A watchdog is needed for senior living housing, according to a prominent cross-bench peer.
Lord Best, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on housing and care for older people, also criticised Homes England, the agency that runs the government’s shared-ownership schemes, for allowing private sector companies to draw up unfair leases.
His comments follow an investigation by The Times into housing developer Platinum Skies, which broke Homes England rules over a three-year period by inserting clauses into shared-ownership contracts that made it harder and more expensive for older residents to purchase more of their retirement flats. The company has also been charging ground rents so high that residents risk difficulties selling their homes in future.
Best, who used to be chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Homes England does not look at the actual leases that people sign. As the funder… it should be examining with a fine-tooth comb the individual leases and approving those leases, because they are the basis on which older people occupy their homes for the rest of their lives.”
