Who still rents in their 40’s/50’s- What is your plan?

[Myhouseismyprison]

I live in the South East, for various reasons we have never managed to purchase our own home.

I am now in my late 40’s and DH is 50. We still have children at home who all have their lives here so unable to pick up and move somewhere cheaper just yet.

We have some savings but nowhere near enough to buy here for the house size we would need. We have rented the same house for several years but know this can change quickly and have no idea how we would afford current market rent.

I just wondered what plans people had in place for retirement? What savings accounts would be good?

The other problem is that current rents are double the local housing allowance set by the council. There would be no way it could be paid without an income that was not benefits.

Plan?

Keep working, don't die. If dying is inevitable (I'm only being partly facetious here), hope that it isn't long and drawn out.

If we moved somewhere cheaper, we wouldn't have jobs to pay a mortgage - if there was ever a place cheap enough to get a mortgage in the first place at our ages.

Renting and will be forever big it’s council so have it as long as I need, all repairs done, new kitchen due soon and cheap rent in a lovely area.

Haven't got a plan. Was asked last week in an interview where I plan to be in 5 years - no idea, if I'm honest. Was out of work for 18 months, which diminished my savings.

Both parents died before retirement, so no inheritance; in any case, it was a tied house. We had about enough to cover the funeral each time, that was it.

Not quite 40s, but I'm renting in my mid-30s because I want to live where I currently live, which is very centrally in one of the most expensive cities in the world in a beautiful apartment block (think the equivalent of Knightsbridge or Mayfair in London).

I decided not long ago to live in the present more and not always worry about the future. I have savings, an investment property and a good pension so it's not just blindly spunking an eye-watering amount on rent every month. The advice to minimise time renting and get a mortgage ASAP doesn't apply in all circumstances.

You do run the risk though that this advice may become redundant if the government of the day changes the terms of pension credit.

Mid 40s and renting but I'm saving a for a deposit now and hoping to be able to get a small mortgage when the time comes. It's certainly tough doing it alone that's for sure.

I prioritised travelling the world in my younger years so this is my own doing (though had I known how much house prices would have gone up I may have done it differently) haha

I am 50. I was a home owner (mortgaged) but I made a number of very stupid decisions when I divorced and ended up renting again in 2010 at the age of 35.

Since then I have privately rented in the East Midlands and the monthly rent for a two bed flat (for example) has gone up from around £550.00 pcm in 2018/2019 to about £900pcm if you wanted to rent the same flat now.

It also looks as though landlords are selling up, because of various reasons, and therefore there are fewer properties available to rent in my area for a price I can afford. I know the law is being changed to abolish no fault evictions but private renting still feels unsafe and unstable - to me anyway.

I decided to go for a shared ownership house when a new development was built in my town. There are no service charges and the road is being adopted by the local authority, which I understand can be unusual for new builds these days.

I paid a tiny deposit of just under £3k, I have a small mortgage of around £48,000 which represents my 25% share and I rent the other share from a HA at £360.00 pcm.

My mortgage is over 16 years but I am overpaying every month, even if this is only £50.00 to try and get the term down.

I know I will still be paying rent in my dotage but this is less than I would be paying if I was still renting in the private sector. And at least I can decorate and make it my own. There is only me and my two lovely kittens so I don't need a massive place to live. It is two bedrooms with a decent dining kitchen and a driveway for two cars and quite a big garden.

My choices were renting (privately) or renting (shared ownership). I know shared ownership gets a bad press but I don't have another option. I will never inherit so the only way I would ever be able to buy a whole house would be if I won the lottery. There is obviously more chance of platting fog than there is of me winning enough money to buy a house so I went with the least bad option.

Are your DC late teens / adults? If so I think that, whilst they might still be at home and their lives might be where you are, they have to acknowledge that they are adults and you’ve done your bit for them, and have to secure your own future. If that means them moving out and renting in house shares so that you can downsize and secure yourself even a small flat as a permanent home then that’s not a hardship, it’s just part of then becoming self sufficient.

I have friends whose older parents are still renting, friends frequently have to try to help out financially, and it’s a constant worry for them. As much as anything, you don’t want to be financially reliant on your DC in retirement because they took your opportunity to buy away from you now.

