27 April 2022
We are sorry that Michael Epstein no longer feels he can support the work we have been doing at LKP for over a decade. Michael formally raised various concerns about LKP’s editorial decisions last year, which were reviewed by the trustees with a full response provided.
LKP was set up in January 2012, filing returns as a registered charity from 2017, and for most of its existence it has had a modest income (as can be seen on Companies House).
In 2012 the Carlex retirement leasehold campaign involved two domain names: the active www.carlex.co and the dormant original www.carlex.org.uk, which had been acquired by an individual uninvolved in LKP or Carlex.
The ownership of www.carlex.co was transferred to us in April 2012 by Melissa Briggs, when she ceased involvement in both organisations. The domain www.carlex.org.uk was transferred to us on 11 April 2013.
Both domains were sought by an anonymous purchaser in 2017 using a US-based intellectual property intermediary.
The sale of the Carlex websites (www.carlex.co and www.carlex.org.uk) resulted in a windfall. In themselves, the web domain names were and are valueless: they have never been used following the purchase. The purchaser’s aim was to close the retirement housing editorial. It failed to do so as the content is reproduced on www.BetterRetirementHousing.com.
Following the sale, we took the decision to transfer the funds in full to the charity, where the trustees and Charity Commission have oversight.
The details of this transaction, as well as our suspicions regarding the identity of the purchaser, will remain confidential. Our trustees, patron MPs, civil servants and the Charity Commission were fully informed of this transaction. The matter had considerable oversight and discussion.
We do acknowledge the role of Melissa in these organisations. She is referenced here: https://www.betterretirementhousing.com/?s=Melissa+Briggs and on LKP here: https://www.leaseholdknowledge.com/?s=Melissa+Briggs
LKP’s documentation is flashed red on the Charities Commission website because we did not submit an annual report (a two-page resume of activities) along with the accounts, which are required by the Charity Commission but not required when filing accounts to Companies House. We have made the same regrettable error in the past. The up-to-date accounts can be seen on Companies House here: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08999652
