The Daily Mail has reported on the Law Commission report into event fees with a robust article.
The author can expect a deluge of housebuilder requests to have lunch, at very expensive London restaurants, in order to “talk the issue through”.
The Daily Mail found the Law Commission report rather more robust than Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation did.
There are a couple of issues concerning subletting that will be of relevance to current owners, but the Law Commission’s work has relevance to future development, especially the housing care sector where event fees on sale are set very high (eg 30%).
It was an excellent report and full marks to reporter Ruth Lythe.
It starts:
Hidden fees costing tens of thousands of pounds are being levied against elderly people in retirement properties, an investigation by Britain’s legal watchdog has found.
Developers were accused of treating pensioners as ‘cash cows’ after being stung with the rip-off charges when moving into nursing homes or to alternative accommodation closer to family.
In some cases, elderly people are losing £60,000 on a £200,000 property when they move house. The charges are also applied when an occupant dies and their family has to sell their house, or in other changes of circumstance, such as when a live-in carer moves in.
It references the National Pensioners Convention, and it would be interesting to learn of readers’ experience of this organisation.
The hidden fees inside leases is rather similar to the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance ( ppi) .
The mis-selling of PPI comes under the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman so perhaps the Financial Ombudsman can look at sale of leases with hidden fees.