When his retirement village outside Stroud, in Gloucestershire, went bust – with many of the leasehold properties unsold – Peter Wilson and the other residents decided to buy the site off the administrators, raised £2 million and now run the site themselves. The result is Woodchester Valley Village, a mutual ‘not for profit’ retirement village. What the elderly residents […]
Come on, Shelter! Don’t demand more housing without addressing leasehold’s many, many defects …
December 18, 2015 By
For some years, LKP has been pleading with the homeless and housing charity Shelter to do more to support the problems faced by leaseholders. For example, the arbitrary loss of home and destitution faced by lease forfeiture should surely be a concern? Forfeiture means total loss of the asset, offering a cash windfall to landlords, […]
‘Our flat at McCarthy & Stone’s Buckingham Court has fallen in value £60,000 in 14 years’
December 10, 2015 By
(… and what does the Elderly Accommodation Counsel / HousingCare.org actually DO, apart from advertise these properties for sale?) By Ian Robinson If you require an example of how bad the resale value of the properties are in the retirement market you need look no further than the McCarthy and Stone built Buckingham Court. We […]
From movie stars to rock gods: the amazing Village People of Shenley Wood …
December 7, 2015 By
Hats off to the residents of the Shenley Wood Retirement Village for their brilliant 2016 calender. Residents have dressed up as rock gods and pop divas to produce a calendar for the Christmas season. For their 2015 calender the residents, aged 64 to 93, produced cover versions based on calendar, based on famous films. The […]
Packed Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation meeting at Westminster for leasehold reform
December 4, 2015 By
Two veteran MPs from rival parties demanded reform to residential leasehold at a packed Westminster meeting yesterday attended by 75 prominent figures in the sector. Sir Peter Bottomley (Conservative, Worthing West) and Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour, Poplar and Limehouse) jointly hosted the session having both urged amendment to the Housing Bill. The meeting was attended by […]
Kelston Gardens: should we buy?
November 30, 2015 By
A Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation reader has been in touch asking for information about Kelston Gardens, in Weston-super-Mare, where she is trying to buy a freehold bungalow but is now getting cold feet. She says: “There are lots of leasehold areas including strips of pathways outside the gardens. We cannot get to the bottom […]
Metcalfe Court: how a retirement site has benefited from RTM (including 20% savings compared with FirstPort)
November 30, 2015 By
The road to RTM After an embittered struggle with the Tchenguiz organisation – which also saw the involvement of two MPs – Metcalfe Court, in Romiley, in Cheshire, broke free and took over its right to manage last February. Below the RTM directors write to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP to share their […]
Transfer fees: the Law Commissioner Stephen Lewis wants to hear from you
November 27, 2015 By
Just as George Osborne backs huge expansion of the wretched state of retirement housing provision in this country, up pops the Law Commissioner Stephen Lewis to point out one aspect that is very wrong with it: exit fees, or now called event fees. And he wants to hear your views on the subject before January […]
Metcalfe Court: how a retirement site has benefited from RTM (including 20% savings compared with FirstPort)
November 26, 2015 By
The road to RTM After an embittered struggle with the Tchenguiz organisation – which also saw the involvement of two MPs – Metcalfe Court, in Romiley, in Cheshire, broke free and took over its right to manage last February. Below the RTM directors write to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP to share their […]
What WE want from the Housing Bill
November 25, 2015 By
Now is the time for all leaseholders seeking reform to put pressure on MPs to get leasehold addressed in the Housing Bill. Please write to your MP to demand that these changes form part of the new law. Below is the extensive LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation submission to the committee stage of […]
Bring in commonhold by 2020, says MP Jim Fitzpatrick
November 25, 2015 By
Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a patron of LKP, has moved an amendment to the Housing Bill that will see leasehold ended by January 1 2020. Instead, flats should be sold through commonhold tenure only. This is the first time since the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act of 2002 that […]
Retirement villages reported by BBC
November 14, 2015 By
The BBC website has reported some of the issues concerning retirement housing provision. The piece examines the “retirement village” model of upscale retirement housing. The full piece can be read here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34808285
