March 19, 2024

We need retirement ground rent gaming like a hole in the head, says ARCO

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 […]

The Times says families ‘lost £3 billion’ on resales of leasehold retirement flats, while developers and freehold speculators made millions

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 […]

Seven months after buying our retirement flat, we have put it up for sale

– Couple deeply regret hasty decision – Why did they not RENT instead? – Churchill satisfied with sales procedures A couple who bought a one-bedroom retirement flat deeply regret making the hasty decision and were desperate to sell up – only seven months later. Evelyn Matthews, 78, and her husband Stan, 94, bought the one-bedroom […]

Will hedge-funders clean up in £500 million float for McCarthy and Stone?

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.