Just be warned lots of my friends have had their rents go up by £100s completely unexpectedly and some have been evicted after many years in one place. The costs have been quite shocking when they've had to move. For example the house next door to us was on at £520 a month just pre pandemic. It has been recently add new tenants and they are paying £1200 a month. Same house not been done up. In not a particularly amazing area in the North.

I feel that one of the most unfair aspects of our welfare state is that people who made the sacrifices to save for a deposit to buy a flat or house will then later have to pay more tax to pay the housing costs of those who chose to rent.

There are people on this thread bragging about how well off they are atm renting but they'll have their hands outstretched to the rest of us when they retire.

It makes me rage!

That's the other thing about renting from a landlord - if they decide to sell up, as many have done recently, you're out. So I can see the advantage of shared ownership, from a secure tenure perspective.

OP, could you buy a property now in another part of the UK and rent it out? At least you would be on the ladder, and if you choose the place carefully you could downsize there in the future.

The number of available rentals has decreased quite significantly. That number will drop again when we approach the next jump to a minimum EPC of c in 2028. Then it jumps to B in 2040 (ifrc). Meanwhile the tax changes now means that landlords cannot set the mortgage interest costs against the rental income when calculating deductable profit as they could before, so private landlords were giving up before you even get to the new tenant rights.

There is often more social housing available once you’re over 55.
Moving is a possibility but the nice areas of the north are now expensive. There are some cheaper nice areas but you need to do your research.

Resale shared ownership tends to be a little cheaper. https://www.peabodynewhomes.co.uk/developments/opal-house/. This one is a two bed, in London it's still 1870 a month
Not sure where in SE you are if it's not London you need then it can be a lot cheaper
https://www.peabodynewhomes.co.uk/developments/daimler-drive/ this one is 940 month

Share to buy website used to list all the resales but I can't find their filter for resales.

Last Government already did this with mixed age couples. The person under state pension age has to apply for UC. And UC takes the state pension into account and docks it off UC accordingly. So they are basically classed as a working age couple even though the eldest half of the couple could be an age like 78. Its ridiculous. And yet some MNers still whine that pensioners havent been touched.

There have even been instances where the half of the couple over state pension age has been called into the Job Centre. There are a couple of threads on here I did post on one explaining why this was and i got "well i dont care whats gone before" Did make me wonder if they had voted for some of these changes when it didnt affect them.

Its nobody elses business what car someone else buys so why is it other ppls business when it comes to a house

Yeah buy a flat And get charged up to £5000 for a new front door every time the fire regs change

Do you really think the vast majority of people would "choose" to rent over owning their own property? Of course not. I'm in my 50s so have friends with mortgages paid (or nearly paid) off. While I continue to pay nearly 1k a month rent and will do so (with increases) until I retire.

You have to fulfil certain criteria to get a mortgage. They're not just handed out to anyone who wants one! I wish they were, because what I've paid in rent could have easily bought me a house by now.

But at the same time, why should I be miserable about it? You have to play the hand you've been dealt and focus on the positives. Maybe focus on what you have, rather than getting the rage over people you don't even know.

@maximalistmaximus Yep its all fabulous in the world of renting

https://shaction.org/2025/02/19/clarions-victimisation-culture/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIi2dVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRKAxbCJKxE8pO2nKTAJhV9_5DYRPyEWuG42mnjtRWFEsYRBOnPgUmY8nw_aem_KHo-gAAFp3iuwdeibO5qSQ

There don't seem to be any shared ownership flats? At least not in the North.. they're all houses which wouldn't really suit a single person.

Here’s some shared ownership apartments in Manchester:

https://www.sharetobuy.com/properties/?location=Manchester&lat=53.47009&lon=-2.23359&radius=5&rentOrBuy=1&homeForSale=&propertyTypeId=0&minBedrooms=&maxBedrooms=&maxMonthlyCost=&maxDeposit=&hideRadiusOptions=1&locationId=155254&location=Manchestervia

The service charges are very high on those. Problem is these are not set and they could rise at any time and by any amount..

To be fair that’s Ancoats/New Islington so not the cheapest example. You can find better prices outside of the city centre.