Brady Solicitors Archives - Better Retirement Housing

57% of leaseholders regret buying their property, finds Leasehold Advisory Service

June 18, 2016 By Admin

And two-thirds of leaseholders don’t feel they get a good service from their managing agent These are two of the results of the survey of leaseholders – and RMC directors –by the Leasehold Advisory Service. According to the LEASE website, the leasehold survey “is a tool designed to support the sector and not a commercial or […]

LEASE uses debt-collecting Brady Solicitors for leaseholder survey

January 13, 2016 By Admin

The Leasehold Advisory Service has dismayed key leasehold groups by handing over an important survey of leaseholders to Brady Solicitors, in Nottingham. The survey aims to gauge leaseholder satisfaction, with a particular emphasis at blocks of flats run by resident management companies and RTMs. In other words, data concerning the most empowered leaseholder-controlled sites in […]

Better Retirement Housing, formerly the Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation, exists to promote good practice in the retirement housing sector.

The elderly should be able to downsize, enjoy the benefits of stress-free homes, and live communally.

The advantages of this form of living to achieve mutual reliance and combat loneliness are obvious.

Sadly, the UK’s retirement housing sector has been beset with poor practice and has an appalling reputation. It has been the subject of critical tribunal rulings, two investigations by the Office of Fair Trading, and one Law Commission report.

It has also been debated in Parliament, and at the All Party Parliamentary Group meetings organised by the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

That there is a problem is not disputed by impartial observers, although retirement housebuilders’ do their best to minimise the issues.

It is scandalous that the most vulnerable in our society have been beset by sneaky and dishonest fees widespread in leasehold, or systematically cheated, as the OFT found in the Peverel / Cirrus collusive tendering scandal.

However, we acknowledge that the retirement housing sector is varied and there are good operators within it. Better Retirement Housing is delighted that new overseas companies are moving into the market, and that care providers are producing housing solutions. This has introduced a welcome change of culture.

Nonetheless, the standard retirement leasehold flat remains a dubious proposition. It is absurd that it can be the single worst residential property investment one can make, with plummeting re-sale values bearing no resemblance to the local housing market.

The worst practices are made possible by leasehold tenure, and is widely acknowledged that in Scotland, where leasehold does not exist, retirement housing is more harmonious.

Better Retirement Housing aims to improve this sector and, with the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, seeks to make reforms to residential leasehold law.

We assist with individual problems and provide an editorial service of the sector, which aims to be accurate and fair.

Sebastian O’Kelly
sok@leaseholdknowledge.com

Martin Boyd
martin.boyd@leaseholdknowledge.com

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