Belmont Lodge in Bushey, currently providing sheltered accommodation to five people, will close at the end of 2019.

The move follows detailed consultation with the tenants, their relatives and staff. It reflects the view of Nightingale Hammerson — which was gifted the building in 2015 by the Camden Jewish Society — that the substantial investment it requires is neither “appropriate or viable given the [lower] demand for this type of non-care led accommodation”.

Belmont Lodge has a capacity of 11 and Nightingale Hammerson — which at the outset committed to keep it running for a minimum of three years — has been unable to fill the vacant places. The charity is helping tenants to find alternative accommodation.

Proceeds from the sale will be reinvested into “the provision of residential care for the Jewish community through Nightingale Hammerson”.

The charity is spending £40 million on redeveloping its Hammerson House care home in Hampstead Garden Suburb.