He does not appear on any rich list but he has built a property empire that rivals that of the Duke of Westminster. Companies controlled by James Tuttiett, aged 53, have quietly snapped up the freeholds of tens of thousands of houses and flats in almost every city in England and Wales, which are now at the centre of controversy over spiralling ground rents.

The scale of Tuttiett’s property empire has never been previously disclosed. Documents at Companies House reveal that he is frequently the sole director of companies that own the freehold of large-scale developments in Newcastle, Birmingham, Leeds, Coventry and London. Leaseholders are obliged to pay ground rents to his company, E&J Estates, that in some cases will soar to £10,000 a year per home.

The government this week proposed a ban on new-build leaseholds, and said ground rents on new apartments should fall towards zero.

At the launch of an eight-week consultation, the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “It’s clear that far too many new houses are being built and sold as leaseholds, exploiting homebuyers with unfair agreements and spiralling ground rents.”



“Enough is enough. These practices are unjust, unnecessary and need to stop,” said Javid, adding on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that ground rent had been used “as an unjustifiable way to print money”.

Taylor Wimpey has set up a £130m fund to assist homebuyers trapped by doubling ground rents, although critics complain it does not go far enough.

Andrew Henderson bought his house outside Blackburn from Taylor Wimpey six years ago, but found that the developer then sold the freehold on his house to E&J. “We are currently paying around £145 every six months. This doubles every 10 years, so in 45 years, whilst enjoying retirement, I’ll be paying E&J £10,000 per year to live in my own home that will be fully bought and paid for.”



Linda Barnes’ home in Heywood, Manchester is typical of developments where E&J acquired the freeholds soon after the site was completed. Her ground rent doubles in January 2016 and will keep doubling every 10 years. She says residents are in “sheer panic” as the ground rent has made their homes unsaleable.



Taylor Wimpey has set up a fund to assist homebuyers trapped by doubling ground rents. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Another buyer in Hampshire said he had just had his ground rent doubled by E&J to £300 a year. “When questioned, E&J Estates have simply referred us to the lease details. The reality of a spiralling ground rent (£9,600 a year in 2060) became clear on Tuesday when this scandal achieved national coverage. There will come a time when my flat has no value.” Like many others trapped in ground rents, he prefers to remain anonymous while he negotiates, “in the slim chance” of cutting the level of payment.

In Ellesmere Port, the freehold on Lindsay Lloyd’s home was originally offered to her at around £2,635 when the estate was built. It was then bought by E&J and she says she has since been told that the cost of buying it back from them will be around £32,000.

Research by Guardian Money found an extraordinary web of 85 ground rent companies controlled by Tuttiett, where the freeholds include not just homes but also schools, health clubs and petrol stations.



In 2016 one of these 85 companies, SF Funding Ltd, recorded an £80m increase in the value of its ground rents from the year before, taking them to £267.4m. Tuttiett is the sole director of the company, which has no other employees.

The financing of Tuttiett’s property empire is helped by low-interest loans totalling £336m made by an insurance company, Rothesay Life, spun out of Goldman Sachs, in which the US investment bank remains the largest shareholder. Among the Rothesay Life loans made to E&J is one at £128m with a stated interest rate of just 0.95% a year, although it is understood the real rate paid is likely to be higher.

The existence of the Rothesay loans opens a back door into Tuttiett’s interests, as Companies House lists all the properties over which Rothesay has a charge.

Yet despite his vast property interests, little is known about Tuttiett. He lives in a listed property in an exclusive part of Hampshire near Winchester, surrounded by his own vineyard. Only one picture of him can be found on the internet, on his ‘The Team’ page at E&J Capital Partners.

The website says Tuttiett formed E&J in 1991 and that he “has worked in the freehold ground rent investment, management and property arena since then”. It adds that E&J “owns and administers in excess of 40,000 properties nationwide”.

Guardian Money put a series of questions to Tuttiett about his corporate structure and property interests. We highlighted complaints from leaseholders about the cost of buying their freehold from E&J, the level of ground rents, and fees when dealing with the company. The company declined to comment.



In a statement, E&J said: “The company’s policy is not to engage with the media and accordingly we make no comment.”

However, critics of E&J’s ground rents and debt collection practices are far more vocal. Sebastian O’Kelly, who runs Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, said: “E&J conducts its affairs with the typical arrogance of leasehold landlordism. It makes a nuisance of itself – like other freeholders – demanding fees for subletting and consents for patios and conservatories. It believes, with justification sadly, that this high-handedness is backed by law and that the tenantry – that is, the leaseholders – have no choice but to pay up.

“There is almost nothing in its business model that would be unfamiliar to an 18th-century landed gentleman. This game obviously provides Mr Tuttiett with a very nice life.

“But it is not wealth creation or imaginative business. It is parasitism that our legislators have shamefully failed to stamp out.”



Justin Madders MP, whose constituency of Ellesmere Port and Neston contains numerous leasehold estates, said: “



While the government’s announcement of a ban is welcome, we now need to step up the fight for justice for those who have already been signed up to these unconscionable leases.”

• This article was amended on 31 July 2017. An earlier version said Britain when England and Wales were meant.

