I moved to sheltered housing in Salisbury for the over 55s, when I retired, after renting a 2 bedroom house for many years. It’s a lovely little court with around 30 retirement apartments (flats) of different sizes.
It was originally operated by the The Royal British Legion housing association and the flats were opened in 1982.
The Age UK website has more information about housing options in later life and is well worth reading.
I took early retirement a while ago but am not of state pension age. As a result, money is tight and moving from private rented accommodation to a court like this also made financial sense. Luckily I have a small private pension.
Hedley Davis Court, in my case, is owned by a national housing association as opposed to the council. According to their website, they are a “leading not for profit provider of Retirement Living and Extra Care for older people of modest means.”
I’d known about this housing complex for some time and had put my name down on their waiting list. The years passed but one day I received a phone call to ask if I wanted a flat.
I visited that week and had the weekend to make my mind up. Was I happy in my 2 bedroom house or did I want to downsize. After much thought I decided that moving to sheltered housing for the over 55s was the right thing to do.
After having a good clear out, there’s only so much that will fit in a retirement flat, I arranged for a local man with a van to move me. They were brilliant and it was a fairly painless move.
Sheltered Housing In Salisbury – Living Here
Living here has been a wonderful expericnce so far. There’s a court manager on site during office hours, in case of any problems. There’s also an emergency intercom system in each flat. When the court manager is away, the intercom connects directly with the Appello Careline monitoring centre in the UK.
Although the age requirement if to be over 55, most of the court residents generally in their 60s, 70s and 80s. We have a nice lounge here and some of the residents meet every Wednesday for a coffee morning.
All of the apartments are self contained and have telephone points and TV aerial sockets. There are also fire and smoke detectors linked to a fire alarm system in the building. If fire were to break out, an automatic call would be to to the emergency services. It happened last week when someone burnt their toast!
We all have our own electricity and water meters but the heating and hot water is supplied from a central boiler in the building. The gas heating is paid for via a monthly service charge that it paid with the rent.