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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think more people should be incentivised to downsize?

707 replies

Sprockerdilerock · 20/01/2021 15:16

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.

OP posts:
GordonsAliveAndEatsPies · 21/01/2021 16:45

Nicebreeze - if you aren’t in a local govt position I would wager an academic one.

So can I have some of your lovely pension please? What do you mean I have to fund my own? I am starting from a disadvantage because I am self employed and there is no way I should have to build mine up from scratch to match you just because you have paid into it yours as your terms and employer contributions mean you have an advantage over me. Plus, you might not need all your pension to live day to day...... Does it sound absurd yet?????

SchrodingersImmigrant · 21/01/2021 16:46

*own not owe

RockingMyFiftiesNot · 21/01/2021 16:52

We no longer need 3 bedrooms on a day to day basis but would very much like our children and their families to come and visit us. This isn't a house to us - it's our family home.

We're fortunate in that if we wanted to downsize, we could afford the associated selling/removal costs. But generally people who downsize will move to a cheaper property, freeing up some capital to pay the costs. So maybe an interest free loan for downsizing might help those who don't have the 'ready cash' for those costs.

I'm sure the OP didn't intend the thread to suggest this, but there are too many posts on MN at the moment questioning older people's entitlement to everything froren vaccines (when they are going to die soon anyway as I saw on a thread earlier!); to daring to think about going on holiday, and now we should be incentivised to give up our homes. MN at it's finest.

AppleJumbke321 · 21/01/2021 16:52

Nobody has answered my criteria about what is affordable

I presume it is because wages & lifestyles vary

Therefore, there will never be a definition of affordable

user1467048527 · 21/01/2021 16:55

For those proposing incentives or penalties based on inhabitants and number of rooms, how would this work? I live in a street of Victorian terraces. Originally all had four or five bedrooms (not sure which), but changes over the years mean some are now house shares where living and dining rooms are now bedrooms, other people have combined rooms to make bigger bathrooms, etc. These once-identical houses have anywhere between three and seven bedrooms now. None of those bedrooms is in an extension btw.

This house is obviously fairly flexible, so going on square metre would be the best way to measure how sufficient it is for my needs. Whereas my last house was very generous on room dimensions but had no flex at all in being able to subdivide them or change the purpose of the rooms. So it would be fairer in that case to go on number of bedrooms.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 21/01/2021 16:57

@AppleJumbke321

Nobody has answered my criteria about what is affordable

I presume it is because wages & lifestyles vary

Therefore, there will never be a definition of affordable

I asked above and only answer is below 80% market rate? If I got it right
AppleJumbke321 · 21/01/2021 17:17

Another dissentive

Stay in property, it may increase in value
Let's say an increase of 20% per year
Property may need to pay for health/social care in the future

Sell property & buy something smaller
Some cash, but savings of 0.01% to 1%

Plus the "home" versus a property argument

IrmaFayLear · 21/01/2021 17:17

I agree that not all 4 bedroomed houses are created equal. I live in a chalet and the bedrooms are minuscule. The house over the road has four bedrooms and they are giant.

I actually complained about my council tax as my 4-bedder is half the size of other properties in the road, but we are all the same band. I was told I have a double garage Confused . So I think it would be a minefield to judge who is in too big a house with too many bedrooms.

BarryWhiteIsMyBrother · 21/01/2021 17:19

@OverTheRubicon because if you leave a property to your kids, you worked to buy that property and can you as you please. Your kids will have done nothing to get that house, true. But that's different from someone getting a house, or help with a house, from the government which is ultimately funded by the public. Because your kids getting that property won't have cost the public any money, whereas handouts or whatever for of breaks, will.

munchkinman · 21/01/2021 17:23

Why should they. I have worked hard for my house and will downsize when I am ready.

woodhill · 21/01/2021 17:23

The old large family homes are often converted into flats

angela99999 · 21/01/2021 17:24

We've just downsized significantly and don't feel there's any need for incentives. Releasing capital from your home should be incentive enough.
I find it hard to understand why people would choose expensive and risky equity-release schemes in preference to downsizing, it was a no- brainer for us.

Gwenhwyfar · 21/01/2021 17:27

@IrmaFayLear

I agree that not all 4 bedroomed houses are created equal. I live in a chalet and the bedrooms are minuscule. The house over the road has four bedrooms and they are giant.

