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 […]

Bottomley to raise with Churchill Retirement its decision to continue charging ground rents

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

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 […]

McCarthy without Stone: Churchill Retirement Living ‘to spend £500 million on new sites’

Churchill Retirement Living, the retirement leasehold developer controlled by the McCarthy family who built up McCarthy and Stone, is spending £500 million on new sites over the next three years, says the Times. In what appears to be a re-write of a press release, the article echoes the company’s message that the retirement leasehold sector […]