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AIBU?

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Original poster

All old people should sell up family homes for families.

712 replies

benigogo · 27/07/2023 13:13

Not really an AIBU, more a hypothetical question really. This view comes up a lot on MN, and I'm interested in the detail of what people actually imagine when they say it. What type of property should they be giving up? What type of property should they be moving to? How old is old? What about younger people who under occupy a property? For example 2 friend couples, have recently downsized. Both from a 4 bed detached, one to a 4 bed semi, and the other to a 3 bed semi. Their homes were bought, one by a young professional couple, and the other by a couple in their seventies, themselves downsizing. If you hold this view what do you visualise?

OP posts:
MintJulia · 04/08/2023 02:14

@Moneynewpence ' Not confused, there is a lot of sweeping generalisation about all boomers being minted, getting free uni education (when only about 10% ever went), secure jobs for life etc. '

YANBU. Those sorts of sweeping generalisations ignore the fact that compulsory work pensions only came in in 2018.

A large % of boomers also have zero private pension - not the final salary pot of gold that misinformed people refer to.

Something like 50% of boomers left school at 16, no university, worked from 16-65, few benefits, no maternity leave (finally made available to all in 1993). Many were forced out of jobs when they married or became pregnant, have nothing but the state pension to live on in old age and yet are vilified as 'greedy, selfish boomers'.

TakenRoot · 04/08/2023 01:06

I hope no one who owns a second home / holiday home is on this thread advocating for older people to be forced out of houses they have bought.

Likewise anyone who works for the property developers, lawyers, estate agents etc who build and market the towers of flats sold off plan, never to be occupied, to foreign investors.

Moneynewpence · 03/08/2023 19:49

watersprites · 28/07/2023 07:55

I don't agree with the idea of expecting people to sell the house they live in, but I thought there was a common understanding that quality of life peaked with baby boomers and is now declining.

I think people get really confused & think that saying it's harder now means it wasn't hard back then & they struggle to ignore their anecdotal experiences eg my neighbours are 25 & paid 600k for their house so that must be extrapolated to all 25 yr olds. Definitely makes debating difficult!

Not confused, there is a lot of sweeping generalisation about all boomers being minted, getting free uni education (when only about 10% ever went), secure jobs for life etc. And the ludicrous idea that because your house has a bigger price tag than when you bought it you have no money worries. I just be sure to pay my next gas or elec bill with a few bricks...

EffortlessDesmond · 03/08/2023 19:45

Utterly, shamelessly, selfishly... I may be 67 next week, but our home is lovely, and bought outright. We currently have an adult DC back at home. When we move, and we are thinking through various options (one of which is overseas), the BoMaD will contribute to a deposit for said DC, and we shall find something new that works for us, which is likely to be smaller and with a smaller,much more manageable garden. But it won't be a McCarthy & Stone ghetto. DM, at 88, still lives independently very close to shops and facilities. She needed a stairlift to make her Edwardian two-up, two-down terrace suitable long term.

RedPony1 · 03/08/2023 17:01

CaliPistachio · 02/08/2023 23:14

One of the problems has been the increase in the number of households as the average size of household reduces. Single people of whatever age should be banned from single occupancy living and live in shared occupancy housing and unless the resident of a bungalow has mobility problems, these should be repossessed and resold/reissued to those who do.

Utter madness 😂
I can afford to live on my own, you couldn't pay me to house share.
Such suggestions of these rules is hilarious!!

Jamtartforme · 03/08/2023 16:35

Do posters really not understand why comparisons with countries that are vastly different from ours (economically, socially, geographically, historically) such as Singapore are basically meaningless??

GasPanic · 03/08/2023 16:31

Xenia · 03/08/2023 15:54

We don't really have a demographic collapse as we have the highest net immigration in UK history (over 600k a year)

Sounds like a great idea.

Likely to get a demographic collapse because we don't have enough houses to house people properly.

