REVEALED: The hidden costs of retirement properties that make them impossible to sell. Here's what you MUST know to protect your inheritance - and finally get a flat off your hands

When Lynn Peters inherited a two-bedroom retirement flat from her parents in December 2023, she hoped to use proceeds from the sale to help her own children get on to the property ladder.

Her parents bought the flat in Maidenhead, Berkshire, for £450,000 in 2018. It passed to Lynn and her brother after their mother died in January 2019 and father in December 2023.

But two-and-a-half years later, the siblings have had to drop the price to £152,000 – little more than a third of the amount their parents paid for it eight years ago. Still the property won’t sell.

Worse yet, for every month that passes without the flat selling, they are forced to shell out more than £1,200 in service charges and £350 in council tax for the unoccupied property.

‘It’s costing us more than £18,000 a year,’ says Lynn, 71. ‘Both my brother and I are pensioners and can’t afford these charges.’

Lynn says they currently owe the freeholder McCarthy & Stone around £25,000 in service charges and have been told they can defer the payments for six months.

‘I’m not quite sure what will happen after that as neither my brother nor I can pay the monthly service charge and council tax,’ she adds. ‘All our father’s money went on care.

‘My children want to buy a property – I wish I could help them with their deposit, but instead I am worried this burden will end up going to them and I fear it may never be sellable because the service charge is so high.’

Lynn says that in the block of 60 flats in Maidenhead, there are currently nine for sale. ‘Recently McCarthy & Stone had an open day for all the properties on sale,’ she adds. ‘Only one person turned up to view.’

McCarthy & Stone declined to comment.

Lynn is not alone in her struggle. Dozens of readers have contacted us in recent days since we revealed the worrying plight of families stuck with retirement flats that they are unable to sell.

Their shocking stories reveal the terrible toll this can take on loved ones.

Readers have also revealed the service fees are far from the only costs that those with retirement flats pay. Hidden costs abound – eating into the inheritances of those left with them and putting off potential buyers.

Retirement homes typically have higher service charges than other flats because they include additional benefits. These often include having support and assistance as well as someone on call in case of emergencies. Many include communal areas. Some even have facilities such as restaurants, gyms and a roster of social activities.

Having help on hand can allow residents to maintain their independence for longer and avoid going into a care home, which would typically be substantially more expensive. But service charges can be high. According to the elderly care comparison site, Lottie, the average monthly service charge is £523.99.

Problems can arise when service charges increase, or when they are so high that they put off potential buyers and leave owners with properties they can’t shift.

Those who find they can’t keep up with service charges, council tax and ground rents are often told they can delay payment until the flat is finally sold. But readers report they have been sent bullying and demanding letters and emails on a regular basis, with some even threatened with bailiffs.

Conservative councillor and estate agent Nick Austin of RiverHomes says he now refuses to sell retirement flats out of principle.

‘I think the way these flats are managed is criminal,’ he says. ‘The managing agents that scrape fees and commissions every time the flat is sold should be shut down.

‘In fact, I think they should be prosecuted. It’s a completely unethical and predatory practice that preys on grieving relatives.’

All of the fees and practices mentioned are legal, including charges when retirement flats are sold.

Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former residential chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), says he has noticed a major drop in the demand for retirement flats, with values falling as a result.

Some of this is down to prohibitive clauses and fees buried in the leases that owners and their heirs don’t always consider before buying.

Exit fees of 1 or 2 per cent of the sale price are common, according to HomeOwners Alliance, although exit fees tend to average 12 per cent, says the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, and sometimes up to 35 per cent of the sale price.

Some providers charge this as a deferred sinking fund contribution, which racks up for every year of ownership. They are used to keep the annual service charge lower, with funds raised going towards the upkeep of the building and communal spaces and to fund major repairs such as to the roof or lifts.

Retirement flats typically come with an array of restrictions, which also makes them harder to sell.

All specify that tenants must be a certain age – typically over 55 or 60 or even 70. They also frequently ban subletting or pets – or charge high fees for doing so.

