McCarthy & Stone

[Heratnumber7]

Has anyone got any experience of buying a flat from McCarthy & Stone?

DM is considering buying one of their older properties and am wondering how well properties are maintained and whether there are any issues with the lease we should know about.

Hideous service charges, and you'll never sell it if she needs to go into care or dies. In the meantime you'll/she'll be left having to pay the service charge on an empty flat. Renting is against the lease.

There was a watchdog programme about them a year or two ago - might be worth seeing if you can find it?

Thank you.
I'm not comfortable with the purchase, but I've already vetoed one, on the grounds that it was only 75% ownership. Not McCarthy & Stone though.

Annual maintenance doesn't seem too bad, maybe because it's an older property. Do Mc&S keep to their obligations?

1. Check whe management company is, and then google, lots. One of the big retirement builders (possibly M&S) used to use one which was so awful they needed to change their name.

1. Look at the longevity. My mum told me she fancied a Churchill Retirement Living block near her. She was just coming out of hospital following a hip replacement. Churchill confirmed that no one under the age of 55 was allowed to stay overnight, and this ruled out temporary 24 hour care.

1. Look at resale. Rightmove lets you look at retirement properties only. Sale prices vary hugely, effectively reflecting how popular the block and its management are.

1. There is a big difference between retirement living, sheltered and very sheltered. Be clear what you want, and whether you want to avoid moving twice.

FWIW my mother is in very sheltered (ie 24 hour warden), run by a firm called Retirement Security Ltd. She has been there six years and it is brilliant. Effectively it has enabled her to stay out of a home, thus saving a lot of money. Resale values also hold up.

Some of my DM's friends have had issues (going back several years). eg lots promised for new developments and then not delivered eg lifts, 24-hr wardens etc. She wont even consider them.

The whole sheltered home industry sounds unregulated; corporate development companies dealing with vulnerable people. No wonder there are issues.

Thank you to PP for recommendation about Retirement security.

My grandmother bought one of these and at the time (about ten years ago) it was very well maintained. A lot of the residents bought them as could lock up and leave while they went on long winter sun holidays but there were plenty of people around to also make it feel lived in. The main bonus is that you still keep a 'front door' so it is proper independent living if you wish to ignore everyone. For my grandmother however, moving there totally turned around her social isolation and she would join in with some of the social stuff and enjoyed helping with the garden. The live in warden was a wonderful woman. My grandmother died after a series of strokes and I firmly believe moving there kept her out of a residential care home.

'Non-one under 55 is allowed to stay the night? WTF? So no visits from younger relatives? No young and able carers? That sounds deeply amnipulative and isolating.

The live in warden

This is key, as are communal spaces and facilities. Retirement living would not normally include a live in warden.

Some developments are little more than expensive flats for wealthy downsizers. Some may have a working hours caretaker but not much more. My advice would be to look carefully and do a series of "what ifs":

• what if the spouse dies
• what if there is a period of convalescence following, say, a hip replacement
• what if there is a longer term disability, say following a stroke.
• what if you need to sell in hurry.

No one has mentioned the transfer fees on the sale of the property. They used to be 2% before someone took them to court. The fees are now less but still thousands.

My friends Mum lived in one and it was the best thing she ever did. She loved the social side of it but liked the privacy of her own flat when she wanted. A group of residents went abroad in holiday several times a year.

There was no problem with family staying. She had a 1 bedroom place but family could stay in a guest room if they wanted. Certainly people well under 55 could stay.

When her mum died the flat didn't take long to sell either.

She says it was the best move her Mum could have made.

Can I point out that OP has asked specifically about Mc&S. I suspect the positive responses are from posters with parents in other sheltered housing/retirement schemes.

Mc&S are one of the worse in terms of ripping off families, hence the Watchdog programme.

It's the social aspect that appeals to DM, and though I was asking about M&S in particular, because they own the flat she wants to buy, comments about retirement living in general are interesting and useful, and food for thought.
Thank you all for taking the time to reply.