All old people should sell up family homes for families.

I doubt a cash strapped family could buy our house as it needs too much doing to it and would probably be difficult to get a mortgage on

@watersprites I don’t understand what you meant by having a defeated attitude?

@askmenow my in-laws home was approx. 40k & is now close to 2m, should they really be incentivised to downsize?

Exactly. It’s like this where I live. Families move into the bungalows and extend up and out, so now there’s no true bungalows for older people to buy.

I also think there's a problem with families being more spread out as dc can't often afford to stay local & that impacts qol as an older person ages particularly if they get ill.

I'm not adverse to incentives for first time buyers but equally it could help if there were government incentives for retired people to downsize and free up properties for families.
Say, no stamp duty for >2 bed properties purchased by retirees when downsizing from more bedrooms. It's true that not everyone has huge equity to facilitate downsizing but have thought about doing it.
The issue with building bungalows is they take up more land having a larger ground floor footprint.

@OMGitsnotgood yes we (myself and my sister) are very much hoping that won’t happen. My sister already does a lot of care for them at home.
I would like to say to those who seem to think I am just lying back living a life of leisure waiting for my parents to die - I AM NOT.
I worked hard for 2 decades at minimum wage. I now care for my daughter who is autistic.
It’s not the path I planned. I would love to actually own my own house but life didn’t happen like that.

I'd like to see incentives for downsizers. Not sure what that would look like though.
I do also think that people with empty bedrooms should be banned from opposing new houses. And also much stricter limits on tax payer funded care for people whose situations could be improved by moving into more suitable housing.

We'd like to downsize (currently five bedrooms, three bathrooms plus huge cloakroom) three receptions. But we don't want a cramped flat. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms and either two receptions or one huge one or one plus decent conservatory. And detached. It's single people living in under-occupied places that need to think too, if we are going to. My brother is single and lives in a three bedroom house. And split families where children are only there EOW. Stop picking on those of us who couldn't help when we were born.

The people demanding that people downsize and sell their homes are the same people that are against the bedroom tax for people in council and HA houses. They are also against making people do home swops and down sizing and maybe having to move areas.

I think if you're in social housing, then people should downsize when they don't need the space. I've visited people who had 4 bed council houses where they never used any of the upstairs rooms because they couldn't manage stairs, and still regularly declined any suggestion of swapping to a smaller, more accessible property. And ofc there are families with kids crying out for those properties on the housing list.

We’re retired, living in a 3 bed semi, have a dog and I’m damned if anyone’s going to make me feel guilty for having a small bedroom as a craft room and a spare room for the adult DCs and DGCs to use when they visit.
If I were to move to a coastal area I would probably be accused of depriving local youngsters of buying a home so definitely can’t win.
Neither of the DCs live anywhere near us and I certainly couldn’t afford to move nearer to either of them.

I'm sure it is but why should I do that when I have a large driveway.

I live in a 4 bed house with 2 adult kids, both with disabilities. I purposely bought this house, because ;
there is no garden ,only a back yard which I have turned into a courtyard garden with lots of pot plants.So no worries about having to mow grass etc.
there is a downstairs shower room so any person with disabilities can still have some dignity.
one of the reception rooms could easily be a bedroom and there will still be a living/dining room.
one of the bedrooms could be a kitchen/kitchenette.
When I die my kids can live here and have both support from each other and privacy when they want it.

My oldest child is blind, so the house is familiar to him, he can get around safely.
I know OP that you aren't suggesting that older people should have to move, but many people try to future proof their homes, and being where you know your neighbours can literally be a lifeline when older. I chat to mine every day , we have a sense of community, if I left I would have to find that again.

As for old people, IMO there’s a lot of ageist view in there which likely suggests that not only should they sell the family home but they should do so in order to give the money to their grabby children

Well it's a sensible way of avoiding IHT sell up, buy somewhere smaller, give difference to children (and make sure you live 7 years).

I think it should happen, but there should clearly be more carrots than sticks. It is silly for a person to be rattling around a 4 bed house they can't cope with, especially if their son or daughter is struggling to even rent somewhere.

However there are so many problems - not enough smaller properties being built, people allowed to put massive extensions on small houses, people allowed to convert bungalows into houses etc.

I would not want to move from my detached house to a noisy flat with a massive service charge for example,

I agree with the idea in theory but don't think it works in practice in many cases.

All of that makes sense. But that should be your choice to make, not something that you should be forced to do, as has been suggested on numerous MN threads over the years.

That's assuming it doesn't have to be sold to pay for care home fees.

@Needmorelego I don't understand what you are asking me 🤷🏻‍♀️

We live in a 4-bedroom home. Never had children. Just us two and lots of room for guests and hobbies. I’m not moving unless one of us becomes so immobile that we need a different layout or location. I’m certainly not doing it to facilitate a stranger’s desire to get on the “property ladder”. We love where we live. We deserve to be happy also. Right up
until we die, if possible.

I'd love to sell our 4 bed family home and move into a 2 bed bungalow or a nice flat. DH won't even consider it.

When we bought this house 30 years ago we bought it off a couple who were probably in their 70s like we are now. It has a bathroom, en suite and downstairs loo, the woman said she was fed up of cleaning 3 toilets for 2 people. I now know how she felt.

@RustyBear , if you don’t already have mobility problems, it’s as well to be aware of ‘bungalow knees’ - a deterioration brought about purely by lack of the exercise provided by stairs.

It’s commonly known to doctors, but my folks found out the hard way, having downsized to a bungalow in their mid 60s. Not because they particularly wanted a bungalow, but because it was all they could find in their chosen area.

After 3 years they decided they didn’t like the area after all, and moved again, to a house. And were shocked to find that a lack of stairs had seriously affected their fitness, although it did eventually recover.

When I become old and senile I would sell my house and downsize. Firstly I wouldn't need all that empty space, secondly I wouldn't want a place with stairs and thirdly with the profit I could then pay for a carer so I don't keep having "falls" and burdening the NHS unnecessarily.

Also, a lot of bungalows are bought up by younger people who like the location, but not the property. They then convert the building into a two storey. Many bungalows have been taken out of housing stock in this way.

@ZenNudist my parents are currently 79 and 75. I hope they are around for several more years. I will probably be an old lady when I inherit their house - but at least I will feel secure for the first time in my adult life. Private renting is terrifying. Short leases. No security.

Which countries?