– 16 commonhold properties in Pickering, North Yorkshire, originally for over-55s – Built by New Zealand architect, who did not exploit the monetising possibilities of English leasehold law – Swimming pool, guest suite, communal gardens, orangerie, underfloor heating, communal boiler – Three still for sale. £2,000pa service charge Spire View in the attractive market town […]
Archives for August 2016
Methodist Housing Association flat falls 40% on re-sale, says BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours
August 24, 2016 By
… So about average for our dismal retirement housing market BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours programme featured retirement housing this afternoon in an item on the Methodist Housing Association. It can be heard here at 08:09. Penelope Garnham’s mother, who died in February 2012 aged 96, paid £125,000 in 2007 for a flat in Rowanberries […]
Freemont Property Managers in show-down over RTM at Grace Darling House
August 13, 2016 By
Next Wednesday former chief executive of Peverel Retirement Keith Edgar will try to persuade residents at Grace Darling House in Poole to appoint his new company Freemont Property Managers to take the site right to manage. A minority of residents are deeply concerned at the proposal, with many feeling that they would be better off […]
Ex-Peverel employee thwarted over right to manage for Tatton Court and Willow Court
August 10, 2016 By
UPDATE August 12 Yesterday evening Susan Earnshaw returned Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation’s phone call and we discussed the issues of Tatton Court and Willow Court and the services provided by her company. We publish her full response below, but make a number of points: 1/ We tried but were unable to contact Mrs Earnshaw […]
To stop being pushed around, go for right to manage or buy the freehold, says Mail on Sunday
August 8, 2016 By
The Mail on Sunday personal finance section went over the issue of leaseholders exercising right to manage and buying the freehold yesterday. The article can be read here It referenced the LEASE survey that found that 57 per cent of leaseholders regretted buying their property. This is a figure quite unprecedented in other jurisdictions where […]
Downy Court seeks sale of house manager’s flat as residents vote on live-out service
August 5, 2016 By
Residents at Downy Court in Poole are voting to end their live-in house manager service at the end of the month as a way of cutting service charges.
The flat is one of hundreds owned by FirstPort that was granted a lease in 2009, when Vincent Tchenguiz, who owns the freehold, also owned Peverel, which became FirstPort last year.
The residents have already received £6,200 in LED lighting and FirstPort will put £5,000 into the contingency fund.
A two-bedroom flat at Downy Court is offered for sale at £118,000, so if the residents vote to end the in-house manager’s service they will also be making an extremely generous gift to FirstPort.
Warner Court, in Berkshire, breaks free of Tchenguiz and FirstPort with right to manage
August 5, 2016 By
Another day, another retirement site – Warner Court – decides to break free of the Vincent Tchenguiz organisation and FirstPort to appoint its own management through right to manage. The RTM at Warner Court, in Sandhurst, Berkshire, takes over on September 15, which means another retirement site will almost certainly slip from FirstPort’s grasp. The […]
Brexit hits retirement housing sales
August 4, 2016 By
Just about every marketing department in the country has come up with Brexit “research” to grab headlines, and FirstPort’s Retirement Homesearch estate agency has joined in. It says that in the second quarter of 2016, new buyer registrations for retirement properties slipped by more than 20% from the first quarter to 4,744. This figure is […]
Leasehold sales are bedevilled by ‘extortionate’ charges and game-playing, says the Conveyancing Association
August 3, 2016 By
… Conveyancing Association calls for enforcement of reasonable fees, and it wants Land Registry to register ‘lease administrators’ who handle sales … It claims there is ‘an imbalance of bargaining power between the lease administrator and the leaseholder’ … 34 per cent of estate agents say leasehold sales are a ‘nightmare’ … LKP tells the […]
