All old people should sell up family homes for families.

@watersprites "I'm not saying you should, it's just the "I can't afford stamp duty" argument is weak."
I mentioned stamp duty as an additional cost along with solicitor fees, estate agent fees, removal fees, plus the cost of new furnishings when assuming one's curtains may not fit into a new house (as an example). The point being that moving home is an expensive option.
As we did not really 'trade up', to get a normal smaller house would just not be enough equity in our Greater London house, unless we moved away from London by a considerable distance.
I currently live within walking distance or a bus ride to my DC, am still involved in child care for DGC at sometimes short notice. I also have friends that live locally.
To move so far out that the equity would make it justifiable, would put me at a disadvantage with family members and would have to start anew with friends.

What a second aren't you the poster than said 'The haves used to be the have nots they worked for it'

So by work for it, you mean lived in your parents' house rent free to save a deposit at a much cheaper time to buy?

Again, I don't agree that people should have to sell their houses but you sound woefully out of touch.

I didn't leave home until I had enough money to buy a home with my DH still our home now .at one point we had 4 jobs between us to build up cash for our deposit. up to that point my mum let me live with her rent and keep free So that I could save money for a deposit. We did exactly the same with our kids and told them exactly what our parents told us . You can live here free until you have your deposit and buy a house ,then stay on top of it because no way are you ever moving back. I adore my home spent lots getting it just right and as we grow older we can add in what we need it's just me ,DH and our dogs we will be here until the end .

Thanks for coming back to explain your point of view OP. I completely agree with you that those who advocate for older people to shuffle off to a non existent bungalow never tell us how their plan works.

I live in a ‘multi generational’ house at present. It’s large enough for all of us but I wouldn’t want to live here alone if everyone decides to move out. Not sure that there are many, if any, young families in this low income area who could afford to buy it though 🤷🏻‍♀️

Indeed. Why should I sell my house (my only home, my only asset). I looking forward to the last 2 adult children leaving so after decades I actually get it to mky self - it is my property (and, rarely, in my case the equity has already been taxed at 40% (because of my divorce and buying out my husband)).

I think if a government wants something to happen, like people to downsize housing, incentives are a better way to go than “have to”.

We don’t compel people to give up their property in many other circumstances so would seem unfair to do it just for this.

This is very true. There are lots of older 3-storey townhouses that are easy to adapt this way but the more modern suburban sprawl housing isn't laid out in a modular form like this at all.

I like this idea. If homes could be small enough but big enough AND flexible by design then that might help.

Absolutely and I think we need to challenge this idea that if you get over the magic age of 60 (where I live) and have a social housing tenancy, you are permitted to stay there, alone or as a couple, in a three or four bedroom house for the rest of your life, while thousands of families sit on the housing list. There is something fundamentally unfair in that. Surely it's cheaper for councils to build single storey/apartment type housing for older people (which is safer as people age anyway) than keep churning out family homes?

'which was nice'

We're "managing" this situation by staying in a house that's a bit of a squash and a squeeze with 2 teenagers at home.

This is also due to the fact we are happy with the location and don't want to risk a bigger and thus more expensive house.

I think we're in a small semi detached. 70 sq metres of living space. It suits the young, child free couple across the road and it still suits our NDN in their 70s. We love our NDN!

We have 3 bedrooms. Could fit a small double (a Queen sized bed?) in the smallest room with careful planning and minimal keeping of stuff! Smallest room is the box room with a stairwell box. It had a double in when we viewed.

One DC have fledged I plan to turn that room into a spare/sewing room. We'll have one "proper" spare for visitors.

So perhaps part of the future plan would be (for those who are happy to do so) to live in smaller houses.

Our house is small enough, and just big enough. Cheap to run and maintain, garden manageable.

I'd love a downstairs loo (preferably shower room) and we might be able to add a porch onto our front door to get that (well the loo at least). One of our neighbours has done this. At £17,000 though it'll have to wait for a lottery win.

I can see myself living here until my 70s hopefully.

