Retirement apartment

We went to look at a MCarthy and Stone in Grantham. It was lovely but small and very overpriced and the service charge was horrendous, little storage and nowhere to put washing (not allowed to out it out). There were no dedicated car parking spaces and nothing under cover. When our time comes we shall look for a good roomy 2 bed apartment not built by one of the well known companies and contract with a care line company rather than paying huge fees for a live in warden.

<shudder>
Sorry Val but that's my gut reaction.
I agree with Teetimne i'd rather pay for services as and when I need them.

I have posted before on another thread, retirement apartments can be very hard to sell as there are so many on the market.

What would worry me would be the lack of variety in neighbours. It's good to live where there are young and old.

We lived in some flats for a couple of years. Lovely flats with wonderful grounds. They attracted the elderly. I am sorry to say there were a curmudgeonly bunch!!!!!

Nothing was good enough and you could not please them. They seemed to take pleasure in disagreement. DH was on the management committee. I must say we are late 60s,so not spring chickens. (I do know people of any age can be a pain.) Just a little warning

My Dad lived in a complex for the elderly, and I would have to endorse the fact that the service charge was unbelievable and this made it very hard indeed to sell when he died.

He got little for that charge - mowing of communal lawn; a common room where residents themselves could organise events,but none were organised for them; and a resident warden who rang them each day to check they were alive, and that was all.

I too share the dislike of a one generation living space - I would like to see young families around me.

I went to look at a retirement flat. It was lovely, but I couldn't live there. There was nowhere that one of us could go to do our own thing. The rooms were very small. It did have two bedrooms, but knowing DH's capacity for hoarding collecting things, it would be full in no time.

algeswifeval thank you for posting this as I too am thinking of going to look at one of these and the posts are very helpful. Putting me right off actually, but better to change my mind now rather than buy one and regret it

Alges I am not in a retirement complex but DH and I did downsize from a detached house to a two bed flat. We spent a long time looking at lots of different locations and lots and lots of flats before we chose the one we now live in. We had to wait for a couple of years before one came up for sale but are really pleased we made the move. We love our home and get on well with the neighbours.

My mum considered buying one but we looked at a few and she didn't like them as they're quite small and "institutional" looking. I think they're really bad value because as annsixty said they're extremely difficult to sell. I think, at least in some complexes, flats can't be rented out if the owner dies or goes into a home but the high monthly charges still have to be paid. They don't really offer any meaningful support. From what I recall, the warden wasn't there all the time and seemed to deal mainly with admin matters rather than offer much assistance to residents.

If it were me, I would do as Crafting and her husband did - don't rush but spend plenty of time looking for a flat - and research the area thoroughly to make sure you really like it and it meets your needs in terms of shops, transport, etc. Although you would still be paying charges, I doubt they would be as high as those in retirement properties, and that should leave a little more money available to buy in any practical help you might need in the future.

The other thing to be careful with when looking at these flats is that when it is sold a proportion of the sales price, I think it can be as much as 25% has to be paid to the leaseholder.

Friends of mine considered moving into one of these flats but were put off them completely by the really onerous charges; both maintenance and cut of the capital. They too, took their time and bought a ground floor flat in a town centre development and will pay for care when they need it.

Although the charges are still high, it may be worth considering a retirement village, these usually have more faciltities and include a care home so that indiiduals can move from home to care, within the same community and with their partner, if they have one, close at hand and still keeping the same friends, expensive though.

Thank you all for your replies. I agree there are lots of things to consider. Lots of negatives and not many positives. I think we are going to have to have a long chat about what we plan.

SIL and DB moved to a Park Home; it is on a lovely site with friendly neighbours, a good social group and amenities close by.
They also have a lovely little garden, which SIL could not manage without (nor could I, not keen on gardening but I have to be outside when the weather is good, being in an apartment would drive me bonkers).
Since DB died, SIL had the support of her neighbours - however, the only downside seems to be that they are all getting old together, becoming ill and eventually dying.

There is also the consideration of the fees they charge when buying and selling, this can be up to 20% I believe.

We have friends who live in a communal retirement complex, where there are vast grounds beautifully kept, but their little home is just that "little". They have no means of direct access to these grounds, they have to go along corridors to get to the main entrances, and the space they have to live in is minimal. I have no idea how much the running costs are, but have heard a moan or two from them about these continually rising. We down sized to a park home, we have a garage, and some garden space, quite a large amount as we are at the end of the site, the people around us are friendly - mostly younger, and enjoy a social life, a walk to the shops will always involve a chat as people treasure their little plot, and work hard to keep them looking smart (a little bit of one-up-man-ship). It is not as cheap as people seem to think, the homes do need some regular maintenance, but it is private, and spacious, by some standards.

PRINTMISS we toyed with the idea of a park home , can I just ask is there a limit to time allowed before your park home has to be replaced or can you stay in the same home indefinately?

