I had to sell my father’s retirement flat at less than half price – and that took six years | Property

It has taken me six years to sell my father’s retirement flat for less than half of what he paid for it. For most of that time we have had to pay annual service charges of more than £4,000 – £2,000 in council tax, and £2,000 in interest on unpaid care home fees which the sale of the flat was meant to fund.

It seems retirement apartments are incredibly difficult to sell. In his particular development, owned by Pegasus, a third of the flats were either empty or being sublet.

Two identical flats to my father’s have also just been sold for much less than the original purchase price. Every time I drive past a new retirement development I feel like shouting, “Don’t do it, you won’t be able to sell!”

AJ, Oxford

Your father paid £252,000 for his flat in the Fleur-de-Lis complex in Abingdon eight years ago and you have had to sell for £122,000. While waiting to achieve that paltry sum, you have racked up service and other charges of more than £50,000 – money sorely needed to pay for your father’s nursing home fees.

It’s unsurprising that only 0.6% of over-65s in the UK live in retirement complexes, according to figures from the government’s Older People’s Housing Taskforce, compared with 10 times that number in the US and Australia.

Properties are sold on a lease, usually 125 years, and the value can diminish along with the lease length. Service charges can be significant, payable whether or not the purchaser is in residence; ground rent is often levied; substantial fees may kick in when a property is sold or sublet; and the age restrictions limit the pool of potential buyers. In your father’s complex, the age range is restricted to over-65s.

Fleur-de-Lis tells me your ­experience was “unique” and says the pandemic had initially had an impact on viewings. “Over the last 18 months, our resales team have achieved an average resale value of 91% of the original purchase price, which, given wider housing market conditions, is expected,” it says.

According to Sebastian O’Kelly from the campaign group Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, “retirement housing has resulted in massive wealth erosion for thousands of families”. He suggests people consider alternatives, such as some form of shorter tenancy or guaranteed buyback.

I say anyone tempted to buy into a complex should study the fees and restrictions in the lease, and check out what price resales are fetching before committing.

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