news that Irvine Sellar had died on Sunday. Can a man so alive be suddenly dead? Last week the 82-year-old had flown to Doha with his 43-year-old son James for a regular meeting with the Qatari owners of the Shard. This week, gone, but not forgotten. Fitting tributes have been paid and his remarkable story told. How about a lasting tribute? Work is under way on a 26-storey block of 148 flats, the third element of London Bridge Quarter, after the Shard and the HQ of News International. The Place looks set to be the brand. A bit dull? The Sellar? Spoken out loud, this sounds, well… subterranean. The Irvine Apartments has a certain swing about it, don’t you think? The wittiest description of Sellar comes from John Slade of BNP Paribas Real Estate: “The nicest and most unreasonable man I have ever met.” A line in tune with the one often uttered to me down the years: “He can be a right bugger to work for.” But fun away from work. My penultimate meeting was a boozy night (for me, not him) in Claridges late last summer. Sellar tripped into the bar in a natty chequered suit, in the best of moods. Commandeering the ground came first, as with every lunch or dinner down the years. The maître d’ was summoned. Tables that might prove suitable were inspected, several rejected. Once settled, with his eternal PR consigliere Baron Phillips, and Renzo Piano’s deputy Joost Moolhuijzen, Sellar clapped his hands. Wine and food were commanded in the tone of a potentate demanding the dancing girls are brought on tout suite. The last meeting was accidental. We bumped into each other one sunny morning in late October near London Bridge. I asked where he was going. “In there,” he said, gesturing up at the Shard. He growled with pleasure. “We’ve got a building management meeting. I’ve a few things to sort out.” Let’s not mourn too long. Having that 1,000ft monument to your works on earth will see Irvine Sellar remembered long after most of us are dust. The issue of ground rents “I would like someone to tell me why our antiquated system of charging ground rents is still rife,” asks Stanmore solicitor Anthony Miller, in response to my grumblings on the topic on 17 December and 7 January. Miller acted for a son selling his deceased mother’s flat in Willesden, north London, purchased in 1953 on a 90-year lease, with no discount for being leasehold. The self-same freeholder has demanded – and got – £85,000 for extending the lease by 90 years. That’s why this undeserving value extraction mechanism remains in place. For how much longer? In December, housing minister Gavin Barwell pledged in parliament to act against “punitive ground rents” and punish builders selling “leasehold houses”. Taylor Wimpey has faced an outcry among owners who have discovered that ground rents which double every 10 years make their homes hard to sell. The company sold these leases from 2007 to 2011. On Tuesday, Taylor Wimpey said it was “reviewing the issue with affected customers”. Meanwhile, Sir Peter Bottomley, who leads a 65-strong all-party group of MPs pressing for change to prevent fleecing, is scheduled to have a chat with Barwell this week. It will be interesting to see if Barwell can be persuaded to move beyond the easy target of punishing housebuilders into tackling those who profit from ground rents extracted from the likes of the poor man selling his mother’s flat in Willesden. Action! Please! Interviews for the chairmanship of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation are under way. White smoke expected around Easter. Some heavy hitters are on the list. What will the chairmanship entail? I ask someone close to the process. “To clear out the public sector lifers who prefer action plans to meaningful action.”