I find this funny, though I bought a flat around 15 years ago and it can’t be sold for what we paid for it.
"falls in contribution rates have begun to emerge" The LGPS Survey 2026 undertaken by Room 151 in association with Schroders…
Yes, follow-up on the many benefits of Auto-Enrollment with the benefits of Auto-Consolidation, with opt-outs again for the sophisticates who…
The great advantage of a DC pension controlled by the beneficiary is complete control over the cash flows during decumulation…
"Pensions that are linked to salaries and/or inflation pensions are largely extinct in the private sector because they are unaffordable."…
bp’s Code of Conduct states “Do the right thing” and “Be accountable and “We follow through on our promises.” Well…
The leasehold stranglehold is compounded in retirement properties. Don’t believe the posters with the laughing, silver-haired champagne-sippers – buyers are often frail and vulnerable people (or people who expect to he frail in the near future) who are spending what is possibly the bulk of their remaining capital on their retirement flat. Not only are the lease charges uncontrollable, the ‘service’ charges rise exponentially. Pensions don’t. Maintenance charges may be lumped on top. In reality, many of these people can’t cope with the paperwork or admin required to challenge the charges and it’s all been tied up in one-sided ‘agreements’ anyway. These elderly people can’t move, can’t sell, can’t let these flats at a rate to cover costs. Their inheritors have to pay all charges following the death of an elderly relative – amounting to £000s/month for an empty flat. You can’t GIVE these properties away! If you are lucky enough to find a buyer (at perhaps 20% of the original price at which it was sold by a wily retirement property developer some 15 years ago) the ‘admin’ charges the management company and multifarious interests demand will shave a huge percentage off the final sum. Rent one of these, maybe, but NEVER buy one.
Thanks Jane. I would like to hear more from you, you write with a clarity I cannot achieve.
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