Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation examines official re-sale prices for McCarthy and Stone, Churchill Retirement Living, Audley Retirement, Retirement Villages, Retirement Security, Anchor and Pegasus A dismal picture of retirement housing values on re-sales is revealed by Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation from figures in the Land Registry. For years we have been saying that […]
McCarthy and Stone stops hyping ‘virtual freeholds’
May 16, 2016 By
McCarthy and Stone has changed its publicity after claiming that by selling 999 year leases it was offering buyers homes that were “virtual freeholds”. Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation took the issue up with chief executive Clive Fenton and the over-hyped expression has been dropped from McCarthy and Stone publicity. Its website has been amended. […]
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation tells Parliament: ‘feeling in retirement leasehold is that the bad guys always win’
March 25, 2016 By
Last Wednesday saw a session of Lord Best’s All Party Parliamentary Group on retirement housing and care. Sebastian O’Kelly, trustee of Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP, made the following points about private leasehold retirement housing to the APPG: In part, the elderly are not downsizing to retirement housing because they think they will […]
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 […]
Woodchester Valley Village: this is what can be achieved when a retirement site manages itself
February 11, 2015 By
The Daily Mail today runs an article about Woodchester Valley Village: thought to be the only mutually owned retirement village in the country. The village, four miles outside Stroud, has been in other publications such as the BBC and the Guardian, here
‘Curtains for exit and sublet fees’ by Law Commission … but not until March 2017
September 24, 2014 By
Leasehold exit and sublet fees have been referred to the Law Commission, which will almost certainly be the end of them. This means anyone selling or renting out a retirement or non-retirement flat should keep all documentation with a view to making a claim in two and half years time.
McCarthy and Stone reform sublet fees after discussions with Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation
August 18, 2014 By
Following discussions with Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation, McCarthy and Stone is dropping the one per cent contingency fund contribution that has to be paid every time a flat is rented out. It is replacing the sublet fees, which are a percentage of either the purchase price or market value of a flat, with a one-off […]
McCarthy and Stone float: before we expand retirement housing, here are a few urgent reforms …
July 21, 2014 By
COMMENT So the sharper end of the City reckons its punt on retirement housing may pay off next year. The Sunday Times article on the possible float of McCarthy and Stone was preceded by one in the FT, here According to the FT a number of investment banks have been in contact with McCarthy and […]
Will hedge-funders clean up in £500 million float for McCarthy and Stone?
July 20, 2014 By
Both the FT and the Sunday Times are suggesting that the hedge-funders who took on the debt at McCarthy and Stone could be in for a killing if it floats next year for £500 million. Both papers report that says hedge fund owners pumped £367 million of equity and a five-year loan to slash borrowings.
Meeting with shadow housing minister Emma Reynolds
April 29, 2014 By
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP met shadow housing minister Emma Reynolds yesterday to discuss problems in the leasehold sector. The meeting was organised by Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, who has some of the richest and poorest leaseholders in the country in his constituency. He has become a firm […]
AgeUK would not get involved, Shelter has quit, Peverel has been expelled and Esther Rantzen is asking questions … the fiasco of the Campaign for Housing in Later Life
April 29, 2014 By
Last Friday, Peverel was expelled from the Home Builders’ Federation campaign to reinvigorate the retirement housing market. Its logo was removed from the campaign’s website, while earlier in the week the homeless charity Shelter also decided to jettison the campaign. AgeUK – which last year removed its logos from the Peverel Retirement site – had […]
Shelter ‘dumps’ the Campaign for Housing in Later Life
April 24, 2014 By
The charity Shelter appears to have ceased involvement in the ‘Campaign for Housing in Later Life’, which Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation revealed on April 9 registered its website to the Bournemouth HQ of McCarthy and Stone. The Shelter logo that appeared on the ‘Campaign’s’ website has been removed. Curiously, since publication by Campaign against […]
