Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to make you aware of the exorbitant transfer fees, contingency fee & charges for information packs that we were charged by E&M Estates Management Ltd when I sold my parents flat last week. The flat in question was built by Mcarthy & Stone in Deal, Kent, managed by Peverel & […]
Archives for January 2016
LEASE: Don’t be panicked over Triplerose multi-block RTM ruling
January 28, 2016 By
(… which is what we have been saying all along) Ten months after the Triplerose decision in the Court of Appeal on multi-block RTMs, the Leasehold Advisory Service has issued its advice: don’t do anything. “The advice to the customers for now can only be to do nothing, unless the landlord starts any action of […]
Daily Mail reports retirement flat rip-offs, with the Law Commission stepping in to stop them
January 19, 2016 By
The Daily Mail has reported on the Law Commission report into event fees with a robust article. The author can expect a deluge of housebuilder requests to have lunch, at very expensive London restaurants, in order to “talk the issue through”. The Daily Mail found the Law Commission report rather more robust than Campaign against […]
Telegraph reports surge in leasehold newbuilds
January 19, 2016 By
A good article in the Telegraph about leasehold newbuild flats being on the rise. They make up 43pc of all newbuild registrations with the Land Registry, compared with 22pc in 1996. While leasehold newbuild flats were up by roughly 10,000, leasehold houses also sharply increased: registrations of newbuild detached leasehold houses more than doubled in […]
Law Commission outlines ‘event’ fee report, but still wants to hear from leaseholders
January 16, 2016 By
About 100 of those who have contributed to the Law Commission report into retirement housing “event” fees were invited to an evening get-together at Westminster last Thursday. There was wine and canapés and gossip, after attendees had digested the evening’s theme “Building Fairness: Growing a housing market older people can trust”. Esther Rantzen was the […]
LEASE uses debt-collecting Brady Solicitors for leaseholder survey
January 13, 2016 By
The Leasehold Advisory Service has dismayed key leasehold groups by handing over an important survey of leaseholders to Brady Solicitors, in Nottingham. The survey aims to gauge leaseholder satisfaction, with a particular emphasis at blocks of flats run by resident management companies and RTMs. In other words, data concerning the most empowered leaseholder-controlled sites in […]
Realities of leasehold spelled out during the Housing Bill
January 13, 2016 By
– Commons urged to back amendment to abolish leasehold by 2020 in favour of commonhold – Tchenguiz, Peverel and Cirrus get another Commons naming – McCarthy and Stone told to explain collapsed second-hand values of retirement flats – Leasehold Knowledge Partnership praised, and thanked for reasonably accurate figures for leasehold sector Labour MP and LKP […]
Fairwater Gardens freehold for sale ‘offshore’
January 11, 2016 By
Another day, another example of all that’s wrong in retirement housing in this country … The freehold of Fairwater Gardens in Evesham is up for sale and the residents – there are 22 flats – passed by the opportunity to buy it. Now it is supposedly for sale offshore. Meanwhile, the management contract is up […]
Rats and rain beset residents of St Mauritius House
January 11, 2016 By
UPDATE: Hyde responds to YouTube and Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation shaming (Monday pm January 11) Dead rats, a kitchen carpeted in mouse faeces, water pouring through bedroom ceilings … these are the conditions filmed at the Hyde Housing’s St Mauritius House, in Lewisham, south east London. A video of conditions at the site of […]
Don’t be tempted by informal lease extension deals
January 9, 2016 By
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation urges retirement leaseholders to extend their leases and NEVER let them fall below 82 years, otherwise they are in danger of losing all value. But negotiating with freeholders to get an informal lease extension deal is too dangerous for most leaseholders. You can trash the value of your flat with a […]
Boughton Hall’s £950,000 freehold for sale and it pays out 22% a year …
January 3, 2016 By
(… unless Law Commission’s exit fee report ends this income stream) It is not often that you are made an offer that it would be simply madness to refuse, and it is a great shame for the elderly at Boughton Hall in Chester that it has come so late in their lives. The 80 residents […]
Lansdowne Court wonders whether a News on the Block Award for FirstPort is (strictly speaking) deserved
January 3, 2016 By
This letter of late November arrived from the mobilising residents of Lansdowne Court in Hove. It should have been shared earlier (and did FirstPort win anything?): 17 November 2015 Dear Ms Crabtree PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AWARDS 2015-16 – FIRSTPORT In confirmation of our telephone conversation earlier today, I and other flat owners at Lansdowne Court in […]
