Madeleine McCann holiday flat is up for rent

The flat Madeleine McCann was snatched from is being rented out for the first time since the crime – because the owner cannot find a buyer.

Apartment 5a of the Ocean Complex in Praia da Luz, Portugal, has been empty since Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry flew home in September 2007 after months searching for her.

Its British owner Ruth McCann, who is not related to the couple, has been trying to sell it ever since with an asking price of £255,000 – £50,000 less than compar­able properties around it.

But she has now given up and taken it off the market after finding that potential buyers – especially women – are put off by the holiday flat’s tragic ­history.





She said: “The property has had ­several viewings. But as soon as women buyers are told it was the apartment that Madeleine was taken from they immed­iately pull out. A lot of couples have shown an ­interest. The man usually makes the first approach and a meeting with the estate agent is arranged.

“But before agents show people round a property in Portugal, they are required to tell them about previous owners.

“As soon as the female member of the viewing couple learns about the link with the McCann family, she says ‘no’ to the deal. Women are concerned that the flat will continuously remind them of Maddie’s tragic disappearance.

“Sometimes the man has rowed with his female partner, saying the association with the ­McCanns does not matter – but the woman has been adamant in refusing it.”

Retired teacher Mrs ­McCann, 57, from Liverpool , ­began letting out the apartment after her husband died but was ­planning to sell it once legal ­details had been sorted out. She has now asked rental firm the Ocean Club to let it to holiday­makers. It was last rented to Madeleine’s parents for £1,500 a week.





Mrs McCann said: “This summer, for the first time since Madeleine’s ­disappearance, it is going to be let out to ­holidaymakers. But the income still won’t cover my out­goings. I still have to pay the Portuguese equivalent of council tax.”

Madeleine, who would have celebrated her eighth birthday this week, was snatched from her bed in the apartment on May 3, 2007.

Her parents were having dinner with friends in a restaurant close to the flat, regularly checking on their sleeping ­children. But the last time Kate went to check she discovered that Madeleine was gone.

Flat-owner Mrs McCann – who says Portuguese ­detectives did not even open one of the ­cupboards – said: “I ­reacted with absolute horror and I felt ­immediate ­sympathy with her parents. Even now I think about Maddy frequently and wonder whether she will ever be found.”

Portuguese police have been ­accused of rushing to make Kate and Gerry suspects after a half-­hearted ­investigation.



Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/05/15/madeleine-mccann-holiday-flat-is-up-for-rent-after-spooked-potential-buyers-refuse-to-buy-it-115875-23130434/#ixzz1MNGZ0R5P
Go Camping for 95p! Vouchers collectable in the Daily and Sunday Mirror until 11th August . Click here for more information

clairesy, thank you for the link.

You welcome pedro.

To be honest with you reading the report there im shocked at the price of it.Not only to holiday there but also to buy it.

I think 250,000 smackers is way too steep a price to ask for it!! Im also shocked that the mccanns paid £1,500 to holiday there per week!! Ive stayed in better places for a fraction of the price.Its nothing special.
We hire a private villa every year abroad and we pay around £1200-£1300 for two weeks.The vilas we hire are very nice,have lovely pools and are a dam sight better than that holiday flat ruth mccann is trying to sell.I would never pay her £250.000 for that! She would be lucky to get £100,000 from me.And im not being funny but to say it isnt selling because of Madeleine's abduction is a little dated dont you think?I think the more likelyhood is that people are left gob-smacked when they go for a viewing and are thinking... wtf!! shes got to be kidding.. £250.000 for a semi terraced flat with no private pool,no grounds around it and most of all its rite smack bang on the main road..surrounded by windows which are covered with unsightly metal shutters that make it look like a mental institution and is part of some crazy holiday resort that is situated smack bang between one eyed goofball murat and his bum pal sergey malinka who enjoy 3 sums with German women and the resorts pool man!!!!

I agree, but the fact of being the apartment from which the child was abducted, it brings to people´s minds that the apartment continues to be a bit of unsafe, plus, with the fact of being "famous", which attracted people to see it.

Wonder how long before a group of Antis rent it ????

pmsll catkins.That made me laugh!! I wouldn't wanna rent it out thats for sure.

Nor me it would be awful !!!! But they will you wait...