McCarthy Stone, Churchill, Audley and Inspired Villages Compared (2026)

In short: McCarthy & Stone and Churchill mainly offer retirement flats with a manager on site. Audley and Inspired Villages run larger retirement villages with leisure facilities and care available. Their fees work in different ways, so ask each one for its full costs in writing. This page sets out what each operator says on its own website. It is not a ranking.

How we put this together

Everything below comes from each operator's own website, read in October 2026. Operators change their offers, fees and terms, and these can vary from one development to the next. Treat this as a starting point and check the details for the exact home you are looking at.

The four operators at a glance

Sources: each operator's website, and the ARCO members list, checked on 12 October 2026.

McCarthy & Stone

McCarthy & Stone offers two styles of retirement living:

• Retirement Living for people aged 60 and over, with a House Manager, shared areas and a 24-hour emergency call system;
• Retirement Living Plus for people aged 70 and over, which it describes as "flexible assisted living". The service charge includes an on-site CQC-registered Estate Manager and team, staff on site 24 hours a day, the running costs of a bistro or restaurant (meals are extra) and one hour of light domestic help a week.

Homes are available to buy, to rent on an assured periodic tenancy, or through Older Persons Shared Ownership for people aged 55 and over. It says that, depending on the development, there are two service charge options: a higher monthly charge, or a lower monthly charge with part of the cost paid later when the home is sold or let. This money goes into a contingency fund for big repairs, which it says is held in trust for homeowners.

Churchill Living

Churchill Retirement Living now trades as Churchill Living. It builds retirement apartments in developments it calls Lodges, for people aged 60 and over (with a partner aged 55 or over). Each has a Lodge Manager, a Residents' Lounge and gardens.

• Care: it says it does not provide on-site care. There is a 24-hour emergency call system, and you arrange any care visits as you would at home.
• Tenure: apartments are sold on a leasehold basis. Those released from January 2018 have a 999-year lease. Apartments are also available to rent.
• Fees: it publishes an average annual service charge of £3,140 for a one-bedroom and £4,700 for a two-bedroom apartment. It says it abolished exit fees in summer 2025. Older developments launched before April 2022 may still have a ground rent.

Audley

Audley (part of AEM Living) runs retirement villages built around a main building with the Audley Club, which can include a restaurant, library and fitness facilities. Facilities vary by village.

• Care: it says Helping Hands is now its care partner, providing home care such as personal care, help with medication and 24-hour care.
• Tenure: homes are sold on leases of up to 250 years, depending on the village. At two villages, Shiplake Meadows and Nightingale Place, you can also rent, or rent for up to 12 months before buying.
• Fees: owners pay a monthly management fee, which it says rises once a year on 1 March by the higher of RPI or the Annual Earnings Index. A deferred management charge is paid from the sale of the home, or when the occupier changes, worked out as a percentage of the value for each year or part-year lived there. One listing at Shiplake Meadows, for example, shows 4% a year, capped at 28%.

Inspired Villages

Inspired Villages runs retirement villages, most of them new-build, each with a leisure pool, fitness centre, library, restaurant or bar and a guest suite.

• Age: most villages have a minimum age of 65. Durrants, Millbrook and Bramshott Place take residents from 55, and Great Alne Park from 60. For couples, only one person needs to meet the age.
• Care: it works with CQC-registered home care providers, and has Assisted Living Suites at each village, available to buy or rent.
• Tenure: you can buy on a long leasehold, or rent at most villages (not Bramshott Place). It also offers "deferred completion", where you pay a 10% deposit and take up to 12 months to complete.
• Fees: there is a service charge, which it says it makes no profit from. Ground rent applies to previously-owned homes at some villages. An event fee (deferred management fee) is paid when the home is sold. It is a percentage of the selling price, based on how long you lived there and which village, capped at between 10% and 24%.

Questions to ask any operator

• What is the service charge for this home, and what does it cover and not cover?
• Is there a fee when I sell, sublet or leave, and how is it worked out? Can I see a worked example?
• Is there a ground rent, and how long is the lease?
• What care is available here, who provides it, and how much does it cost?
• Can I rent instead of buying, and on what kind of tenancy?
• Who runs the development, and how are residents consulted about costs?

Inspired Villages, for one, recommends getting independent legal and financial advice before you commit. That is good advice whichever operator you choose.

Related guides

• The ARCO Consumer Code: What Protection Do You Get?
• Retirement Village Fees Explained: Service Charges, Event Fees and Exit Fees
• Deferred Management Fees: How Much Will You Really Pay?
• Do Retirement Flats Lose Value? What Affects Resale

Sources

• Part Exchange (McCarthy & Stone)
• Service charges explained (McCarthy & Stone)
• Retirement properties to rent (McCarthy & Stone)
• Shared Ownership (McCarthy & Stone)
• Costs and service charges (Churchill Living)
• FAQs (Churchill Living)
• How renting works (Churchill Living)
• Home Exchange (Churchill Living)
• How it works (Audley Villages)
• Fees (Audley Villages)
• Care services (Audley Villages)
• Retirement properties to rent (Audley Villages)
• Home buying service (Audley Villages)
• Fees explained (Inspired Villages)
• Occupancy options (Inspired Villages)
• FAQs (Inspired Villages)
• Home Purchasing Service (Inspired Villages)
• Our members (ARCO)
• Consumer Code FAQs (ARCO)