March 28, 2024

Archives for November 2013

Peverel / Cirrus price-fixing report expected next month, OFT tells Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation reader

Michael Hollands, a Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation reader who comments frequently on the site, has been informed by the Office of Fair Trading that its long-awaited infringement decision over the Peverel / Cirrus price-fixing scandal will be published in December. “We are very nearly ready to make an announcement and anticipate the additional delay […]

Crisis in retirement housing is all down to planners, says ARCO (not greedy operators drawing up sneaky revenue-earning leases or management companies on the fiddle)

Here we go again! The apologists for property developers are blaming planners again – this time for the crisis in retirement housing. Something called Associated Retirement Community Operators (ARCO), which represents retirement village operators such as Anchor, Hanover, Retirement Villages etc, says the current provision of specialist retirement housing is “woefully inadequate”.

Goodbye, Peverel. But this is not a great debut for McCarthy and Stone Management Services …

This is from “G Farley” and the block is unknown. We are being taken over from Peverel to McCarthy and Stone Management Services at the end of February.  I will be pleased to see the back of Peverel, but we will still have a house manager that was trained by Peverel.

Peverel wins 37-flat Radbrook House … er, but loses 422-unit prime London site

Peverel Retirement is cock-a-hoop to have won a retirement site, 37-flat Radbrook House, in Shrewsbury, after apparently being “chosen” by the residents. But the news follows the revelation that Peverel (non-retirement) has been given its marching orders from the 422-flat Metro Central Heights in south London. Peverel had been retained after the site went right […]

Managing agent Benjamin Mire quit from property tribunal before he was sacked … BUT his company is still up for a string of industry awards

Benjamin Mire, the chartered surveyor and CEO of Trust Property Management, was to have been sacked had he not resigned his position on the property tribunal. The news came this afternoon from the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office, but it coincided with the announcement that Trust is the finalist for FOUR News On The Block property […]

Sir Peter Bottomley condemns criminal behaviour in leasehold, price-fixing cartels, cheating freeholders, exit fee fiddles, opportunist lawyers playing the system and feeble judicial intervention … in a speech that ALL leaseholders have been waiting to hear

  Sir Peter Bottomley made the speech all leaseholder victims of the system were waiting for when he condemned the current practices in the flawed sector. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Federation of Private Residents’ Associations – which LKP urges all RAs to join – Sir Peter Bottomley said: Commonhold should be adopted […]

Israel Moskovitz fails – again – to appeal against the Regent Court right to manage

An attempt by freeholder Israel Moskovitz to appeal against the granting of right to manage to Regent Court has been turned down by the Court of Appeal. Israel Moskovitz, who owns Avon Freeholds, applied for leave to appeal to the superior court after his appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) failed in August. Regent […]

MPs back Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP call to reform residents association regulations – drawn up by the man who won back £500,000 from Tchenguiz / Peverel

Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP has proposed changing the government regulations on the creation of residents’ associations, and has received widespread backing for the reform. The key changes that have been presented to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles are: That residents associations can be recognised with 50 per cent of qualifying residents plus one […]

It’s £850 for subletting … er, alright, I will take £100, says boss of Hallmark Developments

An appalled reader who received an £850 subletting demand from the boss of Hallmark Developments has had the bill slashed to £100 after contacting LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation. Paul Couchman, of Stapleton in Bristol, received the demand after renting out his mother’s two-bedroom flat at Meadow Court in Braintree, Essex. Under the […]

The final exit fee – it’s your funeral, from McCarthy and Stone

A mischievous 80-year-old Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation reader sends in this latest flier that has popped into his letter box: the McCarthy and Stone funeral plan. The company that pioneered retirement leasehold – with exit fees, subletting fees, atrocious re-sale values etc – is eager to ensure that your “loved-ones” aren’t left out of […]

McCarthy and Stone gives Peverel the push at 25 retirement sites

McCarthy and Stone has decided to give Peverel its marching orders at 25 retirement sites where it still owns the freeholds – although two weeks ago it said it was not going to do so (see below). Many of the sites still have flats for sale and the housebuilder made no attempt to defend Peverel’s […]

Fury at Briary Court as Peverel closes swimming pool … it’s ‘elf ‘n’ safety’, innit?

Briary Court, a retirement site on the Isle of Wight, was in a state of uproar after Peverel arbitrarily closed the swimming pool and drained it on ‘elf ‘n’ safety’ grounds. Furious residents attended a packed meeting two weeks ago with Peverel officials at the retirement site, which overlooks the sea at Cowes. Peverel officials […]