Selling a retirement apartment

mousemat

I have two agents and I've had no negative feedback about the property itself from the viewings I have had.
I've just spoken to one of the agents and their advice is that the price is comparable to similar properties and that viewings should start to pick up now CoViD is less of an issue, they've basically said that if I just wanted to sell it quickly then any price drop would need to be some 35% to compete with smaller properties so it's not really credible for me (which aligns with the response "eddddy" offered above).
I guess I'll wait and see what happens for a while yet.
Thanks to all for your valuable responses.

ccluedo

Regarding the Council Tax,

When you do not pay Council Tax

If you’re selling a property on behalf of an owner who’s died, you do not need to pay Council Tax until after you get probate as long as the property remains empty. After probate is granted, you may be able to get a Council Tax exemption for another 6 months if the property is both:

• unoccupied
• still owned and in the name of the person who died
  
  
  

Flugelhorn

MEM62 said:

mousemat said:

I am in touch with the agents today to discuss the price, it seems comparable with other properties but perhaps yes that is the problem as they are not selling either.

I think your problem is below.  

mousemat said:

The apartment is costing around £600 a month in service charges and council tax 

This does seem a lot.  

we have a family member in one like this at present - ideal accommodation and good levels of support - probably around £600/month - we know it will be tricky to sell when the inevitable happens but it has make relative comfortable and cared for and the TBH the beneficiaries don't need the money 

mousemat

The main problem is that the probate period ends soon and the estate will then have to pay double Council Tax as the property is empty.
I will therefore end up paying an annual cost of £3,000 in service charges and a huge nearly £4,000 in Council Tax.

lisyloo

mousemat said:

The main problem is that the probate period ends soon and the estate will then have to pay double Council Tax as the property is empty.
I will therefore end up paying an annual cost of £3,000 in service charges and a huge nearly £4,000 in Council Tax.

No you don’t.
if the estate of the deceased owes the money and there are no liquid funds then the creditors will have to wait to be paid.

ccluedo

mousemat said:

The main problem is that the probate period ends soon and the estate will then have to pay double Council Tax as the property is empty.
I will therefore end up paying an annual cost of £3,000 in service charges and a huge nearly £4,000 in Council Tax.

Given covid etc and the specialist nature of the property regarding limited market, I think I would be applying/appealing for full exemption.  Worse case is that they refuse.

mousemat

lisyloo said:

mousemat said:

The main problem is that the probate period ends soon and the estate will then have to pay double Council Tax as the property is empty.
I will therefore end up paying an annual cost of £3,000 in service charges and a huge nearly £4,000 in Council Tax.

No you don’t.
if the estate of the deceased owes the money and there are no liquid funds then the creditors will have to wait to be paid.

Thanks lisyloo for reminding me, I keep reverting to thinking that it's me that has to pay it rather than the estate, doh.

Just spoken to the council too, they said they are extremely unlikely to offer an exemption/reduction (I will make a case though) but that the doubling doesn't happen until next year.

badger09

eddddy said:

I'm not sure that "quick buy" companies would be interested in a retirement flat.

Typically, "quick buy" companies don't actually buy the property themselves, they find a hard-nosed investor with cash, who'll buy 'almost anything as long as it's cheap enough'.

But a hard-nosed investor won't have any use for a retirement flat - they probably wouldn't even be allowed to rent it out.



But even if the "quick buy" company was interested, they claim to offer 80% of market value, so the discussion would probably go something like this:

• The property isn't selling - so it's overpriced.

• The market value for a quick sale is about 20% less than your current asking price. i.e. If you reduced the price by 20%, you'd be selling at market value, so you'd probably find a buyer.

• Then the "quick buy" company offer you 20% under that market value. (Because they want to keep that 20% as their fee/profit for finding a buyer.)

So, in short, they're likely to offer you at least 35% to 40% below your current asking price.


So if you're really desperate, you could reduce your current asking price by 25% using the current EA, and you'd still be better off than dealing with a "quick buy" company.

I agree about the 'quick buy' companies, but as Executor, OP has legal duty to safeguard & realise best value from assets for beneficiaries. Doesn't automatically mean holding out for max possible sale price, but a big reduction could leave OP open to challenge & potential personal liability.

OP, in your position, I would consult beneficiaries. They might be perfectly happy for you to try to sell at much reduced price. If you are sole beneficiary, then you can obviously make your own decision. 

user1977

MEM62 said:

mousemat said:

The apartment is costing around £600 a month in service charges and council tax 

This does seem a lot.  

Not sure it's out of the ordinary really - retirement flats typically come with high service charges because they have lots of services on top of the normal building maintenance etc (resident wardens, alarm systems, lifts, communal lounges etc).

We have had various previous threads here about the difficulties in disposing of "second-hand" retirement apartments, obviously by their nature there's a restricted market in the first place, and buyers will tend to go for the shiny new developments (which come with part-exchange schemes etc).

peterhjohnson

The usual reason a property doesn't sell for 18 months is that it is over-priced for what it is. I don't think a different agent/sales technique will shift it any time soon. A low enough price should work.

I've noticed "retirement" properties sticking on the market and suggest this may be because:

1. Developers offer brand new retirement properties all the time and sell at shiny new prices
2. Sellers of second-hand properties look at the asking prices of the many new properties and base their pricing on those.
3. If there's lots of brand-new retirement properties around, why would a buyer choose to buy second hand unless it was a lot cheaper and all they could afford?