Pensioners at two Stonewater housing association retirement sites are said to be seeking right to manage using Freemont Property Managers – the company founded by ex-Peverel politburo members. Some held senior positions in the company when Peverel’s subsidiary Cirrus was systematically cheating pensioners in a price fixing racket that was busted by the Office of […]
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 […]
‘Curtains for exit and sublet fees’ by Law Commission … but not until March 2017
September 24, 2014 By
Leasehold exit and sublet fees have been referred to the Law Commission, which will almost certainly be the end of them. This means anyone selling or renting out a retirement or non-retirement flat should keep all documentation with a view to making a claim in two and half years time.
Competition and Markets Authority issues update on leasehold study
August 1, 2014 By
… But it wants further feedback, so let them have it! … Oh, and you are all happier than those in non-retirement flats! The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today issued an update on its market study (see below) into the provision of residential property management services in England and Wales. LKP / Campaign […]
Engage Liverpool meeting with leaseholders and CMA
May 13, 2014 By
Engage Liverpool, which represents flat owners in the centre of the city, is holding an open meeting with leaseholders on May 21. It has invited Douglas Cooper, of the Competition and Markets Authority, to hear from leaseholders, particularly those who have experience of self-management. Engage Liverpool represents leaseholders who have bought flats in the city […]
OFT leasehold management inquiry now INCLUDES housing associations
March 4, 2014 By
The Office of Fair Trading today announced its leasehold management inquiry and will include housing association and council leaseholders. The scope is defined here This was a key point urged by Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation and, largely on its prompting, more than 100 leaseholders wrote to the OFT demanding their inclusion.
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation / LKP gets full investigation into leasehold management by the Office of Fair Trading
December 3, 2013 By
The Office of Fair Trading today announced a full investigation into leasehold in England and Wales. The announcement has been prompted by the campaigning of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership (www.leaseholdknowledge.com) and its sister website Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation (www.betterretirementhousing.com), the Campaign Against Retirement Leasehold Exploitation. In September LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation […]
You DO have to pay sublet fees annually in retirement leasehold
October 11, 2013 By
The feeble deal between the Office of Fair Trading and the Tchenguiz Family Trust over retirement leasehold exit and subletting fees – the one in July 2012 where the OFT said they were an unfair contract but, no, it was not going to do anything about them – has been clarified to Campaign against retirement […]
Davey and Bottomley quiz OFT over its leniency deal with Peverel over the Cirrus price-fixing scam
September 2, 2013 By
Energy Secretary Ed Davey demanded answers this afternoon from the Office of Fair Trading over its tardy investigation into the Peverel / Cirrus price-fixing scandal. He and Sir Peter Bottomley, MP for Worthing West, wanted to know why the investigation was so protracted and why Peverel was offered a 100 per cent leniency deal. Peverel […]
Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation whistleblowers furious as OFT may give Peverel immunity over price-fixing
July 8, 2013 By
UPDATE July 10 2013: Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation received this email from the Office of Fair Trading this afternoon, shortly after a Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation meeting with Sir Peter Bottomley: I am the team leader for the OFT’s investigation into certain access control and alarm systems companies, with respect to which the […]
End transfer fees, or let LVTs rule on whether they are reasonable, says OFT
February 1, 2013 By
Parliament should end the levying of transfer fees – that is, exit fees and sub-letting fees – or allow the Leasehold Valuation Tribunals to rule on their reasonableness, This is one of the key findings in the Office of Fair Trading’s prolonged investigation – published today – into a lucrative and unjustifiable earner that is […]
Pay back my £1,150 exit fee, or we are off to court
August 3, 2012 By
Veteran Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation supporter Susan Wood is considering legal action against the retirement development landlord Fairhold on the thorny issue of exit fees and wants back £1,150. The case concerns her deceased father’s flat at Kings Court, in Sheffield, where Wood and her two siblings were charged two per cent exit fees […]
