So what happens when we're all old and we don't own our homes?

[user8665410]

Genuine question.

I'm a millennial with no hopes of ever buying a property despite earning a decent income.

There are many in my situation.

What happens when we're all in our 70s, 80s and 90s - which we will be because medical technology keeps letting us live longer - and no longer able to work. Where will we live? Who will support us? Will we just get kicked out of our homes we've been renting for (potentially) decades??

My current rent is £2,585.00, the State won't be supporting that I'm sure.

Oh and I don't finish work until 11pm. It's clearly not realistic to expect me to do a minimum two-hour commute that late at night, and that's assuming trains and buses in these "naice commuter towns" even run that late.

Why obviously?

The government relies on their votes, so they'll keep subsidising them. That's how it works.

Of course it is. What else could they do?

@RudsyFarmer , the number of people with dementia in care homes for 20 years must be vanishingly small. My DM with Alzh. was in hers for 8 years and even that was highly unusual. IIRC average is about 2-3 or 4.

@AcesBaseballbat

I'm a millennial and I literally don't know anyone my age who hasn't bought their own home. I think it's fair enough for people to point out that this is mainly a London problem.

The things is, nobody is entitled to live in an expensive area. When people insist on living in London, it's like insisting on driving an expensive sports car when you can only afford a Ford Fiesta.

There are plenty of more affordable cities in the UK. In fact, all of them are much more affordable than London. As for changing career, to me, it seems ludicrous to stick to a career that you can only do in one tiny area of the country - and an area that you can't actually afford to live in! Why would you do that? What's the point in sticking to a career path that doesn't enable you buy a home? People change careers all the time. Most people have some transferable skills.

Yes, if all lower paid workers moved out of London then it could lead to certain skill shortages, but that's not your problem to solve.

Yes, moving involves effort. You would have to invest time and energy into making new friends and finding a new job, but chances are that would have a much better quality of life long term.

I'm sure that there are some people who have very good, genuine reasons why they must live in London, but for many people, it's just a lifestyle choice. They are trying to live a champagne lifestyle on lemonade money and then complaining that they can't afford a house. They simply aren't prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.

Besides, once you've built up equality, you can always move back to London with a healthy deposit.

Yes this is true. I have been looking at my family tree and older relatives always went to live with a child.

And i bet it was a female child.

The amount of rent you are paying would pay a mortgage of around £400k. Where I live in Lancashire that would buy you a 4 bed detached house. I would look at what you need to do to buy somewhere. Do you need to relocate, maybe take a lower paid job in a cheaper area. Whats the point in working to pay your landlords mortgage? You are paying £30,000 a year in rent. Get an appointment with a mortgage broker to discuss what you can borrow, then look at where you would need to move to be be able to buy.

Your rent is really low. You'll get state pension, pension credit and top up housing benefit.....as things stand presently. Rules could change of course. So f##k knows TBH!!

Who will support you? Expecting someone else to take responsibility is everything that's wrong with a lot of people's attitude. You support yourself. If you don't own your home, you'll need a bigger pension to afford rent.

So how do you suggest care workers save, perhaps they should all jack in their jobs and then you can go and do your elderly relatives intimate care instead

Its horrifying that younger generations are paying extortionate and disproportionate housing costs plus the same on student debt, yet all our government policies seem to prioritise protection of pensioners wealth and health.

The family houses are occupied by 60+ yo.

This has been coming for years and governments have just sat on their hands

My blood boils to think of the "local income tax" to replace council tax proposal from our local Libdem MP. Cry me a river for all the pensioners in oversized houses 🙄.

I'm so pleased I'm not in London looking at the huge difference in rental prices. We live in a urban village in County Durham lovely views and rent. 3 bed bungalow with front and back garden. For £400 highest in our area is £600. I couldn't even fathom the idea of paying £1000 a month let alone £2500 London is just far too overpriced and the sooner people start moving away and leaving it then the rental market will realise it's just not justifiable. But I totally feel for those who feel trapped there due to commitments.

Like it or not, there are interesting jobs in London that will never be accessible to anyone who insists on living outside easy reach of central London. You can travel in, for meetings, and buy a better house in a nicer area, but you pay for it via travel and inconvenience. I moved from NW6 in 1990 to PL18 to be with DP, now DH, but in the 30 years between, for most of them, we would not have been able to afford a house or flat, in London, so I was Viking's biggest individual buyer of fax paper, pre Internet. Now that our postcode is more sought after, the proceeds of our 4 bed house with a big garden would buy a two-bed flat with no outside space quite centrally in London. It's simply not an appealing trade-off. You trade convenience for space, and time for quality of life.

From the age of 55, you can access sheltered accommodation via the Council, providing you don't have savings/assets worth more than £250,000. If you only have a low income/pension when you retire, you can claim Guaranteed Pension Credit so if you are in social housing all your rent gets paid, as does all your Council Tax. If you are privately renting, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) will pay some of your rent, but not all of it (unless the rent is the same or less than the LHA). You would still get all your Council Tax paid.

A friend of mine (aged 56) recently had to leave the house she privately rented with her adult DS as he wanted to move in with his girlfriend, which meant she could no longer afford the rent. She is now in a beautiful first floor flat (sheltered accommodation) and is in the area where she grew up, so is really happy!

Obviously, all things may well change in the future, but I hope this gives you some comfort.

I don’t earn enough to be auto enrolled

I'm 50 and never owned own home..have one child and am single. At times I feel life will somehow magically change and I will be able to buy. I look at SO but haven't even got the deposit for that.
As you pay 2.5k rent is SO an option for you? If I had deposit and no debts I could get a 300k house on SO..might be worth a look?
But we have definitely become a generation of renters..when I started renting there were hardly any rentals locally and now loads. On the continent renting is quite normal.

The world divides between people who think ahead and plan how to achieve their goals, and people who live in the moment.

Just expect the "gummerment" to pay for everything like just about everyone expects these days

In which case @VegetablesFightingToReclaimTheAubergieneEmoji you need to work more hours. FT NMW is enough for auto enrol.

I'm assuming they will have to find somewhere cheaper to live.

Benefits will only pay your local housing allowance if you private rent. You can check what your local housing allowance is online.

I know my local housing allowance for a two bedroom house is £404 a month and when I was made redundant during covid and had to claim universal credit I had to pay the extra £376 out of my benefit money as my rent was £780 a month.

I'm not thick, I'm a normal person. I'm also Scottish, and living in flats is entirely normal up here. My dad lives in a small flat in a huge, purpose built retirement block with a lift and management to care of all building concerns. It's bloody brilliant.

I live in a Victorian tenement with a bay window, high ceilings, fireplaces etc. No lift but buns of steel. I'll happily move to a cosy place like my dad's if it becomes necessary, in fact I'm eyeing it up already.

At the risk of being astringent, not working/contributing enough to tax and still expecting the full-fat package of health, education, support and retirement benefits, is never going to endear anyone to their neighbours who are.

Not possible at my work, it’s the only role I’ve found that means I can do the school runs. there’s no public transport and the school is 10 miles away (each way)

Blimey @VegetablesFightingToReclaimTheAubergieneEmoji, you must live in the back end of nowhere. I presume that's out of choice?