Two housing associations which also build and sell private leasehold retirement properties are planning to merge. It is claimed that the proposed merger would make both organisations more efficient and allow economies of scale in employing contractors. A leaflet sent to residents of the associations says of the merger: “A new bigger organisation would be […]
Anchor CEO makes donation to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation
June 13, 2016 By
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation and the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership would very much like to thank Jane Ashcroft, CBE, the chief executive of Anchor housing association, for a donation last week. At the launch of Lord Best’s Making Retirement Living a Positive Choice at the House of Lords, Jane noted that the resources of our […]
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 […]
Now Anchor wants to grab a £160,000 house manager flat … for £10,000
October 15, 2014 By
After Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation revealed that Hanover had sold 21 house manager flats, the cash-strapped Anchor is proposing to do the same. Residents at Welland Mews, in Stamford in Lincolnshire, were this morning asked whether they want to continue with a resident house manager as the post is vacant. If they agree to […]
Anchor Trust apology: ‘we do not seek to profit from contingency funds’
March 11, 2014 By
Anchor Trust has apologised for misleading a resident with incorrect information regarding the investment of millions of pounds of contingency funds. In an email to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation, Jonathan Earnshaw, customer relations manager, apologises for erroneously informing an Anchor leaseholder that it had stopped charging a one per cent administration fee in 2013. […]
Fury at Anchor Trust may spill into right to manage mutiny
January 31, 2014 By
Godman’s Court, a retirement site run by Anchor Trust near Horsham in Sussex, is in a state of indignation over a demand for more money. They have been presented with a demand for a 30 year projection of works, which means contributions to the contingency fund must increase. Residents in 21 flats face a demand […]
House manager costs rise nine per cent at Anchor
January 27, 2014 By
Any assistance for this reader? I live in an Anchor Leasehold apartment, and our budget for next year has just been submitted to us residents. Our Estate Managers costs have risen by 9%, and on asking why we have been told that it is due to the requirement of the estate manager having a free apartment and […]
Crisis in retirement housing is all down to planners, says ARCO (not greedy operators drawing up sneaky revenue-earning leases or management companies on the fiddle)
November 27, 2013 By
Here we go again! The apologists for property developers are blaming planners again – this time for the crisis in retirement housing. Something called Associated Retirement Community Operators (ARCO), which represents retirement village operators such as Anchor, Hanover, Retirement Villages etc, says the current provision of specialist retirement housing is “woefully inadequate”.
More sites rebel against Anchor Retirement allowing sub-letting … in defiance of leases that ban it
April 4, 2013 By
UPDATES APRIL 5, 17.51: In a statement justifying its policy, Anchor Retirement refers to the Office of Fair Trading report which stated that “terms in long leases preventing sub-letting have potential for unfairness” and that “permission [to sub-let] should not be unreasonably withheld”. See below APRIL 5 It emerges that another Anchor Retirement site is in ferment over this […]
Housing minister holds round-table discussion on leasehold
February 15, 2013 By
On Wednesday the leasehold “industry” was given the opportunity to persuade Housing Minister Mark Prisk that it has cleaned up its act with new codes of practice and consumer charters. The representation was largely from the commercial interests of leasehold and from the trade bodies that serve them. But there were also members of Parliament, […]
Fury at Anchor Trust allowing sub-letting as retirement leasehold market turns sour
December 14, 2012 By
Residents at an upmarket retirement development in Oxfordshire are incensed that the Anchor Trust appears to be intent on permitting sub-letting even though this may be in breach of the lease. In a nationwide policy, Anchor Trust is allowing leaseholders, or their executors, to rent the properties in exchange for a fee of £175 plus […]
Should Esther Rantzen be a speaker at today’s ARHM jamboree?
June 22, 2012 By
By a pretty wide margin, Esther Rantzen has been the country’s most outstanding campaigning journalist … so why is someone with her acute antennae speaking at this summer’s ARHM annual meeting? It is wrong to believe that the Association of Retirement Housing Managers is filled with cold-hearted cynics seeking to profit from the elderly. It […]
