When his retirement village outside Stroud, in Gloucestershire, went bust – with many of the leasehold properties unsold – Peter Wilson and the other residents decided to buy the site off the administrators, raised £2 million and now run the site themselves. The result is Woodchester Valley Village, a mutual ‘not for profit’ retirement village. What the elderly residents […]
We save money living at Woodchester Valley Village … but then we do all own it ourselves
April 21, 2015 By
Pier Management sends £120 subletting demand to the dead …
April 20, 2015 By
… Which did not even need to be paid by the living Leasehold reached a new low with Pier Management demanding a subletting fee from a man who is dead. Nor was a sublet fee payable had Mr A Gaffney, of Dublin, been alive. Pier Management admitted it had not read the lease before demanding […]
Three MPs that are worth voting for if you are a leaseholder
April 13, 2015 By
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP has no political affiliation, and our three MP patrons – Sir Peter Bottomley, Jim Fitzpatrick and Ed Davey – come from the three main political parties. The below explains what they have done for leaseholders: Sir Peter Bottomley (Conservative) represents Worthing West, which has a high number of […]
Telegraph asks: Should you really buy a retirement property?
April 9, 2015 By
The Daily Telegraph yesterday published an excellent balancing article to the usual advert-friendly dross that accompanies features on retirement housing. It can be read here. Please do comment on it (and here, of course). Written by Fleet Street veteran Liz Hodgkinson, the article addresses the points raised by Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation – which […]
ARMA ends four-month farce after finally saying who its members are …
April 9, 2015 By
But don’t feel any obligation to join on our account! ARMA has finally published a list of its full members – more than four months after making the more rigorous ARMA-Q the criteria for membership. Until today, the only clue as to who was a member of ARMA was the stream of congratulations posted on […]
Whistleblowers to the Serious Fraud Office ‘wasting their time’
April 7, 2015 By
Bad news for LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation, our MP patrons, and anyone else who cares about the Sisyphean labour of trying to encourage integrity and honesty in our corporate governance. The law firm Pinsent Masons has found that 2,500 whistleblowers approached the Serious Fraud Office, but that only resulted in a dozen […]
Court of Appeal throws right to manage law into chaos
April 1, 2015 By
UPDATED with analysis of the decision below Right to manage legislation is in chaos following Friday’s Court of Appeal decision to prevent RTM companies from managing more than one building at a site. The decision drives a hole through current RTM legislation and, in LKP’s view, can only be addressed with primary legislation. It means […]
Recognised tenants’ association should be easier to form
March 27, 2015 By
… because they can examine the books LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation is very pleased the government has launched a consultation on “Making it easier for leaseholders to gain recognition of a tenants association”. A recognised tenants’ association has one significant power: it can call in an auditor to examine the accounts.
Too expensive to give figures on leasehold forfeiture, says Ministry of Justice
March 27, 2015 By
Emma Reynolds, Labour’s shadow housing minister, has discovered that no one knows how many cases of leasehold forfeiture take place – and it would be too expensive to find out. The astonishing admission came from the Ministry of Justice in one of the last parliamentary questions of the session.
Leasehold mediation from commercial operators backed by government
March 27, 2015 By
Both Eric Pickles and Housing Minister Brandon Lewis gave a final “vote for us” message to leaseholders earlier this week with a resume of their achievements. In truth, they add up to very little and the only real reason not to vote against the government is because of almost no sign of life on leasehold […]
Jones Associates takes over Oakford Court
March 26, 2015 By
Jones Associates, of Macclesfield, fresh from a right to manage marathon with Tchenguiz / Peverel, have taken over the management at Oakford Court, in Glossop. The 27-flat retirement site was managed by Peverel after it was built, and then by a small, private company. Residents felt the site had suffered and wanted a change.
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation and LEASE thank DCLG civil servant for helping leaseholders
March 25, 2015 By
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation and LEASE jointly held a party last night to thank Paula Hassall, a DCLG civil servant, for her contribution to helping leaseholders. Paula was appointed to the leasehold section 13 months ago and helped bring about significant improvements to the leasehold sector. Sadly, she leaves at the end of this week to […]
