Two veteran MPs from rival parties demanded reform to residential leasehold at a packed Westminster meeting yesterday attended by 75 prominent figures in the sector. Sir Peter Bottomley (Conservative, Worthing West) and Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour, Poplar and Limehouse) jointly hosted the session having both urged amendment to the Housing Bill. The meeting was attended by […]
Archives for 2015
Packed Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation meeting at Westminster for leasehold reform
December 4, 2015 By
Kelston Gardens: should we buy?
November 30, 2015 By
A Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation reader has been in touch asking for information about Kelston Gardens, in Weston-super-Mare, where she is trying to buy a freehold bungalow but is now getting cold feet. She says: “There are lots of leasehold areas including strips of pathways outside the gardens. We cannot get to the bottom […]
Metcalfe Court: how a retirement site has benefited from RTM (including 20% savings compared with FirstPort)
November 30, 2015 By
The road to RTM After an embittered struggle with the Tchenguiz organisation – which also saw the involvement of two MPs – Metcalfe Court, in Romiley, in Cheshire, broke free and took over its right to manage last February. Below the RTM directors write to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP to share their […]
Transfer fees: the Law Commissioner Stephen Lewis wants to hear from you
November 27, 2015 By
Just as George Osborne backs huge expansion of the wretched state of retirement housing provision in this country, up pops the Law Commissioner Stephen Lewis to point out one aspect that is very wrong with it: exit fees, or now called event fees. And he wants to hear your views on the subject before January […]
Metcalfe Court: how a retirement site has benefited from RTM (including 20% savings compared with FirstPort)
November 26, 2015 By
The road to RTM After an embittered struggle with the Tchenguiz organisation – which also saw the involvement of two MPs – Metcalfe Court, in Romiley, in Cheshire, broke free and took over its right to manage last February. Below the RTM directors write to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP to share their […]
What WE want from the Housing Bill
November 25, 2015 By
Now is the time for all leaseholders seeking reform to put pressure on MPs to get leasehold addressed in the Housing Bill. Please write to your MP to demand that these changes form part of the new law. Below is the extensive LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation submission to the committee stage of […]
Bring in commonhold by 2020, says MP Jim Fitzpatrick
November 25, 2015 By
Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a patron of LKP, has moved an amendment to the Housing Bill that will see leasehold ended by January 1 2020. Instead, flats should be sold through commonhold tenure only. This is the first time since the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act of 2002 that […]
Retirement villages reported by BBC
November 14, 2015 By
The BBC website has reported some of the issues concerning retirement housing provision. The piece examines the “retirement village” model of upscale retirement housing. The full piece can be read here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34808285
Dudley Joiner: It is not relevant that I was disqualified from being a company director for 7 years
November 10, 2015 By
Dudley Joiner, the businessman offering services to leaseholders, has told LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation that being disqualified as a company director for seven years has “no relevance to my current activity”. The ban was imposed between 1993 and 2000 in the Chancery Division of the High Court following an action by the […]
No more retirements flats until leasehold rip-offs are ended
November 1, 2015 By
Norman Greed, a veteran of a right to manage dispute and winning back unfair service charges, says no more retirement flats should be built under the rip-off leasehold system Once again the leaseholders of England and Wales have been let down by the legal system. In this article I will cover three items I wish […]
RTM: Touting for business (again)
October 27, 2015 By
LKP has been contacted by a number RTM sites worried about a letter which ominously warns “URGENT- YOUR RTM COMPANY MAY BE ILLEGAL”. If you have had one of these letters it may also warn in capital letters your RTM should “ACT NOW”. LKP would suggest you act with caution. Quoting some case and suggesting […]
Important AgeUK event – exit fees
October 27, 2015 By
On 19th November AgeUK is holding an event for “older leaseholders” on exit/transfer fees as part of the Law Commissions review of these type of charges. The Law Commission project is just entering the public phase having reached their preliminary findings. The project will end some time next year when they present their formal recommendations […]
