An analysis of Land Registry data has shown that three-quarters of the flats built by Churchill Retirement – owned by the McCarthy family who founded McCarthy and Stone – have resold at a loss, according to The Times. The average fall in value has been 18%, or £43,000, the newspaper said, with one flat in […]
Three quarters of Churchill Retirement flats have lost money when resold, says The Times
October 5, 2023 By
We need retirement ground rent gaming like a hole in the head, says ARCO
July 7, 2023 By
Gaming the new ground rents ban by introducing them at the last possible minute was damaging to the entire retirement housing sector and “we need this like a hole in the head”, said the Association of Retirement Community Operators at its annual conference yesterday. Michael Voges, ARCO chief executive, deplored bad practices in retirement housing […]
Bottomley to raise with Churchill Retirement its decision to continue charging ground rents
April 28, 2023 By
Sir Peter Bottomley is to raise with Churchill Retirement – a private company owned by the McCarthy family – its decision to continue to charge ground rents on sites that have not yet opened. New ground rents were banned under the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which came into force at the end of […]
The Times says families ‘lost £3 billion’ on resales of leasehold retirement flats, while developers and freehold speculators made millions
November 23, 2019 By
The Times today suggests that families have lost £3 billion on the resale of leasehold retirement flats between 2001 and 2015 in a series of articles that add up to a devastating investigation of the sector. Some 80 per cent of the properties sold had fallen in value, with an average loss of £38,846, the […]
Churchill Retirement donates £150,000 to Conservatives. To retain ground rents, by any chance?
November 22, 2019 By
Churchill Retirement, which belongs to the McCarthy family who founded McCarthy and Stone, yesterday gave £150,000 to the Conservative party. Churchill Retirement has led the rear-guard action to exempt retirement housing from the government’s three-times repeated promise to reduce new ground rents to zero. McCarthy and Stone, on the other hand, more or less conceded […]
Government will cave in to retirement house builders over ground rents, says Times
May 11, 2019 By
What does this say about setting new in wider market to zero? The government is poised to exclude retirement house builders from the much delayed ban on ground rents. Headed by leading retirement builder McCarthy and Stone and Churchill Retirement (which is privately owned by the McCarthy family), have been lobbying hard for an exclusion. […]
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 […]
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” […]
