Property News · April 28, 2018

Do retirement villages live up to the glossy hype?


The brochures promise a ‘first class’ lifestyle, but buying there may not make sense financiallyDenise Eede’s parents were among the pioneers of a new form of housing when they bought a flat in Britain’s first privately owned US-style retirement community, a 28-acre complex outside a leafy Surrey village. Her parents loved their life there – their two-bed flat was all the space they needed, and they enjoyed the full range of activities on offer. They had no complaints about the operators, Retirement Villages. But Eede’s problem is how to sell the flat – in a market where only the over-60s can buy, where no lettings are allowed, where the service charge is more than £4,000 a year and where, crucially, every time a property is sold, the management company takes up to 12.5% of the sale price.Eede has redecorated the flat, which has now been on the open market for more than a year. She has been forced to cut the price from £185,000 to £140,000, which is well below the current average value of a flat in the village of Cranleigh: £260,000 according to Zoopla. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
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