… because they can examine the books LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation is very pleased the government has launched a consultation on “Making it easier for leaseholders to gain recognition of a tenants association”. A recognised tenants’ association has one significant power: it can call in an auditor to examine the accounts.
Archives for March 2015
Too expensive to give figures on leasehold forfeiture, says Ministry of Justice
March 27, 2015 By
Emma Reynolds, Labour’s shadow housing minister, has discovered that no one knows how many cases of leasehold forfeiture take place – and it would be too expensive to find out. The astonishing admission came from the Ministry of Justice in one of the last parliamentary questions of the session.
Leasehold mediation from commercial operators backed by government
March 27, 2015 By
Both Eric Pickles and Housing Minister Brandon Lewis gave a final “vote for us” message to leaseholders earlier this week with a resume of their achievements. In truth, they add up to very little and the only real reason not to vote against the government is because of almost no sign of life on leasehold […]
Jones Associates takes over Oakford Court
March 26, 2015 By
Jones Associates, of Macclesfield, fresh from a right to manage marathon with Tchenguiz / Peverel, have taken over the management at Oakford Court, in Glossop. The 27-flat retirement site was managed by Peverel after it was built, and then by a small, private company. Residents felt the site had suffered and wanted a change.
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation and LEASE thank DCLG civil servant for helping leaseholders
March 25, 2015 By
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation and LEASE jointly held a party last night to thank Paula Hassall, a DCLG civil servant, for her contribution to helping leaseholders. Paula was appointed to the leasehold section 13 months ago and helped bring about significant improvements to the leasehold sector. Sadly, she leaves at the end of this week to […]
Lord Ahmad rejects easier right to manage – contradicting the Budget statement on the same day
March 20, 2015 By
Recommendations by the Competition and Markets Authority to make right to manage applications less problematic appear to have been rejected by the government. The rebuff came the same day of the Budget speech (March 18) that said the government “will take forward CMA recommendations, and other actions agreed with the CMA, to improve the market […]
We must stop freeholders and their managing agents ‘abusing’ leaseholders, says Bottomley in Budget debate
March 19, 2015 By
Sir Peter Bottomley intervened in the Budget debate yesterday calling for adequate resources to protect leaseholders from predatory freeholders and the managing agents that they employ. He also repeated his call for Parliament to bring in “commonhold properly” and stop perpetuating the flawed leasehold system.
Stop keep asking who our members are, ARMA tells pensioner
March 17, 2015 By
Michael Hollands, an indefatigable letter-writer on retirement leasehold issues, has been told to stop writing to ARMA for to find out who are the current members of the trade body. The ARMA membership has been in a state of confusion since the January 1, the supposed deadline for application through the more rigorous ARMA-Q membership […]
Peverel / FirstPort pays back £39,377 wrongly taken from Hillside Court, but residents say another £3,498 is owed
March 11, 2015 By
UPDATE March 12 2015: The residents estimate that the underpayment still outstanding now amount to £4148, not £3,498. The amendment concerns a flat sold in August 2001. Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation strongly advises the residents not to accept that this matter is concluded until all the data is thoroughly examined, ideally by a third […]
Peverel / FirstPort paid ‘£40,000′ of residents’ contingency fund money to Mr Tchenguiz ‘by mistake’
March 5, 2015 By
In an extraordinary admission, Peverel / FirstPort says it has paid over thousands of pounds of contingency funds at Hillside Court, Ormskirk, to the landlord “by mistake”. Residents estimate that up to £40,000 is at issue, involving the one per cent contingency fund fess payable on sale of the properties.
Oldies should downsize and give retirement house builders lots of money, reports Telegraph
March 3, 2015 By
The Daily Telegraph has repeated a load of retirement house builder propaganda in a story about oldies downsizing. Story link is here It is basically a re-hash of the 2013 report by the think tank Demos, called The Top of the Ladder – which was paid for by the House Builders’ Federation on behalf of […]
20% of ARMA members ‘walk out over new ethical scheme’
March 3, 2015 By
… and if ARMA’s Twitter feed is to be believed, two-thirds of the membership has dropped out At least of a fifth of the membership of ARMA has ditched the trade association that on January 1 brought in more rigorous membership criteria. This is the figure reported by ARMA insiders, although many think the […]
