McCarthy and Stone: Money grabbers who lack empathy

August 18 2021

April 25 2023

My mother purchased a McCarthy & Stone assisted living apartment in 2015. She was very happy, moving to a very nice Hertfordshire town, with a Waitrose supermarket across the road.

It was the right time for my mother to make that move, and it all seemed perfect for a lady in her nineties.

But when you purchase a McCarthy & Stone apartment, you must accept certain conditions.

These conditions include a service charge, which for my mother was a little short of £700 per month.

And when you decide to sell your apartment, McCarthy & Stone will demand a payment of 1% of the property value.

Ok, so that may be acceptable, because on the whole they treated my mother well, and it was an assisted living arrangement so we knew that someone was available at all times to help if needed. Even though the help was rarely at the standard that you would expect.

Some McCarthy and Stone rules need to change, and may not be obvious when you first move in.

For example, when a McCarthy & Stone resident passes away, McCarthy & Stone will demand their service charge until the property is sold.

It makes no difference if the homeowner has to leave their home because of poor health. Moving in to a care home for example.

The service charge is still payable. And the staff will still vacuumm the apartment, day after day, mindlessly.

My mother passed away in February 2021, spending her last 8 months in a care home.

She continued to pay almost £700 per month to McCarthy & Stone.

The staff in Hitchin were not supportive during this stressful period. I would go as far as to say that the staff at McCarthy & Stone were neglectful of my mother's situation.

The pandemic didn't help, but that is not an excuse.

When my mother's property was eventually sold, there was a £9K bill to pay to McCarthy & Stone, a large proportion being outstanding service charge payments.

McCarthy & Stone are not a charity, but they do lack compassion for their residents. And in the case of my mother, they took advantage of her at her most vulnerable.