Sajid Javid has now moved to the Home Office after a cabinet reshuffle,  however, many operating within the property industry will know him for his shake up of the leasehold sector during his time as Housing & Communities Minister. At the end of last year Javid proposed changes to the leasehold sector that could significantly impact ground rent investors and developers as the future of ground rents comes under threat.

However, despite the uncertainty within the industry, ground rent investor Alexandra Thur is still upbeat on the sector and believes there are opportunities to purchase current freeholds. However, before we delve into the current challenges facing the sector I am keen to know more about Alexandra’s journey to date.  

Despite being born in the US, Alexandra decided to make the move to the UK to study urban design, planning and regeneration. “I have always been intrigued and influenced by my physical surroundings and fell in love with London as a child visiting my mother’s family. I’m a lover of busy urban environments and I hold historic cities and their architecture in high regard. Coming from California, where a 100-year old build is considered old, the sense of history a city like London has is a completely different world.”

During her studies at University College London and the University of Cambridge, Alexandra learned about how urban and wider economies function, grow and change. “I’ve always been interested in the connection between human behavior and design as well as sustainable real estate investment and development.”