To worry about where 'Generation Rent' will live when they are retired?

[VestaCurry]

If they never get on the property ladder, what kind of 'retirement' and where do they face? With house prices outstripping wages by a huge margin and 'bank of Mum & Dad' not available to many to help with a deposit, I foresee vast numbers of ageing people living their whole lives in privately rented accommodation. Unless regulations change, they could be given 2 months notice to leave whenever the landlord wishes. At eg age 70 that really is a grim thought.

My dc's are 13 and 11, so considerably younger than Generation Rent, but I cant see how much the situation will have changed by the time they hit their mid-twenties.

I feel a right doom & gloom merchant but I don't think I'm wrong and have seen no evidence of the government or opposition parties trying to understand and/or tackle this issue.

Pixie, good luck to you both . Whilst your thoughts and experience are anecdotal, might they be part of a bigger picture ie, people with Londoncentric jobs with internationally transferrable skills leave the country and take their tax paying years and beyond to another country where they have more chance of buying a home, or the rental market is more secure?

Sorry, that last was for Bakeoff.

Vesta, I used to work in a similar community (non London) and it was all very nice, basic but complete housing.

I have seen local housing split permanently into 'student' lets and whole families lodged in each room. The council pays for it, even arranges to send people to them - not only immigrants, I don't think that kind of prejudice exists, it is just 4 or 5 families gets stupidly small rooms and a shared kitchen/loo in any one house.

As far as I know the council originally gave grants for the conversion too - when they really were for student lets!

hmmm i have thought about this

the only way i can see my children buying (i have 3) is if i sell the family home 240k and me and the children buy a large house and convert in to 2/3 flats

i would put the 240k (im mortgage free) down and then they would get a mortgage between them them for the rest of the purchase and convertion,i would then have my own little flat with them having the rest and paying the mortgage between them

thus we all have a home,i will have down sized and helped them financially at the same time

probably will never happen but thats my logic on the situation

I caught an interesting radio debate on this a few days ago, I think on Radio 4 and it was very enlightening. It discussed the pension age continuing to rise and how 70+ year olds are going to have to keep working as the state will not be able to provide a pension for 30+ years as more and more people are living till their 90's and 100's.

This will obviously impact the workplace as health and safety for 70 year olds is very different to health and safety for 20 year olds. Plus those that continue to keep their jobs into their old age prevent those jobs from getting freed up for the younger people coming through.

So those who never get on the property ladder will continue to rent, possibly in smaller more purpose built rentals. Some will end up in care homes paid for by the tax payer I assume. Others will die earlier as the NHS is moving towards privatisation and once medical care has to be paid for at the appointment stage many elderly will stop seeking medical help.

The radio speaker also discussed private pensions being made compulsory to take the burden off the state. This had me rolling my eyes as so many people are living hand to mouth already so god knows what's going to happen once a fifth of their salaries disappear each month with no choice to opt out.

It's perfectly possible to buy cheaper housing away from the South, but the sad fact is surely that the cheaper properties are in areas with fewer jobs? I'd love to be corrected on this - DD1 works in retail and her boyfriend in IT, but if TV documentaries are to be believed there is higher unemployment "up North" even if you are not hunting for specialised jobs

Looking on the Universal Jobmatch site shows me that in my NE town there are a LOT of jobs - many at hourly pay but also a good few on salaries of 16-20k. A few considerably higher. Not massive salaries but when you're only paying 400 a month on rent/mortgage that doesn't seem so bad. Also, of course, some jobs will also have vacancies - teaching, health care, etc. Can't speak for more specialised jobs though.

As the "property ladder" is arguably not much of a ladder these days, and increasingly ceases to be one because the rungs start too high and are too far apart, 'Generation Rent' will one day be able to afford to buy again as prices adjust to allow for a healthy functioning property market in which houses are a reasonable multiple of salaries. Or so one can dream.

I live in the south east. My mum and dad are mortgage free because of being older parents, plus luck on their endowment and a financial settlement from my mum's former employer as she had an accident at work. The house is probably worth 250k - mum wants to sell it and has the mad idea that this will fund both a retirement bungalow and a large flat for me. The town is known as the nursing home of the UK... A decent sized bungalow with a garden goes for upwards of 300k. It's a real shame as their house is huge and lovely but not at all suitable for growing old in. Have told them to get their own place, I will rent my whole life more than likely. On 18k which is good for the area except when it comes to saving for a deposit.

I would LOVE a private pension sadly cannot afford it after rent and bills :( currently deep in my overdraft with no light at the end of the tunnel

Vesta, not many - 4 times?

She was a council tenant.