Well, I am not sure on that point - ours came with a 10 year guarantee period when if anything went wrong with the structure, then the Company who built the home would rectify this, there is a 25 year sort of guarantee - we have put away all this information, and to be quite honest when we moved here we did not expect to still be here after the 10 years, (13 years ago)we are considerably older than some of the other people who moved in when they were just in their mid fifties, and all seem to be content with their lot and happy. It really very much depends, I think on how well you maintain your home, if you allow it to become in need of serious repair and so impair the general overall appearance of the site, then obviously the site owners are going to ask you to either move or do something about it. These are as you know on a lease, and you only lease the piece of ground under your home, the home is yours, and is classed as mobile, hence the low council tax, but the chances of ever moving it are remote. We were fortunate in as much as we found a new site and could choose which home we wanted. I have sent you a pm. (I hope) so that you find our home on google world if you have it.

tanith I only know from SIL living in one; hers is well over 15 years old (could be 20?) still looking very smart, well-maintained and she has just had a conservatory built onto it. There is a garage and a reasonably sized garden. However, no garden shed is allowed, but greenhouses are.
Some of the very old homes on the site have been removed as people have died and are being replaced with new ones.
However, they are not cheap and the ground rent seems quite high to me, as well as having to pay council tax on top of that.
That being said, when we go to visit I am always most impressed how well-kept and smart they look, all vying with each other to have 'the best kept garden' by the look of it!

rose that is so true about the gardens, unfortunately we like a natural look - not weeds, but never 'little maids all in a row' Both our neighbours are fanatical - spend every hour they can in their gardens, and it shows of course, so we are very lucky, surrounded by beautiful gardens in our own oasis of wilderness (if you can do that). Each to his own.

MIL lives in a McCarthy and Stone/Peverel block of over 100 apartments on the edge of a rural city. She has spent her life following us around (slightly irritating as have always felt responsible for her well-being). She is a happy moaner and that glass is resolutely half empty, but even so has excelled herself with ongoing complaints since she moved. To be fair, some things are justified and I wouldn't put up with it, but I do feel that she is pushing to move in with us (I couldn't do it - my life would be hell). My father lived in a much smaller block in a small town and loved it, so I think key is not moving to too large a block. The other advantages should be that you are living with folk your own age - much more in common than with other ages - and you have an on-site support network of like minded people (chewing over a problem, going shopping, helping each other through difficult times). I will not, not, not, moving to such a place in my older years!!

My mother was very happy in her flat which she bought in a complex managed by Peverel. Nice garden that she could enjoy and various social events in the communal lounge. She felt relieved of property maintenance and safe. She also felt it was a good investment but would have been upset at resale price after her death plus a percentage went to Peverel.

We have a plethora of elderly purpose flats in my seaside town. We also have some council run warden assisted flats. My brother-in-law lives in a in a council run flat. It is tiny, I mean tiny . He has sitting room with a niche for his kitchen. A tiny bedroom and bathroom. I can nearly touch opposite walls with out stretched arms. There is a communal room with activities run by some of the lady residents whose word is law. It is close to the centre of town. I went with a friend who was looking to move to a privately run complex. Lovely two bedroom flat and communal area but so expensive to run with all the extras. I'm staying put in my gff with decent garden. Also, I don't want to live in an elderly ghetto. I like a mix of ages.

One thing I don't want to do now I am really old is live with a lot of other old people, So boring !! Mixed community is what one needs and everyone helps everyone else in different ways and more stimulating . I agree pay for help as and when needed. All this of course provided one can get about and don't need too much physical help. Join every society and group one possibly can. Carry on as regardless as one possibly can for as long as one can. I am in my 10th decade.

I have found this post and the replies very interesting and helpful. My parents, in their nineties live in the same area as Val (Lincoln) in a 4 bedroom bungalow with a large garden. They are both reasonably active but Dad is blind and Mum falls a lot so we felt their present circumstances are not really suitable. I have been suggesting a retirement flat with warden supervision and they have been fiercely resisting it. Seems they were right to do so!
We downsized from a large 3 bedroom house with large garden to a 3 bedroom flat with communal garden when we were in our late 60s early 70s respectively and are so glad we didn't wait any longer. Our neighbours range from the elderly to students and young families and it's so sociable. Yes we have to pay a community charge for the garden and communal area maintenance, but it's less than we spent on maintaining our own garden and house. When and if we need help we will pay for it but at the moment my husband at almost 76 is still climbing the Asturian mountains once a fortnight!

I agree with all those who don't want to live in a single age group community.

I don't want to put all the hard earned savings into someone else's pocket either! I have a property alert with Primelocation and every time something comes up which looks like a lot of flat for the money it is an over 60s one.

When we were discussing that at some point the house and garden will be too much for us a good friend suggested that paying people to help would probably cost less than the costs of moving to somewhere smaller. I think he had a point. We could turn the dining room into a bedroom and just live on one floor with a bit of work to enlarge the loo to a wet room. Then we would still have the rest of the house for family to come and stay.

Silverleaf you sound amazing! I like a mix of ages round me, keeps me younger in spirit. My father and mother moved into sheltered accommodation, they had the show flat, a sort of bungalow attached to the main building, the living room was a good size and two bedrooms okay. Communal grounds they were not allowed to tend, but amazingly they were allowed to keep their dog (most won't accept pets). Wardens changed on a regular basis, some better than others. There were no organised activities other than anything the residents provided for themselves in the common room.

As others have mentioned, the management fees were a bone of contention, and a community of over 70s doesn't provide mutual support, more a mutual moaning ground! Grumpy old men and women seem to fall out more easily, and when you are living on top of each other, it is worse, though when my mother died, I think my father was glad not to feel alone, even if some of them were a bit touchy.

When he died it was a nightmare, two and a half years of having to go back and keep the place maintained, estate agents were absolutely useless, and in the end it was bought by another resident who wanted the bigger accommodation, otherwise I think it still might be a millstone round my neck!