To think more people should be incentivised to downsize?

[Sprockerdilerock]

I'm sure I will be flamed but here goes.

I know so many older adults who live in family size homes long after their children have left. Would it not be better for the government to offer incentives eg no stamp duty, removal costs paid for them to downsize to free them up for those that need them more?

We do have a housing shortage and I get that we could always build more homes, but we are also heading towards a climate crisis and surely it's better to use what resources we do have more efficiently and plough less energy into creating more.

My MIL is case in point - she still lives in the home my DH and his siblings grew up and often expresses a wish to downsize but she doesn't have a lot of money to spend on things like legal costs etc.

That's all very well but the real need is for smaller starter homes isn't it. My MIL was rattling around in a big house but she loved it and had designed it in the 50s. There was always room to stay and she loved a party. We're now in our forever home with 4/6 bedrooms depending how you use it and we'll hopefully have children and grandchildren all to stay well in our old age.
There's also the familiarity side of it. My Dad's house is smaller (3 bed) but is currently empty as he's staying with us but he is wants to keep the house, even his broadband and everything, running as about once every six weeks he stays there for the day. (Can't talk him out of that and that's his choice).
BUT I think incentives for those who want to make the change but find it difficult is a good idea. Currently the main carrots are those awful equity release sharks.

Many Grandparents have Grandchildren to stay often or have children who moved away and visit often enough to warrant having 1 or 2 spare bedrooms.

My MIL downsized but still bought a 3 bed bungalow as DH and his sister live hundreds of miles away and when we all visit together it's still rammed. She lives for those times and I don't think it's fair to expect her to give them up, really. There is no B&B or Hotel in her village or surrounding area that we could stay in and anyway her favourite thing is to mother us all when we're there. She wants to host her family.

My Mum downsized to a 2 bed house. All she wants is for DS to stay with her the odd weekend and uses her spare room for either visits or to store Xmas presents etc.

I see your point but when you've worked hard your whole life to pay off a mortgage I'm sure you don't really look forward to giving it all up to move into a little flat or something.

As an aside, we moved from a 2 bed house in a nice area of a city and the house was snatched up the same day it went on. We're now rattling about in a huge 5 bed and all of the bigger houses round here are on the market for ages.

Little starter homes are what the country is really crying out for but unfortunately these are rarely the focus of huge housing developments, probably because the larger houses not only sell for more but have a higher council tax band so are looked at more favourably by planning officials.

@2bazookas that link made me shudder. Why do they (developers) always think that older people want to share everything, from parking, bins, gardens, entrances etc.. In my experience that just leads to loads of hassle with other people.

When my time comes to give up my house, I'd still like my own driveway, garden, entrance and living space, which probably means a two bed bungalow at the very least. I'll tell you, around here, they get snapped up in days.

What @surfingwolf said was spot on.

Appropriate housing is certainly an issue. Our street is full of homes with just 1 or 2 elderly people (even including us) rattling around in family-sized homes. We plan to move, to build our own, something that will be appropriate for us as we age, with wider doors, one level or with full facilities downstairs, and being new, will not need rewired in our lifetime etc.

Not sure we actually need a financial incentive, but I can see that some people would.

I'm also seeing a trend for people to extend, thus removing the supply of smaller (cheaper) properties. There's not a simple answer.

@Glenorma

The problem is that land owners and developers decide what to build. And they want to build the kind of houses that make the most profit. Not the kind that provide much needed accommodation for the youngest and oldest but generate less profit. The council unfortunately has no say - they can only say yes or no to a planning application, they can’t tell a developer who wants to build 4 bed houses to build bungalows instead.

They sometimes have tiny gardens and not enough parking

@Sprockerdilerock

I understand that house prices are wild whatever way you look at it.

It only takes a quick Google to find evidence that there is a UK wide housing shortage, assuming that applies to all housing types across the board.

Therefore I just can't see why we can't increase the supply of smaller homes (surely increasing supply drives down cost?) that require a smaller footprint (therefore less countryside being converted over) and encouraging people who don't need big homes to free them up. It could take into account issues like accessibility and proximity to amenities of course.

Absolutely tons of small flats are being built all over the country.

In London the main issue is that they are often only available for sale to foreign landlords.

I don't see anything wrong with people choosing to occupy houses bigger than their "needs". What do you want to free up these big homes for?

I'd love to downsize - the 7 bed house which once was filled with 3 generations is now far too big with just the 2 of us

Can't find anything to move into though - it's got to have a bit of land around it and no close neighbours and properties like that don't come up for sale often.

