Melanie Gowers is the newly appointed chief executive of Retirement Security Limited, a retirement housebuilder founded by Bob Bessell, a trustee of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership Bob Bessell, a former head of Warwickshire social services, became a retirement housebuilder and set up Retirement Security. He has undertaken to leave the freeholds to his sites in […]
Taking over from Bob Bessell as head of Retirement Security retirement community provider: What we offer and why
Let us into our dear mum’s flat … No, says Retirement Security. She did not want you in, and police have been notified
The two sons of 96-year-old Margaret Fenn, who had a stroke last Wednesday and is in hospital, have appealed to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation after being barred from her flat by Retirement Security. This is the retirement housing firm headed by founder Bob Bessell. In a communication that was sent to the local MP […]
Bob Bessell hands £7 million of retirement freeholds to the residents
… and the housebuilder wants an end to ‘feudal’ ground rents, too! Bob Bessell, founder of housebuilder Retirement Security, yesterday pledged to leave his freehold portfolio – worth £7 million – in a trust controlled by the pensioner residents at his sites. The undertaking was made at a Westminster roundtable organised by Campaign against retirement […]
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation Westminster roundtable on retirement housing
On April 28 there will be a Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation roundtable on retirement housing at Westminster. The purpose is inform MPs of the issues in retirement housing, and to suggest how it could be further improved. There have already been shifts in position by retirement housebuilders: 999 year leases are becoming more widespread, […]
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 […]
Bob Bessell: Expelled from ARHM, but this is how retirement residents should be set free
Bob Bessell, the chairman of the developer Retirement Security, has issued a statement to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation explaining why his company was expelled from the ARHM. The ARHM announced the decision to expel the Stratford Upon Avon company, but gave no details of the dispute.
ARHM will not explain why it expelled Retirement Security, but it was ‘nothing to do with Keith Edgar’
The expulsion of Retirement Security from the Association of Retirement Housing Managers (ARHM) had nothing to do with the role of Keith Edgar, Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation has been told. Paul Silk, the ARHM chairman, informed Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation: “The statement which has been provided to members is the extent that we […]