I actually complained about my council tax as my 4-bedder is half the size of other properties in the road, but we are all the same band. I was told I have a double garage Confused . So I think it would be a minefield to judge who is in too big a house with too many bedrooms.

Not really. Just go by square metres rather than bedrooms.
GordonsAliveAndEatsPies · 21/01/2021 17:30

Overtherubicon - the kids may not have ‘earned’ it in the same way the person that got paid the salary has but there will have been compromise for the whole family.

There certainly was for us when we were growing up - moving regularly (always out of area) when promotions happened, DF who travelled so couldn’t ‘be there’ and often meant DM was holding the fort....

DF did it to provide security for his family, now and in the future. Take that away and you might find people like him just don’t bother.

buzzkaye · 21/01/2021 17:31

Why should they down size if they down want to.they have worked years bought the children. Up.maybe grand children. To.good luck to them a garden to potter in .space in the house .they have paid the mortgage.or most of it .they shd do what they want to do .urbu

Twinkled · 21/01/2021 17:32

MrsTerryPratchett

The actual issue is that we have lived through the comodification of housing. Housing as a bank or investment, rather than as a home. It's not about this one issue, it's a wider, more complex one.

This .

If people choose to buy and live in a home until they die it’s their choice . You are missing the point of why there is a housing issue.

GretaS · 21/01/2021 17:37

I adore my house, I've been here for 20 years. And I love living in a house big enough for all our many hobbies and interests. Every so often a child comes back for a while (the last one stayed 2 years while he saved up for a house of his own). I would like a bungalow in ten years time, but they don't seem to build good sized bungalows with 3 bedrooms and a decent garden.

SallyB392 · 21/01/2021 17:37

As we have become older, home maintenance and costs have become more difficult. I believe that more opportunities should be available for older people to move to affordable rental accommodation not cupboards but enough space for a table and chairs as well as a sofa!

SchrodingersImmigrant · 21/01/2021 17:38

Mine is home, not an investment, that's why my arse stays put even though it's two of us in 3 (lol as if that's an actual bedroom) bed.
If it was investment I would have sold during corona for premium

CherryRoulade · 21/01/2021 17:40

GordonsAliveAndEatsPies Us too - we were prepared to put in work and sacrifices to enable us to live comfortably now. Plus our children will pay inheritance tax - so subsidising those who didn't bother. I don't have a problem with the tax. Our children (who have also delayed procreating until secure, have bought their homes and made their choices to afford a comfortable life) will be in a better position because they made sensible choices from teenage years upward.

redsquirrelfan · 21/01/2021 17:43

@SchrodingersImmigrant

I keep giggling at terms "large homes" when talking about English housing. Please, people stop suggesting we build "smaller houses"! We could just pitch up a tent then
Well that is a point. The housing stock in the UK is laughably bad in many cases.
myblackboots · 21/01/2021 17:43

I think older people downsize when the time is right for them - some to be nearer their children, others because they have no other choice i.e. they can’t manage on their own or need 24 hour nursing care. Many old people have lived in the family home for decades and simply can’t face the prospect of getting rid of treasured possessions and packing up at the age of 80+ and they certainly don’t need the pressure of being encouraged to do so. If young families want more space, they can extend or simply wait for the right property to come along.

woodhill · 21/01/2021 17:43

@CherryRoulade

GordonsAliveAndEatsPies Us too - we were prepared to put in work and sacrifices to enable us to live comfortably now. Plus our children will pay inheritance tax - so subsidising those who didn't bother. I don't have a problem with the tax. Our children (who have also delayed procreating until secure, have bought their homes and made their choices to afford a comfortable life) will be in a better position because they made sensible choices from teenage years upward.
Yes very true
LizFlowers · 21/01/2021 17:44

I'm 61 this year, widowed and live alone. I am staying put. However I don't have a big house, just your average three bed semi with a fairly big attached garage.

I'm thinking, in time, of turning the garage into a room with an ensuite shower and toilet so if I ever become infirm I can live downstairs. We could really have done with that when my husband was ill but no way would he have given up his garage :-). He was OK going upstairs to sleep and shower and we do have a downstairs toilet. I don't need a garage, don't drive and the front drive is big enough for a few cars anyway.

Nobody should be coerced into leaving their home but many people with really big houses do sell up and buy something smaller and easier to manage when they are retired.

godmum56 · 21/01/2021 17:48

I don't think you are being unreasonable, I think you are being unrealistic