Letting a Mcarthy Stone flat

thestens

Does anyone know what the sub letting fee is for renting out a McCarthy and Stone flat? My mum owns one and is going into a care home so we need to let it out - no point selling as 5 for sale already in the complex!!

ValHaller

If it is a retirement flat, there are probably always 5 for sale ????

What is your ultimate plan for disposal? As I see it you can only postpone disposal and all the while you let it out, you are accumulating costs, deterioration and risk.

Snakey

Are you allowed to rent them out? There may well be a covenant or a lease condition that won't let you do this. I can imagine it would make it more difficult to manage the block if half the flats had landlords to deal with as well as tenants. That would sound unreasonable normally, but retirement flats seem to be a different kettle of fish - if they are "allowed" to put in a condition which says you can't live there if you're under 55, I am sure they could put in a condition like this too and make it stick.

If you are allowed to rent them out, I wonder whether giving Mccarthy and Stone a call might be as good a way of starting the ball rolling as any. They'll be able to tell you whether there are restrictions and so on and perhaps they even have a rental department (likely to be pricey but some potential tenants would prefer to go through a source that feels official/legitimate).

I agree with ValHaller though - I don't know what the typical length of stay in one of these flats is, but I doubt there will ever be a time when there aren't any others in the block for sale. And the sale is often going to be by executors after a death, and the beneficiaries are going to be more interested in getting their hands on the money asap than holding on for a decent price. This will keep prices low.

And the longer you leave it, the more new ones they'll build, perhaps even in the same town, and people might prefer a new one if they have that choice (lots of people don't want to live somewhere where someone might have died).

Source: my grandfather died in 2012 and we had to take a HUGE loss compared to what he'd paid just four years earlier. Partly due to the market collapsing, but mainly because of the above. The service charges were significant enough that we couldn't just leave it empty in the hope of a price rise. I don't think anyone looked into renting it out though.

eddddy

thestens wrote: »

Does anyone know what the sub letting fee is for renting out a McCarthy and Stone flat? My mum owns one and is going into a care home so we need to let it out - no point selling as 5 for sale already in the complex!!

Hi thestens

The OFT has done an investigation into subletting (and exit) fees at retirement homes. And it looks like you'rr lucky! McCarthy and Stone gave in to pressure from the OFT, and dramatically cut there subletting fee, here's an extract from a report about it:

There were some very welcome elements to the OFT/Tchenguiz deal, principally the flat fee of £85 for sub-letting. This ended the absurd one per cent of capital value sub-letting fees which McCarthy and Stone had originally worked into the leases. These were always a try-on too far and, if applied, made retirement leasehold unlettable

Full report: http://www.carlex.org.uk/exit-fees-what-to-do-after-the-ofttchenguiz-deal/

propertyman

Do ignore the anti this and Carlex mob this and OFT that mob

The first thing that you do to check what the lease actually sais, then post that extract for advice rather than the speculation and opinion !

patman99

Yes, but if the OFT have ruled that the fees are to high and have ordered M&S to lower the fee, then whatever is in the lease regarding sub-letting fees will be irrelevant.
You need to contact M&S and obtain the latest fee structure.

thestens

Thank you. Yes we will contact McC and S after Christmas and check it exactly. Just thought it was worth asking on here - actually have found the Carlex website really useful (why are they a "mob", Propertyman??). We don't need to sell to fully fund the carehome, just need a bit to top up other income, and with interest rates so low it seems pointless to sell and put the money in a bank. Can probably get a higher return through renting for now. Unlikely that more being built would affect resale much, I think. I agree it will always be a lowish resale price.

Richard_Webster

Most McCarthy & Stone blocks have been sold on to the Peverel/OM/Estates & Management etc group.

I think you can sublet ( I've done it and paid the 1% before they changed the rules!) and usually the return is better than the interest you would get on investing the sale proceeds, unless you can afford to buy something else to let with the money.