Subletting costs are either a fixed fee or percentage of the rent. For example, McCarthy & Stone charges 1 per cent of the rent.

Gary Bale, 76, from Birstall in Leicestershire, fears the service charges he owes to his late mother’s retirement home provider, Anchor, could be higher than the property is worth if he can’t sell.

The two-bedroom flat in Leicester, which belonged to his mother Eileen, has been reduced in price twice, from £130,000 to £75,000 since 2024, but still won’t sell.

‘Every prospective buyer has cited the £854 per month service charge,’ says Gary. ‘The stress of this situation has been severe. I have struggled to sleep properly for over two years.’

Gary says the estate is now almost £20,000 in arrears and there is just £5,000 left. On top of this, he says that Anchor can charge an additional fee when they finally sell the property.

Gary says this is set at 0.75 per cent of the value multiplied by the number of years they have owned the property for.

Given their 17 years of ownership, including the 15 years their late mother lived at the flat, they estimated they would have to give Anchor 12.75 per cent of the sale proceeds if they do manage to sell. Anchor claims this calculation is based on a RICS valuation of £101,250 and could amount to £13,000 regardless of how little they get for it on the open market.

Gary adds: ‘Anchor also says we can’t sell it for less than 5 per cent below the RICS valuation. So even if we got an offer of £45,000, we are worried they will block the sale. Anchor has threatened to send the bailiffs to collect the service charges.’

An Anchor spokesman said: ‘We are sorry for the challenges Mr Bale has experienced in selling the home after the loss of his mum.

‘We welcome the opportunity to continue to work with him to sell the property while maintaining our role as landlord.

‘When people sell their home a deferred service charge is applied. This goes into a sinking fund which helps pay for future maintenance. This means residents can put off most of these costs until they sell their property.

‘When signing a lease, it is clear that service charges are payable until a property is sold.

‘All fees, including the deferred sinking fund, are explained prior to purchase and are detailed during the conveyancing process and within the lease agreement.’

Roger Williams sold his in-laws’ one-bed retirement flat in Hampshire in March for just £14,000 – a fraction of the £116,000 it was bought for in 2016.

‘If my parents-in-law had known this they would be mortified and of course their three kids suffered a huge reduction in their inheritance,’ says Roger, 77.

‘Unfortunately there were up to a dozen on the market in the same complex and demand had slumped in part due to the high service charge of £8,000 per annum.

‘In the last four years I managed to rent it out, but the income didn’t cover the service charge and fees.’

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Lynn Bounden says the service charge on her one-bedroom flat keeps rising, while the managing company keeps finding ways to charge extras.

Lynn, 78, and her husband John, 83, bought a flat in Brackley, Northamptonshire, for £125,000 in 2016. The previous owners had bought the flat in 2011 for £146,950.

They say one-bed owners pay £761 a month in service charge, while those in two-beds pay £1,020. ‘Every little thing is extra,’ says Lynn. ‘If you have a service wash instead of housekeeping and have more than one load you are charged £22 for each extra load.’

A service wash is a professional, pay-per-use laundry and dry-cleaning service arranged by the on-site management team. Residents also get an hour of cleaning a week as part of the service charge.

However, if the cleaners finish early and ask if they would like anything else such as skirting boards wiped, fridge cleaned or anything else, Lynn says they are charged £22 per extra item.

‘There is now a notice on the board saying there will be a charge for a minimum of two hours extra cleaning at £22.23 an hour,’ says Lynn. ‘God help anyone who needs extra.’

When Amanda White’s mother-in-law died from motor neurone disease in 2023, it was traumatic for her and her husband, but they had no idea what was to follow.

‘My mother-in-law owned a retirement flat which she had bought for £150,000,’ says Amanda. ‘I had no idea we’d have to carry on paying service charge, ground rent and council tax.

‘Portsmouth Council currently wants £8,000 and a company that manages the property is also demanding money sending bullying and demanding letters and emails. We do not have the money to pay them.

‘My husband has been pushed to the limit. My health is also now suffering due to the stress and worry. I have no idea if and how this will all end.’

What has been your experience of retirement flats? [email protected]