anyone thinking of buying a Mccarthey stone retirement flat DONT

[Isseywith3witchycats]

3 years ago my MIL died and to date trying to sell her flat in Braintree has been an absolute nightmare, 1st buyer found a cheaper one, second buyer pulled out on exchange day current buyer has been waiting for paperwork to come from them which has taken forever just about to go to exchanging paperwork and they have now said prospective buyer can not buy it as she is 58 years old this flat was bought 15 years ago for £147000 and even at £105000 which was what we accepted still cannot seem to sell it, thing is in the complex its in its one of the best ones large due to being on a corner and ground floor so direct access to the gardens and have had a brand new boiler put in and over the three years it has cost service charges so god knows what we are going to do when whats left of the estate money has gone 7 heirs so each heir wont get a massive amount of money

My friend had exactly this problem when her mum died over ten years ago. She had only lived in the home for about a year too but trying to sell it after she died became an absolute nightmare. In the end it took well over two years to get rid of and in that time they still had to keep paying the charges for the empty flat.

My dad's care home as well as the actual home have small bungalows that you can rent, the charge is over £2000 per month but you have all meals provided, use the communal areas of the home, no bills to pay except if you want something like broadband or care as you would have to buy that in. They are two bed, conservatory, lounge/kitchen area plus all maintenance charges including your own little garden are included and you get a parking space in a security gated environment. They are really very nice.

I am getting to the age when this might be something I will have to think about if I can't manage my house or getting up the stairs (hopefully a bit of a way yet) and this seems pretty ideal to me.

M&S properties or similar would be a big fat absolutely no way for me to consider.

What about this one in the next town to me

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/129195938

Eye-wateringly expensive for that area and service charge is over £10k a year!

My DM's M&S apartment took 4 years to sell. We lost a couple of buyers who got cold feet and COVID didn't help. We sold at about 75% of what she's paid for it. There are lots of unsold apartments in her building, yet they are throwing up new developments like there's no tomorrow! Service charges were around £7k per year, and as it was empty for so long we were paying double council tax. However DM loved her short time there, and the development itself continues to be beautifully maintained.

I would advise anyone to rent rather than buy!

Oh, so people will be allowed to rent these flats out?

the other reason my parents didn't buy one is there were rules about visitors, understandably. Tbh the real attraction for me is the fact it would be childfree and fully managed.

i haven't looked to see what happens if you need a carer to move in.

Yes we have 2 apartments with tenants in right now . It's working well .

prices of these will go up as well as rental of these, long term as generation rent “retire”. however, that’s a 20-30 year plan for those trying to sell now.

I don't understand why it's taking so long to sell them. Surely it would make sense to reduce the price for a quicker sale.

We all have sympathy for op re-these things being a legal nightmare and unregulated, so partly a scam.

But, as others have said, all the above is completely irrelevant because whatever you own the value is only what someone else is prepared to pay, so drop the price and sell and get rid. It really is that simple. No matter how painful.

Its the estate that pays, not the executor.

The problem is that in order to have a comfortable and fulfilling life when elderly significant amounts of care and supervision are required, there is not the money or the human resources available to provide this.
Falling birth rates does that mean that the problem will compound year on year

Would never consider a “retirement” property, they’re usually tiny, really poor value for money.

The term 'retirement property' encourages us to think of it as an asset like other kinds of property, but really it's a liability (for the expectant beneficiaries of the will) not an asset.
If you inherit one of these perhaps it's best to just say no thanks and hand back the keys?

I think the point is that its become a poison chalice for the executor as well? I don't think I'd want to pass on a assess that takes 7 years to sell. Would anyone? Surely you would be better off leaving net zero than what op is left to deal with? Imagine if as executor you don't need or want any net gain but there are say 3 other beneficiary's all hassling you to tie up the estate? Would you want that for the person you entrusted to wind up your estate? I wouldn't. I'd leave 100% of that assess to a charity just to avoid the stress for my loved ones.