I have only read your responses op, not the whole thread. Just the two of us live in a 4 bed house. I would be quite happy to sell it and move on, but it is not affordable for a young family short on money but desperate for space. When we move (which I hope to in the next few years) it will be to a similar sized property but closer to shops and buses. Why should we be forced to sell posessions just so we can fit in somewhere smaller? We use all our house. I have done my time of living in pokey flats, and I have no wish to go back there, l like the space we have. If you want to buy our house, you are very welcome, but no way do I want to live in a tiny property.

Older people need bigger houses for many reasons. In our case it's just as well we have a couple of spare rooms as we've acquired a couple of extra residents that's to covid!

Loads of big family houses available where I live. It’s the smaller first time buyer houses that are in short supply. Its a myth put about by people with their own agendas.

They sometimes have tiny gardens and not enough parking
That is true! I'm amazed that they somehow managed to fit in 4 'detached' houses in an area in our village. When I looked at the plans the gardens are tiny and the houses are within touching distance. Not surprisingly they're still for sale.

They need a property tax as a percentage of what your house is worth, older people in family homes will soon downsize then and still make £100ks profit from what they paid for it all them years ago.

@PlanDeRaccordement

On the face of it, it makes sense to incentivise retired people in large family homes to downsize, but I don’t think the incentive should be money. No matter how small their income, the costs of selling can be easily covered by the equity in their homes (most are fully paid off). It’s not money stopping them from downsizing. It’s because they are home and they have over the years become attached to the community they are in. They’re not going to want to uproot and put down roots somewhere new unless the place they go has a community established and welcoming for them. I think what would be a better incentive is to have more retirement communities with support. A gated community with its own leisure facilities, resident DIY caretakers, resident gardeners, a community Center for socialising. So people could down size into one of these smaller retirement homes and pay a small service charge so as to not worry about repairs or gardening, etc. They’d be in a mini village with people their own age which would combat loneliness and make those who hate hearing kids screaming happy.

Absolutely tons of these around.

Some people suggested it to mum when dad died. She was horrified. The loss of privacy and independence would be huge.

Smaller houses often come with tiny gardens, limited parking, and neighbours that are so close they might as well be sitting on your sofa. I don't want that at any time of life, and least of all when I'm retired, and presumably spending more time at home.

@jimmyjammy001

They need a property tax as a percentage of what your house is worth, older people in family homes will soon downsize then and still make £100ks profit from what they paid for it all them years ago.

So londoners in rabbit hutches pay a huge amount through no fault of our own?

@stayathomer

I would ‘incentivize’ them with a bedroom tax for each additional unused bedroom. I think that would get a few houses on the market Wow, you're lovely aren't you?

I think there would be anarchy if anyone attempted that with privately owned houses

How does anyone define unused bedroom anyway?

When we thought Dad might survive, he'd have needed a room of his own with a hospital bed and a room for a live in carer.

I was having to plan this out within a fortnight of him being healthy enough to drive 50 miles to friends for the weekend.

So yes....what is an unused bedroom?

No I wouldn't downsize if I could help it live in a 3 bed semi.
Both myself and DH would want it left to our children as inheritance or failing that if either of us needing long term care then it would be sold to cover those cost so that we wouldn't become a burden on our DCs both financially and mentally.

Why do people want the government to be involved in everything?

Poster - ‘I want a bigger house so the government should help me boot people out their family homes (whinge)

It’s tough titty OP. Stop having kids if you can’t house them.

The houses in UK are already small and having 2 bed instead of 3 bed would just not work for me and many others. As others pointed out they are often with smaller garden and many I visited felt somehow claustrophobic. Tbh I still consider mine a 2 bed because whatever is being sold as the smallest bedrooms shouldn't be considered a bedroom. My friend and her DH had a "3" bed too. But theirs was newer. It had one double with ensuit and built in wardrobes with no space for more, 1 single bedroom where you could fit a single bed and wardrobe and 1 other apparently a bedroom where door wouldn't fully open if you put single bed there so it worked as a dresser.

@AlwaysLatte

They sometimes have tiny gardens and not enough parking That is true! I'm amazed that they somehow managed to fit in 4 'detached' houses in an area in our village. When I looked at the plans the gardens are tiny and the houses are within touching distance. Not surprisingly they're still for sale.

Often the garage encompasses the downstairs of the 4 bed so the living area isn't that big

It’s tough titty OP. Stop having kids if you can’t house them.

People have stopped having kids

Would love to downsize but can’t sell our current house! It’s not as easy as A, B, C, you know.

Also I've lived in flats and terraced houses and I certainly don't want to go back to living in either.
I am happy with the extra privacy we get in our semi detached and the private driveway.
I've slowly stepped up each property ladder and wouldn't really want to go back down.