Mother forced to work even in retirement to pay for her son's apartment

Deborah Anderson, a 63-year-old former teacher living in Northern Ireland, said she was forced to return to work after retirement because of a one-bedroom apartment she bought for her son. She noted that service charges for the property have reached nearly £4,300 per year.

Deborah purchased the secure home for her 37-year-old son, Ross, in 2018 at the Lisburn Square development in Lisburn. At the time, the annual service fee was approximately £1,200.

However, by 2020, this sum increased to £2,800, with an additional £250 insurance charge tacked on. Deborah stated she was not warned about these changes in advance. Now, including insurance, she pays nearly £4,300 annually.

"We don't even know where thousands of pounds are going. This money is coming from our retirement savings. That's why I went back to work part-time," she told Need To Know.

Deborah reported that in November 2024, an additional fee of over £1,000 was also demanded, which had to be paid within 28 days.

According to her, the increase in 2020 was related to changes in how residential and commercial area costs were allocated. However, residents were not included in prior consultations regarding this.

Also paying for parking

One of the issues that frustrates Deborah the most is parking costs.

She said that in 2023, the residents' share of electricity costs for the parking lot was raised from 19 percent to 64.5 percent. Even though her son's apartment does not come with a parking space, Deborah now pays over £1,000 a year for this area.

She also mentioned that the costs of elevators, repairs, cleaning, security, and fixing damages in certain common areas are being covered by the residents.

Deborah pointed out that holes have even appeared in the stair carpet, posing a tripping hazard.

Selling the apartment has also become difficult

Deborah stated that the sharp rise in service charges is also making it difficult to sell apartments in the complex.

"I'm not sure I can sell this apartment. I might have to sell it at a loss. But I don't want to pass the problem on to someone else either," she said.

According to her, some prospective buyers backed out of deals upon learning about the high service fees, while some property owners were forced to lower their prices or sell their homes at auction.

Deborah recently filed a complaint regarding the budget and repair works with Ambit CRE to a property dispute resolution body. Comments have been requested from Ambit CRE regarding these claims.