Solution - import more people.

Xenia · 03/08/2023 15:54

We don't really have a demographic collapse as we have the highest net immigration in UK history (over 600k a year)

User16496743 · 03/08/2023 15:49

GasPanic · 03/08/2023 12:31

Better just to tax people out of larger houses.

For example fuel bills tax, which could help reduce carbon footprint and global warming.

Council tax single occupancy only allowed for houses will less that three bedrooms or certain CT band.

That would help transfer some of the wealth from the rich to the poor and the money could be used to build new social housing.

Otherwise we're just going to continue with the ridiculous situation where the old live in massive houses and the young don't want to have kids. Birth rate is dropping like a stone. Who is going to pay for the elderly pensions if there are no kids around ? It's a demographic collapse.

That will only affect those on the middle who have mortgages, older people who you are obviously aiming at would probably afford it anyway.

LadyVictoriaSponge · 03/08/2023 15:23

GasPanic · 03/08/2023 12:31

Better just to tax people out of larger houses.

For example fuel bills tax, which could help reduce carbon footprint and global warming.

Council tax single occupancy only allowed for houses will less that three bedrooms or certain CT band.

That would help transfer some of the wealth from the rich to the poor and the money could be used to build new social housing.

Otherwise we're just going to continue with the ridiculous situation where the old live in massive houses and the young don't want to have kids. Birth rate is dropping like a stone. Who is going to pay for the elderly pensions if there are no kids around ? It's a demographic collapse.

That would help transfer some of the wealth from the rich to the poor and the money could be used to build new social housing.

but it’s not transferring the wealth of the rich to the poor is it? The rich will be just fine because they will be able to afford your proposed taxed increases so they won’t be moving at all, yet again the average person who has managed to buy a family home is expected to sell their home to fund social housing and other peoples life choices. If this was introduced what would be the point in working hard and buying a family home if the end result is you are taxed out of it to fund social housing while the rich are sitting pretty? somehow I don’t think that will be a vote winner and rightly so.

RosesAndHellebores · 03/08/2023 14:56

@CaliPistachio Biscuit.

Will they issue Gulag tokens and Mao suits too?

If anyone reposses my home and wants me to live in a multiple occupancy dwelling, will there be provision for two bottles of whiskey and several hundred tablets before they take all my money from my children too?

loislovesstewie · 03/08/2023 12:53

For crying out loud; don't mention workhouses! I often think that this shower of ---s only have to have that suggested and they will implement them!

Needmorelego · 03/08/2023 12:36

@CaliPistachio if single people aren’t allowed to live alone what type of accommodation are you suggesting?
Dorms? Hostels? Workhouses….
What if you start off as a couple and one half of you dies? “Sorry - you have to go and live with random strangers in a shared communal place now”. Yeah? No?

GasPanic · 03/08/2023 12:31

Better just to tax people out of larger houses.

For example fuel bills tax, which could help reduce carbon footprint and global warming.

Council tax single occupancy only allowed for houses will less that three bedrooms or certain CT band.

That would help transfer some of the wealth from the rich to the poor and the money could be used to build new social housing.

Otherwise we're just going to continue with the ridiculous situation where the old live in massive houses and the young don't want to have kids. Birth rate is dropping like a stone. Who is going to pay for the elderly pensions if there are no kids around ? It's a demographic collapse.

SideWonder · 03/08/2023 12:19

CaliPistachio · 02/08/2023 23:14

One of the problems has been the increase in the number of households as the average size of household reduces. Single people of whatever age should be banned from single occupancy living and live in shared occupancy housing and unless the resident of a bungalow has mobility problems, these should be repossessed and resold/reissued to those who do.