Part of me does fancy the idea of selling our three bed semi and moving to a flat on the water front with a sea view and balcony (that’s the only sort of flat I could contemplate living in) but OTOH we love the area we’re in, we have good friends here, there is a sense of community and a short walk from shops, pubs, coffee shops, bus stop…..

Oh the irony of saying I only think of myself 😂

Exactly. It's not thought through. When we bought our house it had been on for a couple of months - four bed detached - and there was no other interest. Ironically we bought it from a young-ish couple who had three children. It's the cumulation of our life's work - we downshifted from a huge garden to a smaller one. But the main reason for the move was to be nearer our grandchild - who we do childcare for a couple of times a week.

So win/win - he has his own bedroom, I have a dressing room, my husband has a hobby room. We are nearer shops and public transport. I have no intention of downshifting until I literally can't get on that bus any longer - I would have a stairlift and fit another shower downstairs before I would give up my beautiful home. Last time I looked we live in a free society with individual autonomy and choice.

What I imagine is going to happen is that the older generation will have no choice, either they will have to let their children live within or if they don't fancy that they will have to downsize and give money to their kids so they can buy somewhere to live. As for council houses, once the children leave home they should be forced to give up their house.

If all the older people put their houses up for sale some of the younger generation would be moaning that they can't afford them (there are already threads wailing "I can't compete" etc) and the 'greedy' older folk would no doubt be expected to slash the asking price.
I feel for the younger generation in general but they don't appreciate that of course older people are more wealthy including house wealth because they have had years to build it. The younger generations should concentrate on what they can achieve rather than what they can't.
Some show pretty spoiled whinging behaviour on these threads though making ridiculous suggestions and I don't have any sympathy with those.

This train of thought irritates the shit out of me.
I'm late 50's been working full time for 40+ years, scrimped and saved to buy my house, bought dd up alone but it's like the fairies came down one night and gifted me my house with no input from me.
I live in a three bedroom house, one bedroom I sleep in, a spare bedroom and the little bedroom is now my dressing room, a place of peace for me to store my treasure 😉 that I longed to have my whole adult life.
I also have a garden that I treasure and work hard on its upkeep.
I'm still working full time but as I get older I'm expected to downsize to a flat so someone I don't even know can have my house, fuck that.
This house is the culmination of a lifetime's hard work by me, no-one else

Also my friend and her husband moved into a lovely three bedroom home with the plan of starting a family. Unfortunately she's infertile and can't have children. After much pondering she's decided to stay in the house and has converted one room into a lovely guest bedroom and the second room into a office/dressing room. What do you want to happen? The house buying police that come knocking on her door demanding she has to move into a bedsit for the rest of her life because she can't reproduce.

On the other hand, my colleague has just bought a two bedroom bungalow with his wife and is currently converting it into a huge four bedroom family home. So take from that what you will...

How old? I'm wondering about where families move back in with parents after divorce. How long do they get to offer support to adult children. Or where teens move into their grandparents to attend college or escape a challenging relationship with a parent.

What if they have a lodger who would otherwise be homeless.

If you're time-limited in how long you're allowed to live in a house, surely that should affect the price. We pay a lot of money with the assumption that the house is ours and we can stay in it as long as we want. Why pay that price if you can only stay in it for a decade or two? The house is never really yours then is it - you're kind of renting it from the state, the ultimate landlord who can kick you out.

There's no way in hell a family with one or two kids should be living in a two bed bungalow. They should be allowed only for people only over 55. And yeah that includes sale. Never gonna happen though.

So you want the freedom to do whatever you please with your own money and assets (fair enough) but think that families should be legally prevented from buying something you might want? 🙄🙄🙄

I think there are two defined threads to the argument. Social and private housing. Where people occupy private housing, they fully fund it and should have absolute agency. Questions arise relating to social housing where people are fully funded and have less agency.

My mum used to rant about all the old people ‘hogging’ family homes when I was a kid. Now she is in her sixties and lives in a large four bed. She has discovered downsizing is not as easy as she thought. There are actually not that many one or two bedroom housing options unless you live in a flat in a city.

Well said. This is exactly what I was thinking.