March 28, 2024

Stop keep asking who our members are, ARMA tells pensioner

Michael Hollands, an indefatigable letter-writer on retirement leasehold issues, has been told to stop writing to ARMA for to find out who are the current members of the trade body. The ARMA membership has been in a state of confusion since the January 1, the supposed deadline for application through the more rigorous ARMA-Q membership […]

20% of ARMA members ‘walk out over new ethical scheme’

… and if ARMA’s Twitter feed is to be believed, two-thirds of the membership has dropped out   At least of a fifth of the membership of ARMA has ditched the trade association that on January 1 brought in more rigorous membership criteria. This is the figure reported by ARMA insiders, although many think the […]

All Peverel companies applying to ARMA-Q

Statement from Peverel received this morning: All of our ARMA members have applied for ARMA-Q accreditation. These applications are currently being processed by ARMA. Peverel Retirement has applied for ARMA membership and this application is also being processed by ARMA. The statement concerning Peverel companies does not address Peverel retirement referred to the ARMA regulator Keith […]

Now we are told Countrywide is STILL an ARMA member … well, until February 1

Staff working overtime to process applications “to take our members on a journey …” LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation has received a statement at 11.14am today from ARMA addressing its peculiar manner of announcing the membership of ARMA-Q. Previously, we were informed that any company that had not applied to the more rigorous […]

Countrywide Estate Management is OUT of ARMA

Countrywide Estate Management, second only to Peverel / FirstPort in terms of size, did not apply to join ARMA-Q before the January 1 deadline and is therefore no longer a member of the trade body. ARMA itself had repeatedly declined to clarify the status of Countrywide, which last month was dumped by Bovis Homes at […]

ARMA membership … find out on Twitter!

In piecemeal fashion, ARMA is announcing companies that have signed-up to the new regulatory regime ARMA-Q on Twitter. These are the new criteria for membership of the trade body. The decision marks an abrupt reversal of a decision last week by Michelle Banks, the CEO, to announce the accredited companies in February once all applications […]

Peverel Retirement up before the ARMA regulator before it can join ARMA-Q

A complaint about Peverel Retirement is being considered by ARMA regulator Keith Hill even before the trade body rules on whether it meets the criteria of ARMA-Q. The complaint comes from Alex Ellison, whose mother lives in Mere Court, in Knutsford, Cheshire. It concerns Peverel’s ownership and disposal of house managers’ flats.

ARMA-Q members to be revealed next month

Has Peverel / FirstPort made the cut to join ARMA’s ethically enhanced membership scheme? Or Countrywide? We won’t know until next month, unless the companies themselves indicate that they are accredited – as is the case with the LKP member HML Holdings plc.

Cooee! Peverel becomes FirstPort and is heading for ARMA-Q … But will it be welcome?

Like the unwanted guest at a party, Peverel has put on some outlandish new clothes and now seeks to crash ARMA-Q. It is rolling out its new FirstPort brand, which means when you click on the Peverel website you are passed on to a new site. The change in name is taking place a year […]

If Peverel Retirement is admitted to ARMA-Q, what message does that send thousands of cheated pensioners?

Ten months after being found guilty by the OFT of systematically cheating residents in retirement sites, Peverel Retirement is now lining up to join ARMA-Q. This is the new ethically enhanced membership scheme that ARMA hopes will demonstrate greater professional rigour in leasehold management. The announcement will be a shock for the ARHM (Association of Retirement […]

AgeUK: Retirement leasehold IS NOT WORKING and needs urgent reform

– Self-regulation (by ARHM, ARMA, RICS) has failed – Leasehold tenure itself disempowers residents and makes them vulnerable – Commonhold should be explored – Right to manage needs to be made easier for the elderly – LEASE’s ‘problematic’ role serving all sides in leasehold – CMA’s skimpy Ipsos MORI poll ‘should not be used as the basis […]

Cirrus isn’t an ARMA member so we have nothing to say about the price-fixing scandal, says Michelle Banks

… but you must take it on trust that if those bits of Peverel that ARE members sign up to ARMA-Q these practices will be ‘outlawed’ and ‘speedily detected’ Michelle Banks (right), chief executive of the Association of Residential Managing Agents, has stated that her organisation will do nothing about the Peverel / Cirrus price-fixing […]