On 19th November AgeUK is holding an event for “older leaseholders” on exit/transfer fees as part of the Law Commissions review of these type of charges. The Law Commission project is just entering the public phase having reached their preliminary findings. The project will end some time next year when they present their formal recommendations to government. . Law Commissioner Stephen Lewis will present his report on what they have found so far to the meeting.
LKP will also be speaking about wider leasehold reform
After lunch there will be a group discussion to understand your views.
Please see attached the detailed programme. Anyone wanting to attend should contact Joe Oldman on joe.oldman@ageuk.org.uk
Attendance will be free and the venue is AgeUK’s London headquarters at:
Tavis House 1-6 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9NA
Places are limited and all requests to attend must be with Joe by the 11th November. Lunch and refreshments will be provided so your only costs will be getting to the venue.
“Younger” leaseholders may also want to pay keen attention to the public phase of the Law Commissions work as they are looking at “transfer” fees. That is to say fees which arise at the change of a tenancy. LKP/Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation has urged the law commission to consider these sort of fees in relation to sub letting for all parts of the sector. Time and again landlords have sought to take this issue to the higher courts to increase their charges. Your input to the Law Commission will also be very important.
LKP would urge “older” leaseholders to attend the AgeUK meeting if possible. If you are not able to attend please let Joe Oldman know about your concerns regarding this type of charges.
Details of the full programme can be read HERE
Related posts:
‘Curtains for exit and sublet fees’ by Law Commission … but not until March 2017
OFT does deal with Tchenguiz to cut sub-letting fees to £85 at retirement developments – but exit fees on sale still stand
Exit fees: what to do after the OFT/Tchenguiz deal
Hanover: we wanted court case on exit fees, but OFT doesn’t
We recently sold our McCarthy & Stone Apartment and had to pay £1,450 into the contingency fund We also had to buy a sellers pack from McCarthy & Stone costing £120 Is this also regarded as an exit fee We did not want to leave our apartment but was forced to due to the attitude of the new management company
G Farley seems you got off lightly! In March of this year, when selling our apartment, we had to pay for a Peverel pack costing £268.80, an Estates & Management pack costing £135, an Estates & Management Transfer Fee costing £2450 and finally, just to make sure we paid our dues, £2650 as an Estates & Management Contingency Fee. This was on top of a fee of £2500 to let the property while it was being sold. Oh well, it’s all in the lease so that’s all right then!
Ian & G Farley: you are both “lucky” (to quote from the 1960’s Monty Python script).
In my case the recent sale of my late parent’s retirement bungalow which was 20% owned by Place For People (PFP) incurred a Sinking Fund Contribution and Fees totalling almost £24,500 (14% of the sale value of the 80% share).
All of these charges were specified in the lease so it was perfectly fair in the eyes of PFP.
And this is in spite of the OFT guidelines issued in 2013.
Andy
Sorry cost of sellers pack was £222 and not £120 and of course this was paid to McCarthy & Stone The lady who bought our apartment in September has now gone into a nursing home so no doubt the apartment will go up for sale with another payment into the contingency fund and of course she will pay the Service charge until her family find a buyer (which could be some time) Many people have lost £40,000 selling their apartment then have to pay 1% of the selling price into the contingency fund which the management enjoy spending I regard money paid into the Contingency fund the same as I do the exit fees You pay a service charge and this should cover the cost of running the place People leaving should not have to leave money behind for the upkeep