The cost of in-house house managers goes up from next month. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued new guidance regarding the payment of VAT for site-based staff at developments. Applying the correct VAT liability on residential domestic service charges (VAT information sheet 07/18) This information sheet, together with Revenue and Customs Brief 6 […]
ARHM: This time the impetus to reform leasehold is serious …
October 4, 2018 By
If there is one thing that those seeking reform of the retirement housing sector and those employed in it can agree on – actually there is rather a lot we now agree on – it is that this time the impetus for leasehold reform is different. ARHM chair Richard Wheeldon made the point in his […]
Retirement housing message to Clive Betts MP’s Select Committee
September 10, 2018 By
By Michael Hollands I am interested in Leasehold Retirement Complexes of which I have much experience in the way many unfortunate Pensioners are robbed of their valuable savings. 1 When purchasing new these retirement properties are always more expensive than the non retirement properties, manly because they are desperately needed by elderly who have to […]
APPG July 11: Robust debate over retirement ground rents and event fees
July 13, 2018 By
By Sebastian OKelly, LKP trustee The controversial issues of ground rents and exit fees in retirement housing were discussed at this week’s meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold and commonhold reform. These were the main event in a meeting which also had an insider’s examination of leasehold insurance commissions, and why developers […]
APPG July 11: Retirement event fees ‘align interests of buyers and operators’, Michael Voges tells meeting
July 13, 2018 By
By Michael Voges, executive director ARCO Retirement event fees – a term used to describe exit fees on re-sale – align interests of buyers and operators and are the business model for retirement housing in New Zealand, Australia and the US, said Michael Voges, executive director of the trade body the Association of Retirement Community […]
APPG July 11: The case for ground rents from McCarthy and Stone
July 13, 2018 By
By Clive Fenton, CEO McCarthy and Stone Hello, my name is Clive Fenton and until 31 August I’m the CEO of McCarthy & Stone. Thank you for inviting me here today. Today was never destined to be my easiest day in the office. I recognise that as a promoter of retaining ground rents for retirement […]
APPG July 11: Retirement fees whether ground rents or event fees need to be for designated services not open-ended profits, says AgeUK
July 13, 2018 By
And grounds cannot be set to zero but maintained in the retirement sector By Joe Oldman, AgeUK Age UK strongly supports extending the range of housing options available for older people – so we want to see a significant expansion in good quality retirement schemes and villages. We also recognise and appreciate the efforts of […]
ARCO conference offers a different vision to retirement housing, but …
July 7, 2018 By
There will be – and there are already – issues with big event fees The conference of the Association Retirement Community Operators in central London last week offered a fascinating alternative vision for the retirement housing sector to the one that we have. The organisation represents providers who build and manage their own sites, as […]
McCarthy and Stone and Churchill: are you blackmailing government over the ground rent ban and is your business model broken? Asks BBC R4 MoneyBox
June 25, 2018 By
Brilliant interview with outgoing McCarthy and Stone CEO Clive Fenton ‘Problem’ that retirement housebuilders have not been spoonfed profits, like others through Help To Buy Anyway, aren’t retirement housebuilders insignificant given the numbers of pensioners who are downsizing today, asks BBC? Radio 4’s MoneyBox quizzed retirement housebuilders McCarthy and Stone and Churchill Retirement Living on […]
Clive Fenton to stand down as CEO of McCarthy and Stone after profits slump
June 20, 2018 By
Is the ground rent ban responsible? Sebastian O’Kelly I guess when you stand down as boss of a publicly quoted retirement housing company that has seen profits fall from £110 million to £65-£80 the headline-writing punsters are not going to miss a trick. So, Clive Fenton, 60, McCarthy and Stone’s CEO, is being “pensioned off” […]
Anti-ground rent trade body ARCO snubbed at retirement housing conference … (along with us, less surprisingly)
June 15, 2018 By
The anti-ground rent trade body ARCO has been snubbed and left uninvited by retirement housing insiders at a City law firm conference next Wednesday to discuss whether a Retirement Housing Act is needed. The Association of Retirement Community Operators, whose members build and manage their retirement housing and care sites for the long term, has […]
Points to consider when buying a new retirement flat …
June 8, 2018 By
By Michael Epstein There can be no doubt that the new build and post 2010(non Firstport managed) McCarthy & Stone developments offer very good facilities are well managed and can offer residents a good quality of life. Increasingly extra services are being offered designated as “Assisted Living” No one can expect these services to come […]
