(… unless Law Commission’s exit fee report ends this income stream) It is not often that you are made an offer that it would be simply madness to refuse, and it is a great shame for the elderly at Boughton Hall in Chester that it has come so late in their lives. The 80 residents […]
Lansdowne Court wonders whether a News on the Block Award for FirstPort is (strictly speaking) deserved
January 3, 2016 By
This letter of late November arrived from the mobilising residents of Lansdowne Court in Hove. It should have been shared earlier (and did FirstPort win anything?): 17 November 2015 Dear Ms Crabtree PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AWARDS 2015-16 – FIRSTPORT In confirmation of our telephone conversation earlier today, I and other flat owners at Lansdowne Court in […]
Family hit with £9,341 contingency fee charge on Anchor’s Cherry Trees flat …
January 1, 2016 By
… that’s on top of a £26,950 fall in value after 11 years of ownership A family whose parents owned a one bedroom flat at Anchor’s 59-unit Cherry Trees site in Redcar, Cleveland, have been hit with a double whammy common in retirement leasehold. First, the flat for over-55s was bought for £79,950 in 2004 […]
Law Commission: Don’t ignore £318 ‘information packs’ that leaseholders have to pay
January 1, 2016 By
As well as exit fees, monopolising estate agency with exorbitant charges, sellers of retirement property also have to pay for ‘information packs’ to the property manager and the freeholder. Here, Alan Eadie, a long-standing supporter of Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation who is a leaseholder at Homepine House in Folkestone, tells the Law Commission to […]
Second Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation patron knighted: Arise Sir Ed Davey!
December 31, 2015 By
Warm congratulations to Ed Davey, the former LibDem MP and Energy Secretary – and patron of LKP – who was knighted today in the New Year honours. In spite of his cabinet commitments, Ed has been a huge help to LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation and to all leaseholders. It was Ed who […]
Exit fees and retirement estate agency: You now have 29 days to act
December 31, 2015 By
In the second of our articles on the Law Commissions work on exit/transfer fees, we turn to their survey of some of retirement company web sites. Again the picture is very mixed in terms of how clear each company is in providing information about the fees that leaseholders face. As well as “exit” fees the […]
Exit fees: You have less than 30 days to provide your input
December 30, 2015 By
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation has published a number of articles about the Law Commission’s work on “exit”/transfer fees, and which sort of charges should be allowed going forward. The end of the public consultation is January 29. One of the problems faced by the project is that while those working in the retirement sector […]
From Tokyo, a victory against E&M and Peverel at Maltings Court
December 30, 2015 By
A leaseholder of a property at Maltings Court, Stratford-upon-Avon, has settled an action over wrongly demanded ground rent and his court costs … corresponding with E&M and Peverel / FirstPort from Tokyo. In spring 2011, Geoffrey Powell, and a number of other leaseholders at the 21-flat Maltings Court, received ground rent demands dating back to 2005 […]
‘She’s had enough’: Police hold husband after 81-year-old wife is shot dead in communal lounge at De La Mer House
December 29, 2015 By
Ronald King, 86, is still being held by Essex police following the death yesterday morning of his wife Rita, 81, at the private De La Mer care home. Mrs King, a dementia patient, was shot in the head by a pistol in the communal lounge of De La Mer House in front of other patients, […]
A year of disillusion with ARMA-Q …
December 29, 2015 By
… Left to themselves, the leasehold managing agent sector seems incapable of reform A personal view by Michael Hollands (Michael Hollands lives in a retirement development in Nottingham and has long been campaigning to improve conditions in retirement housing and the wider leasehold sector) It all started in mid 2014, with the announcement that […]
Boughton Hall’s £950,000 freehold for sale and it pays out 22% a year …
December 22, 2015 By
(… unless Law Commission’s exit fee report ends this income stream) It is not often that you are made an offer that it would be simply madness to refuse, and it is a great shame for the elderly at Boughton Hall in Chester that it has come so late in their lives. The 80 residents […]
December 21, 2015 By
