To Ask Why People Buy Bungalows ....

[Speakuptomakeyourselfheard]

only to build up into the roof, making it nigh on impossible to buy a single storey building for those of us that are disabled and struggle with stairs. You see it so often, a nice little bungalow goes on the market and within a few months the builders are in lifting the roof off, or building into it. If you want a house, then buy a bloody house, and leave the bungalows for those that need them, and no, stair lifts are NOT the answer!

I don't think the OP is coming back...

@MrsSkylerWhite

Because they want to and can.

Is everyone supposed to think about future owners now?

This. Should nobody buy a ground floor flat because it's the easiest for people with disabilities to use? Should single people never buy anything more than a 1 bed because bigger families would benefit more from bigger homes? Should people without children never buy anything with a garden or near a school because families with children should have priority? Should people who weren't born in X not be allowed to move there because it pushes up the prices? Should I not buy a house near a train station when I have a car because people without cars would use it more?

If we all had to think about if someone else might possibly benefit more from a home than we would than nobody would ever move anywhere!

I think the most entitled person on this thread is the OP. I have a large ish 3 bed family home...should I be forced to downsize when the kids are 18 so another family can be brought up there?
If I am paying hundreds of thousands of pounds to own a home then what I do with it is up to me. If you have considerations to make about the type of housing suitable for you then I am sorry but they do not factor in my decision making process, why should they?
If you find lifts unattractive that really isn't anyone's problem but your own.

Good grief ... only on MN would people moan about this How very very odd!

If a house, bungalow or flat is on the market it's open season for whoever wants it to buy it. This means if a developer sees potential then they are free to purchase a bungalow and renovate it, including building up. Bungalows are not legally protected and reserved for certain types of people like elderly and disabled.

You could even turn it around and say that isn't it awful that single people buy big houses when it should be left for families with children to buy. Or, how dare rich people have big houses when Karen down the road has two kids sharing a bedroom and only earns NMW.

What many councils don't understand is that many younger disabled people who need bungalows due to being disabled also have children who need a bedroom that is bigger than a shoe box that will only fit a single bed & a small set of drawers. They also don't understand the amount of space required for wheelchair users, a turning circle of 1.5 metres is the minimum space required.

This thread has me raging about developers who buy a big Victorian house and split it up into 4 flats!

Stealing houses away from families.

let’s ask for this to be made unlawful.

As for the stairlift question - would you want one cluttering up your home? I'm disabled physically, but mentally am fine, I just want a home that looks nice like anyone else's.

Also, they often break down, and what when the wheelchair user gets upstairs, do they also need to shell out for a second wheelchair for upstairs and how safe is it to manoeuvre from a wheelchair to a stairlift at the top of the stairs? My daughter is a wheelchair/frame/ crutches user. She ends up having to crawl around upstairs because it is too dangerous for her to be on her feet at the top of the stairs.

Next time people see their teenagers, think about them having to crawl about instead of being on their feet and then think about your offhand comments about stairlifts and how disabled people just need to suck it all up.

Bungalows are not legally protected and reserved for certain types of people like elderly and disabled.

The point is, they should be.

It's a little sad to see all the cute thirties detached bungalows with their mock Tudor gables and colonial verandas vanishing. They're often on decent plots with mature gardens.

Theres a huge demand for family homes but planning is only given for footprint development. So the bungalow is stripped back to foundations and an identikit cream rendered, grey windowed outsized two storey goes up with gravelly low maintenance garden and huge drive.

But it's just the market.

@theSunday

This thread has me raging about developers who buy a big Victorian house and split it up into 4 flats!

Stealing houses away from families.

let’s ask for this to be made unlawful.

The families should be buying the house if they want it. A single person can also buy the same big Victorian house and live alone there. Are they also stealing it away from families?

I don’t really like bungalows, they aren’t really my style. Our house has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, living room and garden. Each kid gets their own room, and we are happy with our 3 story house.

@Maybreethanks for sharing.

@BoredZelda

Bungalows are not legally protected and reserved for certain types of people like elderly and disabled.

The point is, they should be.

No, they shouldn't. Unless you plan to create another law protecting large 4 bedroom plus homes for families.

The more life goes on I realise that the Boomer generation is particularly entitled.

@over2021

We did exactly this. It's a big plot and the cost of a loft conversion and extension (when we did it) was far less than buying a house of equivalent size in the area.

To give context, we bought out bungalow in 2012 for £143k and had it valued for remortgaged last month at £580k. The building works have cost circa. £110k.

