LKP wins reprieve for family as Platinum Skies makes £28,237 ‘gesture of goodwill’ Executive chairman Julian Shaffer references ‘truly exceptional’ case of pensioner’s death at the start of Covid lockdown in April 2020 and the market disruption that followed Exit and other fees are reduced ‘as a compassionate gesture of goodwill given the particular and […]
Platinum Skies: £63,000 loss on £130,000 shared ownership retirement flat after new owner died 25 days after moving in
October 13, 2023 By
Family outraged by £50,000 exit fee at Retirement Villages’ Mayford Grange
January 7, 2019 By
But a cash loss from purchase of only £5,000 is not THAT bad, in UK retirement housing … By Sebastian O’Kelly Yet again retirement housing is in the news: this time Retirement Villages charging £50,000 in exit fees to a family who sold a two-bedroom flat at Mayford Grange, in Woking in Surrey. The Sunday […]
APPG July 11: Robust debate over retirement ground rents and event fees
July 13, 2018 By
By Sebastian OKelly, LKP trustee The controversial issues of ground rents and exit fees in retirement housing were discussed at this week’s meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold and commonhold reform. These were the main event in a meeting which also had an insider’s examination of leasehold insurance commissions, and why developers […]
APPG July 11: Retirement event fees ‘align interests of buyers and operators’, Michael Voges tells meeting
July 13, 2018 By
By Michael Voges, executive director ARCO Retirement event fees – a term used to describe exit fees on re-sale – align interests of buyers and operators and are the business model for retirement housing in New Zealand, Australia and the US, said Michael Voges, executive director of the trade body the Association of Retirement Community […]
APPG July 11: The case for ground rents from McCarthy and Stone
July 13, 2018 By
By Clive Fenton, CEO McCarthy and Stone Hello, my name is Clive Fenton and until 31 August I’m the CEO of McCarthy & Stone. Thank you for inviting me here today. Today was never destined to be my easiest day in the office. I recognise that as a promoter of retaining ground rents for retirement […]
APPG July 11: Retirement fees whether ground rents or event fees need to be for designated services not open-ended profits, says AgeUK
July 13, 2018 By
And grounds cannot be set to zero but maintained in the retirement sector By Joe Oldman, AgeUK Age UK strongly supports extending the range of housing options available for older people – so we want to see a significant expansion in good quality retirement schemes and villages. We also recognise and appreciate the efforts of […]
£4,000 sublet fee at Butler’s Place
January 30, 2018 By
The highest sublet fees LKP has encountered exist at the retirement site Butler’s Place, in Milford, in Surrey. In some retirement leases subletting fees of 1 per cent of the purchase price or value of a flat are charged at each subletting. In theory this means that if you have, say, three tenancies in a […]
DCLG stakeholders hear of ‘calamitous’ Law Commission report on exit fees
April 13, 2017 By
The DCLG leasehold stakeholders’ group was told yesterday that the Law Commission report into exit and other fees published earlier this month was ‘calamitous’. The study had come about following the Office of Fair Trading investigations into the retirement housing sector. One concerned the systematic cheating of pensioners over the Peverel / Cirrus collusive tendering […]
BBC One Show warnings over retirement housing’s ‘sting in the tail’
November 25, 2016 By
The BBC One Show on prime time telly featured retirement housing earlier this week (November 22). It can be viewed here at 2.09 minutes The presenters warned that retirement housing can come with a “financial sting in the tail that can hit families at the worst possible time”. Sebastian O’Kelly, of Campaign against retirement leasehold […]
Another day, another set of fees in a retirement flat sale …
January 31, 2016 By
Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to make you aware of the exorbitant transfer fees, contingency fee & charges for information packs that we were charged by E&M Estates Management Ltd when I sold my parents flat last week. The flat in question was built by Mcarthy & Stone in Deal, Kent, managed by Peverel & […]
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 […]
