McCarthy and Stone has made a “goodwill” payment of £40,000 to Oak Court in Manchester which lacked fire compartmentation in the roof. But a leaseholder at the site, which featured in BBC TV’s Rip-Off Britain last year, withdrew a submitted article to LKP addressing the issue after receiving a phone call from the company’s senior […]
McCarthy and Stone makes ‘goodwill’ payment of £40,000 to Oak Court, but leaseholder drops article for LKP after phone call from the company’s lawyer
December 8, 2023 By
French resi service group Emeria clears out FirstPort management in take-over
August 25, 2022 By
Will much change with the take-over from the usual service – service, that is, to the freeholders who employ FirstPort? And what – sacrebleau – is going on with the leaseholders at St David’s Square, on the Isle of Dogs, who are litigating in January? FirstPort, the biggest residential property manager in the UK, has […]
Pensioners face £150,000 fire safety bill at Cestrian Court, but McCarthy and Stone isn’t reponsible (nor is FirstPort)
March 3, 2021 By
Pensioners at Cestrian Court in Chester-le-Street, Co Durham, are looking at bills for £150,000 to put right historic build defects even though the site was only built by McCarthy and Stone in 2008. The building appears to have fire compartmentation defects in the loft. These were also cited as defects at Gibson Court, in Hinchley […]
FirstPort’s estate agency Retirement Homesearch sees rise in homes for sale
August 2, 2017 By
UK Retirement Property Market, Q1 2017 | FirstPort FirstPort, the UK’s leading retirement property specialist releases its latest 2017 quarterly review of the UK market and beyond. Retirement Homesearch, the estate agency of FirstPort, claims it is seeing a very small rise on last year for new instructions and current stock levels. Nick Freeth, Managing […]
99% of FirstPort’s 3,800 service charge accounts are up to date
October 28, 2016 By
LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation has not been backward in criticising Peverel / FirstPort over the years. However, it is reasonable and fair that the company’s achievement in getting on top of the service charge accounts is recognised. Here FirstPort CEO Nigel Howell (below right) explains that more than 99% of its service charge […]
Ex-Peverel employee thwarted over right to manage for Tatton Court and Willow Court
August 10, 2016 By
UPDATE August 12 Yesterday evening Susan Earnshaw returned Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation’s phone call and we discussed the issues of Tatton Court and Willow Court and the services provided by her company. We publish her full response below, but make a number of points: 1/ We tried but were unable to contact Mrs Earnshaw […]
Warner Court, in Berkshire, breaks free of Tchenguiz and FirstPort with right to manage
August 5, 2016 By
Another day, another retirement site – Warner Court – decides to break free of the Vincent Tchenguiz organisation and FirstPort to appoint its own management through right to manage. The RTM at Warner Court, in Sandhurst, Berkshire, takes over on September 15, which means another retirement site will almost certainly slip from FirstPort’s grasp. The […]
Brexit hits retirement housing sales
August 4, 2016 By
Just about every marketing department in the country has come up with Brexit “research” to grab headlines, and FirstPort’s Retirement Homesearch estate agency has joined in. It says that in the second quarter of 2016, new buyer registrations for retirement properties slipped by more than 20% from the first quarter to 4,744. This figure is […]
No porkies at Sandbanks, but is ending the in-house manager going to save money?
July 30, 2016 By
UPDATED August 1 2016. 20:17 Residents at Sandbanks at Hoylake, in the Wirral, are pondering the issue of whether to continue to have an in-house manager. It is a later McCarthy and Stone retirement site, completed in 2008 and one of the last freeholds to be sold off to Vincent Tchenguiz’s interests, in this case, Fairhold […]
Warner Court sky-high sublet costs when a relative goes into care
July 30, 2016 By
This is a recent inquiry to Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation from Warner Court, in Sandhurst, Berkshire: “My mother-in-law owns a flat and may have to go into a care home. “We were considering renting out the property but have been told by E & M [the Tchenguiz interests based in the British Virgin islands], […]
Kyle Court in Scotland: FirstPort just won’t spend our money
July 29, 2016 By
This is the sort of dilemma leasehold owners in retirement sites in England and Wales can only dream about. Residents at Kyle Court in Ayr, a McCarthy and Stone site built in 1992 and managed (inevitably) by FirstPort, want to spend around £8,000 in the contingency fund on painting balconies and the outside walls. But […]
ARMA rules against FirstPort Retirement …
June 22, 2016 By
Humiliating criticism for the trouble property manager, but the path is now clear for it to apply for membership of the trade body The regulator of the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) has admonished on two counts Peverel / FirstPort Retirement, which was applying to join the organisation. But the decision means the controversial […]