It sounds like we need much more public awareness of how these schemes really work?

My father lives in a new development. He wanted a new place with the least hassle possible. The appeal of having it all sorted including things like a cleaner was huge. He is not good with maximising his money and I just accept I will be left with a property hassle once he has gone and very little inheritance.
However theoretically I won't need to worry about him as much, he'll need less frequent visits to check on him, he is in an excellent location to maintain his independence for as long as possible, I know his home will be clean and maintained etc. On balance that's worth more than the money and the hassle. Yes it may be an area that needs more oversight but the model works in many ways.
Obviously anything can happen and my bigger fear is what happens if he got dementia or something but I don't think you can make decisions purely on every what-if and he'll still be happier and safer in a M&S development that a private flat so it has my blessing and we are going into aware of the negatives.

I remember watch dog did it years ago. I think at that point they had free rein with cost increases.

We have loads of these places near me, an awful lot of them are on the seafront but there are always a large number of them up for sale. I think they are sometimes referred to by people who live in this area as "God's waiting rooms".

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/96639859#/?channel=RES_BUY

This sort of thing for example, is just about acceptable, the lease is now only about 60 odd years!

But the price of it, means that you can buy cheap, pay the 4k service charge a year until you die. You're close to a nice city centre, there is some parking although doesnt look guaranteed.

But your executor will have a hell of a job selling it I would imagine

The problem with these properties is there is very limited demand and with the less desirable ones you almost can't give them away.

It's a very narrow range of people who are allowed to live in these flats, usually over 60 but still capable of independent living. People in that bracket usually have plenty of cash and are more interested in having a good quality of life in retirement then in saving money on the purchase price, therefore they tend to go for the modern, spacious new builds over older flats that are often smaller and in more dated looking complexes.

But surely every property will sell for the right price? I might be wrong of course.
To me it just makes sense to price to sell rather than hang on to it for years, paying fees. Yes it's a shame to "lose" all that money, but it wasn't the executors money to "lose" if that makes sense.

Bith my friends who had to sell these, priced them very low indeed. But it still took forever. A pp has explained it well. There's a limited number of people wanting (and qualifying) for these places. M&S are building them all over the place, advertising them everywhere, and people choose to buy nice new shiny ones direct, rather than lived in (and died in?) somewhat more dated ones from an agent.

There are two retirement complexes in my DD's very small rural town. Put 'property in Xtown' into zoopla or wherever, and you'll find loads of them for sale with agencies. Meanwhile another retirement complex is being built on the edge of town, with great big banners, shiny new facilities and attractive deals being offered..

The people who have brought up the costs of not been able to sell this flat in over three years yes there was some money left in the estate and my OH has used this to carry on paying the service charges, council tax etc, but as her care charges were so high (£6000 a month) there is only a finite amount to that and there is probably enough left to pay one more years charges after that god knows there are 7 heirs and obviously they have waited for their small inheritance and at least five of them are not in a position to put in to the charges so that will leave my OH probably responsible for it on a state pension

It's an absolute mystery to me why retirement flats are so hard to sell! Aren't we continually being warned about the rapidly ageing population?

I wish my mother (91) had moved to one about 10 years ago for the social aspects and relief of worry for me and my brother (as mentioned by a pp). But the money side of it all is horrendous and I just don't get it??

My step mother has still not been able to sell her mother's retirement flat ... and she died in December 2019!

My in-laws are in one, and judging by the number on the same development up for sale, it's not going to be easy to shift when the time comes.

However, they've had 7 happy years there (and hope for few more to come), used all the facilities regularly, join in with the social events and have made some good friends there and feel happy and secure knowing that there is always a member of staff on duty to help in an emergency. You can't put price on that.

The high service charge will go on coming out of their estate until the property is sold. It's not my money to save.

I think a big part of it is that people don't want to leave the family home until they can't physically cope anymore, by which point these kinds of flats are no longer suitable.