FAQs - Retirement Property Questions

It’s when you agree to buy a property before the development is completed (usually around 6 months before). This gives you the benefit of the first choice of McCarthy Stone retirement properties and plenty of time to prepare. Buying a retirement property before it’s finished may sound daunting, but we’ll give you plenty of information, including floor plans, to help you visualise your new home. Read our off plan guide.

Once you’ve reserved your retirement property, it’s likely you’ll need to sell your current home. Part exchange means we’ll buy the property from you making the process quicker and easier.

Our Part Exchange offer includes:

• Certainty: relax in the knowledge that you’ll move in on a set date and that the sale price is fixed.
• Convenience: enjoy a stress-free way to sell your home without redecorating or having to prepare your home for viewings.
• Access: to your sold property for up to two weeks after completion.
• Financial benefits:  there is no need to pay for estate agent fees and we’ll provide up to £1,000 towards solicitor fees*.
• A smooth move: our part exchange offer includes a free specialist removals service

Part Exchange in just 3 simple steps:

1. Valuation:
   Three independent local estate agents and a surveyor will value your property.
2. Offer:
   You’ll receive an offer from us based on these valuations. There’s no obligation to accept, and you may get a higher price on the open market. It’s up to you whether the benefits of part exchange outweigh this.
3. Sold:
   Should you accept this offer, we’ll work with your legal representatives to finalise the contracts — and even contribute £1,000 towards your solicitor fees*.

*T&Cs apply. Read the full T&Cs.

McCarthy Stone retirement properties are designed for independent senior living. While there’s help and support on offer, especially at our assisted living developments, our retirement housing is not suitable for people with significant care needs like advanced dementia. If that’s a concern, it’s important that buyers and their families understand the limit of the support McCarthy Stone can offer. If McCarthy Stone is unsure whether a would-be homeowner needs more support than we can offer, a care manager may ask to make a home visit to discuss their concerns or to speak to the customer’s GP.

If a homeowner develops dementia while living in our retirement housing, there’s a lot we can do to support them in living a happy and independent life. If they can no longer live safely in a retirement development, we will work with them and their family to help them move to a more specialised setting.

We are committed to supporting our customers and homeowners at every stage of their journey with us and we work hard to ensure our actions meet high standards of transparency and fairness. To do this, we sign up to the following bodies, codes of conducts and regulations to ensure our customers and homeowners are fully protected:

• The Property Ombudsman
• The Association of Residential Managing Agents
• The Consumer Code for Home Builders
• Build UK (Client Member)
• The Property Factors Register (Scotland)
• Property Mark
• Rent Smart Wales
• The Regulator of Social Housing (Shared Ownership)
• The Housing Ombudsman (Shared Ownership)
• Care Inspectorate Scotland
• Care Quality Commission (England)
• Care Inspectorate Wales

You'll find the costs at our developments vary and this reflects the range of facilities and services on offer.

The Community Facilities Charge makes it easier for you to budget when choosing to make your move to a retirement development, as McCarthy Stone take care of any large and unexpected building and maintenance costs.

The Community Facilities Charge accounts for any structural, mechanical or electrical replacements, windows, lifts or internal decoration when required.

In addition to a monthly service charge, on the sale of your property, you'll make a contribution to the development's Community Facilities Charge at 1.5% of the resale value per year of ownership, capped at 15%.

Our dedicated sales team can explain this to you in further detail before you reserve your apartment.