The housing company behind constructing two major Perthshire developments have guaranteed that a minimum age will be written in as a legal requirement for prospective buyers.
Juniper Residential, a branch of Cruden Homes, are currently at work having razed a pair of vacant Perthshire premises to make way for retirement complexes.
Sales teams held digital conferences yesterday to give an insight into what the properties at the sites previously occupied by Scone’s Wheel Inn and Kinross’s Windlestrae Hotel.
The company made their intentions to only sell the homes to over 55s concrete.
At the planning and development management committee meeting in March 2019 where the Scone plans were given the nod of approval, developers failed at the time to give any guarantee that homes would be sold exclusively to retirees.
Some councillors voted to refuse to the development on this premise.
However, at Thursday’s webinar, Juniper explained that an age restriction would be part of the legal minutiae for buyers both from them and from homeowners selling the properties in future.
Juniper’s sales and marketing director Hazel Davies said: “We’re positioning it as retirement living for over 55s and that would be included within the legals.
“It will be win the deed of conditions for the development and as part of the qualifying eligibility to purchase in the first place.
“That would also mean that in the event of selling the property, it could only be sold to another person who meets that same qualifying criteria.”
The 51 flats on Angus Road in Scone are scheduled to be completed and go on sale early in the new year.
The accessible complex will have communal lounge areas including a reading snug and craft spaces for residents and additional care will be available.
Expected to start at around £160,000 for the one bedroom apartments, the properties will be fitted with comfort height bathrooms and a discreet 24 hour call system for assistance if needed.
There will also be a guest suite for visitors to use when staying with relatives at the block.
The properties in Kinross will also be completed to a similar spec, but will take the form of mainly bungalows rather than flats.
Branded as Muirwood Gardens, 33 bungalows and villas cottage flats are being erected at the site of derelict Windlestrae Hotel.
Neighbours had objected to the Kinross development due to constraints on local healthcare services, but permission was granted and Juniper are planning to put the first completed homes on the market early next month. Directors hope residents will have moved in by the summertime.
