By Michael Voges, CEO of the Association of Retirement Community Operators The leasehold system in retirement housing is flawed and ensures that consumers taken on all the risk of future costs at a site, Michael Voges, the CEO of ARCO told the APPG on 27 March 2023. “ARCO commissioned a YouGov poll and found that […]
Retirement housing won’t grow until oldies are offered a product that they can trust, says head of ARCO
May 8, 2023 By
Why I took Woodlands Court to right to manage, why it works and why I want the authorities to intervene in this scandal hit sector
May 8, 2023 By
By Dan Healey, director of the Woodlands Court RTM, addressed the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold and commonhold reform on 27 March 2023. He made a passionate plea for retirement sites to opt for right to manage and so employ managing agents accountable to the leaseholders who do the paying Right to Manage – […]
Taking over from Bob Bessell as head of Retirement Security retirement community provider: What we offer and why
May 8, 2023 By
Melanie Gowers is the newly appointed chief executive of Retirement Security Limited, a retirement housebuilder founded by Bob Bessell, a trustee of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership Bob Bessell, a former head of Warwickshire social services, became a retirement housebuilder and set up Retirement Security. He has undertaken to leave the freeholds to his sites in […]
Retirement housebuilder Platinum Skies breached shared ownership rules with onerous ‘staircasing’ charges in the lease
April 7, 2022 By
And ground rents are £500pa on Bournemouth flats selling for £151,600 The Times today reports that retirement developer Platinum Skies, which has close links with prominent Tory politicians, inserted admin fees of tens of thousands of pounds in the supposedly affordable shared ownership leases. Platinum Skies, chaired by former Tory treasurer and hedge funder Lord […]
Churchill Retirement donates £150,000 to Conservatives. To retain ground rents, by any chance?
November 22, 2019 By
Churchill Retirement, which belongs to the McCarthy family who founded McCarthy and Stone, yesterday gave £150,000 to the Conservative party. Churchill Retirement has led the rear-guard action to exempt retirement housing from the government’s three-times repeated promise to reduce new ground rents to zero. McCarthy and Stone, on the other hand, more or less conceded […]
MP Huw Merriman tells prime minister retirement ground rents should be zero
March 6, 2019 By
Tory MP Huw Merriman called for zero ground rents for retirement housing at prime minister’s questions today. He talked of pensioners trapped in McCathy & Stone properties, which have fast depreciating values. He named Vincent Tchenguiz, whose Tchenguiz Family Trust in the British Virgin Islands ultimately owns the old McCarthy and Stone freehold book, and […]
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 […]
Please exempt retirement housebuilders from ground rent ban, pleads Sir Desmond Swayne
May 17, 2018 By
Senior Tory MP Sir Desmond Swaine has pleaded with the Communities Secretary to consider exempting volume retirement housebuilders from the ban on new ground rents. The MP for New Forest West – coincidentally not far from McCarthy and Stone’s Trump-style HQ in Bournemouth – asked in the Tuesday housing debate: “On new build leaseholds, is […]
A second backbench debate on leasehold issues
November 19, 2017 By
An application for a backbench debate on leasehold issues is due to be heard on Tuesday 21st November 2017 http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/backbench-business-committee/ The application asks the committee to consider: The APPG on leasehold and commonhold reform continues to grow and to date has 127 members. Government recently issued both a consultation and a call for evidence on […]
