McCarthy and Stone Resales

lakeland1828

Does anyone know what happens if a McCarthy & Stone flat fails to sell after many years and the accrued service charges now exceeds the value of the flat - are the beneficiaries responsible for the debt?

GavCB

I'd imagine that the Estate would be liable, not the beneficiaries. How many years has the flat been for sale? With annual charges of around £4500 the property must have sat empty for a good 20 years? 

Ms_Chocaholic

Why hasn't the property been reduced to rock bottom to get rid.

Larac

I do sympathise - my late Mum's Mcarthy Stone Flat - took 18 months to sell - you are normally in competition to sell with X number of flats.  Isnt there something in the lease where First Port can take it over in this situation?  If you dont pay the managmmentt fees I am pretty sure the Estate goes into default - I would ask First Port how to proceed.  (The whole experience left me not ever wanting to get involved in retirement flats)

Murphybear

Larac said:

I do sympathise - my late Mum's Mcarthy Stone Flat - took 18 months to sell - you are normally in competition to sell with X number of flats.  Isnt there something in the lease where First Port can take it over in this situation?  If you dont pay the managmmentt fees I am pretty sure the Estate goes into default - I would ask First Port how to proceed.  (The whole experience left me not ever wanting to get involved in retirement flats)

From what I have seen McCarthy and Stone properties are often the most expensive on the market with very high service charges.  Their rentals are ridiculously high.  We rent a 3 bedroomed house from an over 60s HA.  It is in an affluent and desirable part of the country and we pay just over £1k pcm including service charges.  The same size M + S in a nice area is well over £2.5k pcm.  

Woody1968

This is indeed challenging having experienced this myself. I paid for legal advice and its was not good but suggest you may wish to seek similar advice. My understanding is your are the lease holder and therefore have responsibility to pay the ongoing fees until the lease runs out (900+ years) or you sell the property (and lease). I didn't get to your position but one option is to hand the property back (excepting you lose everything) or my recommendation is crash the price. If its cheap enough you may get a buyer. Neither is good news and I am sorry for your position. One day hopefully the law will change.

Woody1968

A good resource for advice concerning leasehold issues is The Leasehold Knowledge Partnership - a registered charity. Checkout their website and advice section.