Retirement Villages · Musgrave, Berea, Durban, Berea & Durban North
Life-right retirement complex on Musgrave Road with a 24-hour care centre, clinic, catering and laundry covered by the levy. Units resell from about R750,000.
Retirement Villages · Musgrave, Berea, Durban, Berea & Durban North
Affordable life-right apartments in Musgrave from about R650,000 with limited on-site medical support, close to the Berea hospitals and Musgrave Centre.
Retirement Villages · Umgeni Park, Durban North, Durban, Berea & Durban North
Popular Durban North retirement estate in Umgeni Park with cottages and apartments priced around R1 to R2.3 million, near the Umgeni River mouth and Netcare Umhlanga.
Local knowledge
Durban's Berea ridge has the oldest and most affordable retirement stock in KwaZulu-Natal. Caister Lodge in Musgrave sells life rights from about R750,000 with a 24-hour care centre; Ocean View and Barnes Cottages start lower still. TAFTA, the Association for the Aged, runs eleven residential facilities from the beachfront to the Ridge, including John Conradie House for state pensioners, and KZN Care houses more than 350 people in Umbilo at R1,500 to R8,700 a month. Durban North and Umgeni Park add Riverside Park, Milldene Park and Villa Sunfield.
Hospitals: Netcare St Augustine's, Life Entabeni and Netcare Parklands on the Berea, with Netcare Umhlanga 20 minutes north. King Shaka International is 30 to 35 minutes from the Berea.
This is the right area for a parent who grew up in Durban, wants to stay near the sea and the Botanic Gardens, and has a modest budget. The trade-off is older buildings and, in the central city, a neighbourhood that has changed. See frail care and village costs in KwaZulu-Natal.
A retirement village is a secure community of houses, cottages or apartments for independent older people. Most have a clubhouse, a dining room or coffee shop, maintained gardens and 24-hour security, and many add a frail care centre so residents can move into care later without leaving.
Questions families ask
Life rights at Ocean View in Musgrave were listed from about R650,000 and Caister Lodge from R750,000. TAFTA and KZN Care offer rental rooms and flats for pensioners from about R1,500 to R8,700 a month, with subsidised beds for those who qualify.
Yes. Tafta on Ridge in Overport and John Conradie House near Addington Hospital offer assisted living and frail care, and John Dunn House offers frail care. TAFTA says most private frail care in Durban costs R30,000 to R40,000 a month, which is what its subsidised beds save families.
Netcare St Augustine's in Glenwood, Life Entabeni on the Berea and Netcare Parklands in Overport all have 24-hour emergency units.
You pay a once-off amount for the right to live in a unit for life. You do not own it. When the right ends, the village resells it and repays an amount set out in your agreement, which may be a fixed share of the original price or of the resale price. These schemes are regulated by the Housing Development Schemes for Retired Persons Act.
Most villages set a minimum age, commonly between 50 and 60. Check with the village, because the rules differ and some allow a younger spouse.