1st property, moved in after marriage. Typical Victorian terrace. Lived there for 10ish yrs before being rehoused due to slum clearance in the late 50's

2nd property - moved into a purpose built estate of mid & high rise. Lived there for ?30+ yrs And we're moved on when that estate was also cleared (due to crumbling construction and enormous crime & antisocial behaviour issues).

3rd property - 1st floor flat (no lift). Stayed for about 5 years

Final property - adapted ground floor flat as GM had a stroke and amputations. Lived there until she died.

But catkisser London is the only place we can find work. And I wouldn't want to retire up north away from my family when the time comes? What sense does that make? I'm 23. Me and dh struggled work wise even in London, but outside the capital it was impossible. We struggle to pay rent sometimes let alone save for a mortgage. I don't think you understand. Generation rent are struggling to earn enough to rent let alone save 60k!

What part don't I understand?
I wasn't suggesting everyone up sticks and move - just offering it as a possible suggestion. I am part of this "generation rent" and moving up North is what worked for me as I couldn't have rented alone back down south.

flangesshrub I've already chatted with the DC's about choosing a career they can do for many years. I feel like a right pushy cow for mentioning it but I don't want them in a vulnerable position when they hit their 60's or suffer ill health.

'And the Union workhouses.' demanded Scrooge. 'Are they still in operation?'

Two more options are becoming a student and taking out a student loan that is cancelled at 65. I'm surprised more over 60s don't do this. Alternatively planning a crime big enough to ensure prison time if it fails.

I had this conversation with a friend of mine today. We were both bemoaning the fact that, despite the fact we're both in professional careers (teachers), and our partners are full-time working tradesmen, buying property is so bloody DIFFICULT for our generation.

People talk about London prices, but where I am in Cornwall, house prices are beyond extortionate, and we don't even have the London careers/wages to go along with it.

One bed flats in my home town go for more than £100,000, you'd be looking at between £200,000-£250,000 for a three-bed semi-detached house. Even in the "rougher" areas of Cornwall (where the bloody tourists and second home owners, bastards...) aren't interested, it's still well over a six-figure sum for a family-sized home. I would dream of house prices at 90K...

No, I don't want to move away "up north", or to somewhere far away where house prices are different. Why should I? Cornwall is my home, I am Cornish, it's where my whole family are, and I want my children to be raised, as I was, with the extended family in the same area. But something is going to have to give with the house prices here soon. The locals are all being priced out by the townies who fancy a holiday home near the sea.

Having lived it, my feeling is that as a solution it like a step backwards in making sure the social expectations on our sex keeps us as firmly shakled to domestic conerns. Choosing it freely is one thing. Being strong armed into it by circumstance, moral browbeating and societal expectation, quite another.

I agree Mammuzza, but unfortunately I think it may well become a necessity for some. Personally, it wouldn't be something I would want to do (from either side), but if it were a matter of seeing my parents or PIL suffer in substandard living conditions if I didn't, I wouldn't feel as if I had any choice. Luckily, they are from the baby boomer generation so it's unlikely to happen. I would do all I could not to shoulder my children with the responsibility either.

Hear, hear, Iffy. Also, what do those who plan to 'move North' think that the influx of money from the south east will do to property prices and the chances of the indigenous population to get on the ladder?

Honestly this gives me sleepless nights and makes me very worried. We can't save for a pension
We can't save for a deposit
We won't have the big home to downsize and live off the equity
My old age is very very bleak

Does the term 'generation rent' apply to renters whose parents are also renters?

Does that house in Consett have two toilets next to each other?

Errr...It does appear to! How odd!

Squeezy - sounds like a similar accommodation pattern to my great-aunt. She was a long term council tenant too, so there was an inherent security in that, but she also saw the area she spent most of her life in become a drug dealing and crime hotspot. She would often say, 'such a bloody shame, it used to be smashing round here'. It was too. Whenever we visited, I would go outside and always find a bunch of really nice kids to play with.
Her living conditions were vastly better than my grandad's though. I have no idea who his landlord was, but a rent collector came weekly, and Grandad always shouted that he and his kind were greedy bastards, bleeding him dry in return for nothing (I'm assuming Grandad was referring to the complete lack of property maintenance over 40 years ).

My paternal grandmother has never owned a house and chose to rent all of her life; she is still in rented accommodation now and LIKES the fact that, if something goes wrong, it's the landlord's responsibility to fix and not hers (financially).

My OH and I are lucky enough to own, and have said that if ever we come into some money (lottery or something!) we will buy a couple of nice houses/flats to rent at very cheap prices for young families trying to save for the property ladder...that's unlikely to happen but it's a nice thought and definitely something we'd do if we had the cash. Sadly i think the issue is that there simply isn't enough housing available

Lots of elderly people don't own their home even these days. I don't think there will be much change. I do think that perhaps a property crash might put an end to buy to let landlords. Well we can live in hope I suppose.