ODFOD

Such a silly post.

milveycrohn · 03/08/2023 11:25

I answered earlier about the cost of moving being too high and putting off older people from moving.
So now my DB and DSIL (both retired) are selling the 5/6 bedrom family home (1 bedroom is very small and described as a study). They are in the process of buying a 3 bed bungalow in the next road to them. It is actually MORE than their house. They definitely need 3 bedrooms, due to their circumstamces. (which I wont dwell on as it is outing).
And that is without all the extra costs of the actual move (solicitor, removals, estate agent, etc)

fitzwilliamdarcy · 03/08/2023 10:05

CaliPistachio · 02/08/2023 23:14

One of the problems has been the increase in the number of households as the average size of household reduces. Single people of whatever age should be banned from single occupancy living and live in shared occupancy housing and unless the resident of a bungalow has mobility problems, these should be repossessed and resold/reissued to those who do.

I see that you only care about families so I won't bother trying to appeal to you on the basis that this is utterly inhumane for single people.

Instead I'll ask: about separated parents? Does the non-resident parent never have the child to stay? It's not safe for a child to stay in a shared occupancy house with strangers. So, what then?

loislovesstewie · 03/08/2023 08:27

CaliPistachio · 02/08/2023 23:14

One of the problems has been the increase in the number of households as the average size of household reduces. Single people of whatever age should be banned from single occupancy living and live in shared occupancy housing and unless the resident of a bungalow has mobility problems, these should be repossessed and resold/reissued to those who do.

I didn't realise that we were heading for Nazi Germany or the USSR.

StopStartStop · 03/08/2023 08:07

CaliPistachio · 02/08/2023 23:14

One of the problems has been the increase in the number of households as the average size of household reduces. Single people of whatever age should be banned from single occupancy living and live in shared occupancy housing and unless the resident of a bungalow has mobility problems, these should be repossessed and resold/reissued to those who do.

I'm autistic with adhd and a whole lot of other things. If you forced me into shared accommodation, someone would die. Me. But before me, I might well take out any other bastard I had access to.

During lockdowns I lived with my dd and family for more than a year. I love them very much.

We are NEVER doing that again.

SlippySarah · 03/08/2023 07:47

CaliPistachio · 02/08/2023 23:14

One of the problems has been the increase in the number of households as the average size of household reduces. Single people of whatever age should be banned from single occupancy living and live in shared occupancy housing and unless the resident of a bungalow has mobility problems, these should be repossessed and resold/reissued to those who do.

🤣🤣🤣

CaliPistachio · 03/08/2023 01:57

Well, my MIL lost her DH of 50 years a month ago. According to some on this thread she should also be put in a position where she is priced out of her home as well. DB and I were desperate to get our DM into a bungalow but the only estate she was willing to move to (after massive obsessive consideration by DM about her independent living needs) only had a few bungalows and the developer wouldn’t let her put a deposit down without selling her house first - but there was such a massive demand for bungalows in the area there was no way it would still be available then so she said no, she couldn’t face the idea of losing where she was familiar with without knowing she could move to somewhere she felt she’d be safe and able to continue living independently.

Over the past few generations, there are a lot more of us around and the structure of how we live is very different. The concept underpinning the start of this thread suggesting forcing a group of people away from the consistency of the life they have known when they are likely to be at a stage in life limited by health issues, lifestyle change and a lot of loss seems like the usually shitty divide and conquer to me but crack on.

Blossomtoes · 03/08/2023 00:37

CaliPistachio · 02/08/2023 23:14

One of the problems has been the increase in the number of households as the average size of household reduces. Single people of whatever age should be banned from single occupancy living and live in shared occupancy housing and unless the resident of a bungalow has mobility problems, these should be repossessed and resold/reissued to those who do.

🥺

JenniferBooth · 03/08/2023 00:29

@CaliPistachio so just because someone isnt married or hasnt got living proof that they have had sex without contraception they should house share?

Dont be ridiculous

ArcaneWireless · 02/08/2023 23:54

No uncertain terms NOT to try again.

Typing ragey. So there are probably heaps more errors. Apologies but I think you’ll get the gist.

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