To wonder why so many people are hypocrites when it comes to housing?

[WestminsterCrabby]

Got into quite a heated row discussion last night with some relatives. 🍷

They are Fuming (capital F intended) about all the new housing estates popping up in their leafy village. Apparently its ruined the views, ruined their dog walks yaddah yaddah.

These are couples in their late 50s early 60s whose children are long gone but still live in their large 4 bed detached homes. When I pointed out that perhaps so many new homes wouldnt need to be built (or smaller ones that took up less space) if people only took up the amount of space they needed rather than felt entitled to, they thought I was being very very unreasonable. I disagree!

I appreciate that people living in houses bigger than there needs is not the cause of the housing shortage HOWEVER surely you cant complain about other people needing to be housed while you yourself have 2 bedrooms per person?!?

Drives me mad and it's not the first time I've had conversations like this with people in a similar circumstances.

It makes me sad to see the countryside being converted over as well but people have got to live somewhere.

Aibu here?

I do think that downsizing is often not as easy as it sounds. We bought this house when we had three teenage boys living at home. Now two of them have moved out, and have their own places, and the third has graduated and is living with us for a while, until he and his girlfriend get their own place - so we are not far off the point of having just two of us in a 4-bed house.

We have talked about downsizing, and I know we will have to, eventually - but bloody hell, it is a daunting task! We not only have a four-bed house, we also have enough stuff to fill a four-bed house! The thought of having to reduce it all to an amount that would fit in a smaller house/bungalow is simply overwhelming - and the older we get, the harder it will be, both physically and mentally, for us to do it.

I do try to declutter - I’ve been ruthless with my yarn stash, and even though I’m not finished, I’ve got four big bags full, to go to the charity shop. I get rid of books that I know I won’t reread.

And it’s not just the stuff - it’s the furniture. We bought furniture to fit this house and our needs - but I suspect we’d need a smaller suite, dining table, dresser, wardrobes etc, because a smaller house may well have smaller rooms, and our current stuff simply won’t fit (not if we want to walk around the rooms, that is) - and we’ve got a piano, inherited from my late MIL too - that has sentimental value.

Looking at the scale of the task we will face, I can absolutely understand why people older than me simply don’t have the energy or strength to face the declutter if and change involved in downsizing.

I don't know if our local planners have more clout than others but when a substantial new estate is built there will be things like shops/schools/play facilities included. One local to me was built about 2 years ago and has a football pitch and club house that the builders had to include in the plans to get them passed. They also had to make a contributions to roads. Don't other areas do this?

A new development that got planning permission a few months ago, not built yet, had to include a new primary school.

I dont understand what this would achieve for your example young family who cant afford to put a roof over their heads?

So that poster moves out, into a 2 bed bungalow lets say, or a 2 bed starter home.

And your example family then suddenly can afford to move somewhere, to what? The house the poster moved out of? How does that work?

Well I was specifically answering your point where you said that young families cant afford to put a roof over their heads

You're then saying its not about affordability but then also saying people are living in one beds because they cant afford to upsize. Make your mind up!

The reality is this is nothing about people downsizing or not and its a red herring.

Thank you for such a kind and pleasant comment, @pixie5121 . I was trying to explain why declutter it and downsizing is not the piss-easy task you think it is - and how overwhelming it could be, for an elderly person.

I’m not entirely sure that meant I deserved such unpleasantness from you.

Almost 30 years ago, I suggested to DM that it was time to move out of her glamorous rented flat in poshest area of Sheffield and buy something she could afford outright nearer to her DM/my GM. And she did it. So she bought the cheapest most run down house in a street within walking distance of the town centre, two bedrooms, tiny courtyard, refurbished it, and it still works for her at 87, with a stairlift added recently. As it will do again for a young family when she dies and it's sold next time. It's an Edwardian terrace. She no longer has a car, and most of the houses in the street have been bought by BTL landlords, who have split up the houses horizontally to get two inadequate flats out of one property. I'd like to buy out the other person who will inherit from her, because the location is so central and it could provide a perfect starter home for DS.

Don't fret, @SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius , @pixie5121 has been all over every controversial housing thread for the last 48 hours. It's a political bot post.

@pixie5121 , I don't regard my mother as privileged. She worked in MH as a carer until she was 79, because of a bad divorce in her 40s. She has the minimum state pension, topped up by pension credit.

This is true. It seems like it does take time for infrastructure to catch up with huge estates.

I couldn’t agree with you more! The over-60s own 6 million spare bedrooms! It’s a disgusting farce. We do not need more ugly and unfit new builds - we need for old people to sell their family homes and downsize!

The NIMBYs refuse to engage with developers. The more enlightened village around here have managed to score some pretty nice housing, alongside great community facilities, extensions to schools and other infrastructure through constructive dialog to get a scheme that meets local needs.

We either have affordable housing shoeboxes with max 2-3 bedrooms (affordable housing are exempt from village envelope restrictions/exception sites) or small £1.5 million house developments, which are unaffordable to most and the owners don’t use local facilities (playgroup/pub/bus). We need family houses that are available on the open market.

It doesn’t help that downsizing is financially a crap deal, as your primary residence is exempt from inheritance tax. Why would you sell a £750k house for a £250 k flat and then watch the taxman run off with the bulk of the profit if you haven’t spent it before you die?

Good luck with your election campaign @DogsAndGin . I don't think it will be a triumph. Although I agree we don't WANT more ugly unfit new built houses, built down to a price that gives an unreasonable % profit.

I'm in a 4 bed house (new build) and would love a bungalow but there is nothing suitable. I wish these developers were told to provide bungalows like they do with social housing. Why do I want to give up a lovely, well insulated and well spaced out house for a poky 100 yr old bungalow that would probably need totally gutting & redecorated.

@DogsAndGin , you have me in your sights for compulsory downsizing. I'm 66, and not quite retired, and I have a home office and a spare bedroom in a large house in a beautiful AONB location in a house we own outright. Under which piece of legislation do you propose to evict me? Sorry, but you need to think instead of just bashing your keyboard.

So I'm not entitled to stay in the house I've worked hard to pay for, and I'm obliged to sell it to someone more entitled.

Blimey.

My grandparents wanted to downsize but the price of bungalows around here are far more than what they would have gotten for their 3 bed house.

Not read full thread but we have estates being built on the edge of the area near me. Roads are already gridlocked at peak times, getting GP appointments is pot luck, no NHS dentists. I would object less if all properties were social housing so they at least cleared housing lists but they will do the minimum requirement of not remotely affordable housing.