Retirement Villages · Margate, Amanzimtoti, Scottburgh & the South Coast
Non-profit founded in Margate in 1962 and the first in South Africa to use life rights, with four villages between Margate and Port Shepstone, each with frail care, bowls and a clubhouse.
Retirement Villages · Freeland Park, Scottburgh, Amanzimtoti, Scottburgh & the South Coast
Lifestyle retirement village at Freeland Park, Scottburgh, with lake views and a 4.3-star resident rating, 40 minutes south of Durban.
Retirement Villages · Amanzimtoti, Scottburgh & the South Coast
Established retirement village in Amanzimtoti, the closest South Coast town to Durban, within ten minutes of Netcare Kingsway Hospital.
Retirement Villages · Scottburgh, Amanzimtoti, Scottburgh & the South Coast
Over-50s lifestyle estate on 25 hectares at Scottburgh, planned for 500-plus units, with 80 percent of the surrounding precinct kept as conservation land, 40 minutes from Durban.
Retirement Villages · Pennington, Amanzimtoti, Scottburgh & the South Coast
Sectional-title village at Pennington from about R850,000 with on-site frail care and step-down facilities, next to the Umdoni golf course and 50 minutes from Durban.
Retirement Villages · Widenham, Umkomaas, Amanzimtoti, Scottburgh & the South Coast
Hibiscus Retirement Villages' 600-cottage life-right village on 100 hectares of coastal forest at Umkomaas, with one-bed cottages from R1.2 million and a frail care facility planned.
Local knowledge
The South Coast is where KwaZulu-Natal retirement is cheapest. Hibiscus Retirement Villages, a non-profit founded in Margate in 1962 and the first in the country to use life rights, runs four villages between Margate and Port Shepstone and is building the 600-cottage Widenham village at Umkomaas, where one-bedroom cottages started at R1.2 million and three-bedrooms at R2.35 million. Renishaw Hills at Scottburgh is a 500-unit lifestyle estate for over-50s, Umdoni at Pennington has on-site frail care, and Poinsettia Park, Alex Park and Lakeview serve Amanzimtoti and Scottburgh.
Hospitals thin out as you go south. Netcare Kingsway in Amanzimtoti is the main private hospital for the upper coast, Hibiscus Private in Port Shepstone and Netcare Margate serve the lower coast, and Scottburgh has a provincial hospital. Durban's specialists are 40 minutes from Scottburgh and 1 hour 30 from Margate. King Shaka is 1 hour to 1 hour 45; Margate has a small airport.
Winters are mild, the sea is warm and the pace is slow. The questions to ask are about the distance to specialist care and whether a village's frail care is built or still planned. Our frail care and village costs in KZN guide has the figures.
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
Widenham Retirement Village at Umkomaas listed one-bedroom cottages from R1.2 million, two-bedrooms from R2.05 million and three-bedrooms from R2.35 million in its recent phases. Hibiscus villages in Margate and Ramsgate are generally lower.
Umdoni Retirement Village in Pennington has on-site frail care and step-down. The Hibiscus villages share the Margate and Umdoni care centres, and Widenham has a clinic with a frail care facility planned. Alex Park in Scottburgh is an older persons' home with care.
About 40 minutes on the N2 to central Durban and an hour to King Shaka International. Margate is 1 hour 30 to Durban.
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.