Must be the location that has allowed that big price Increase. Where I am in Hampshire, suburb of a main City, my 2 bed bungalow would sell at around £275000 as is. , The cost of a small single story extension inc new kitchen and associated works, around 65 -70k but it won't add that to the value of my home though as there is a ceiling price on these properties. My builder said I'd never make that on it, maybe 15k at a push. If I converted the loft into another bedroom and ensuite that's another 45k. .
If I wanted to buy a 3 bed detached house in my road it would be around £325000 and it would be bigger than my existing home , another loo, but with the same size garden. It is cheaper for me to move than improve.

If they were protected you'd get people arguing about what level of disability would qualify you for one.
You can't limit a homeowner selling something they own to whoever they want for the price they want
That's just mad

What annoys me is that I search for bungalows and get a load of properties with stairs. RightMove and the likes should have a filter for one-level only/fully wheelchair-accessible properties.

OP, YANBU
It's kinds same when B2L landlords buy up family homes and turn them into multipe occupancies or student lets.

I live in Northern Ireland and bungalows are prolific in my rural area. As it happens there is no way we will go up into the roof as our ground floor is over 4000sqft which is more than we need, but I'd have bought any type of house on this plot as it's what we fell in love with (own woodland and about 4.5 acres garden).

I understand your frustration but also not really sure asking everyone else to step aside on single storey properties is practical, it'd be better if there was a grant to subsidise single storey living for wheelchair users to give them more buying power for those properties thus allowing them to outbid the rest of us where they wanted to.

@SentDeliveredRead

If they were protected you'd get people arguing about what level of disability would qualify you for one. You can't limit a homeowner selling something they own to whoever they want for the price they want That's just mad

Very ablist comment.

If they were protected you'd get people arguing about what level of disability would qualify you for one.
You can't limit a homeowner selling something they own to whoever they want for the price they want
That's just mad

Very ablist comment.

How so? To claim disability benefits, you are assessed as to what level of disability and need you have. The money you get when assessed as needing it is provided by the state. And if need be, you can also apply for social housing if disabled too.

The open market is totally different. If you have the money, you can have the property.

We have a bungalow! I love it being all on one floor, bit like a flat! Feels safe for kids - no stairs to fall down! View from Windows is nice - all overlook the garden, none peep into other people's houses or onto roads! It feels private as we are hidden behind our fence! It feels spacious! I just love it!!

I would have been happy with a house but our 4 bed detached bungalow in need of TLC was cheaper than all the 3 bed semi's we looked at and it's great!

Bonus is that when we get older, or should we have mobility issues in the future, we'll have no stairs to worry about!

Like a lovely spacious flat but without noisy neighbours upstairs :)

Gotta love a bungalow :)

@over2021.......
Oh FFS!
I've examined BoredZelda's post forensically, (🧐!), and can't find the evidence that unmasks her as an entitled "Boomer". Can you help me out with this please?
I'm a so-called "Boomer" purely because of when I was born - you do not speak for me.
You've made such a stupid comment that it's laughable and embarrassing.

Shehasadiamondinthesky

I had to carry my 20 year old cat up and down the stairs for the last few years of her life. She would sit there and yell until zi fetched her up or down. I seriously considered getting her a cat lift@Speakuptomakeyourselfheard

I think I love you 😸

You can't expect people to make housing decisions based on other people's circumstances. There's nothing ethical about that. Most people find there choices are limited enough as it is.

Do you also feel elderly people should be turfed out of their houses when they no longer need so many bedrooms?

Do you also feel elderly people should be turfed out of their houses when they no longer need so many bedrooms?

The irony is you'd throw my parents out of their large house into a bungalow, thereby removing a bungalow and giving someone a family home. Even less for OP.

The other thing is this. I work in social housing. We build accessible units. But they vary wildly. You have a walk in shower but now the person needs it wider for carers. You build the wider shower, now they need tracks and a bath. Someone need wheel-under surfaces, someone else needs low but not wheel-under. Someone needs hard flooring but the people below have PTSD and are noise-sensitive. You can spend (and we do) hundreds of thousands on adaptations, and next week it changes.

Added to that we build a percentage of accessible in every build. They are always hard to rent, stay empty and cause rent loss. We're a non-profit. And remember people want those expensive adaptations. There isn't an easy solution.

Developers and housing providers can't build for nothing. Either it's government subsidised or it's not viable.