Jeremy Vine - people are morally obliged to downsize and free up property

[JoanThursday1972]

Currently have this on the radio. Suggestion is that people are not entitled to remain in and live in the house that they have bought and paid for. That they should downsize and free this up for more deserving occupants, ie families.

This is surely a personal choice and not an obligation? Anyone is entitled to live in a house they have bought, regardless of size.

Its devils work if you are forcing people.

does this include the royal family? The PM residence checkers?

TV guy? Some TV Show? I prefer to read. I've seen him on a bike...

I quite fancy his brother... the one in Not going out...

Did I say "forcing people"? Did anyone?

Why not though make it easier for people who, for whatever reason, are in houses which they can't afford the upkeep on to downsize e.g. by offering reductions on stamp duty, helping out with paying removal fees etc?

YABU firstly for listening to that antagonistic and inflammatory AWFUL man who generally knows piss all detail of what he’s talking about.

Secondly YABU for even considering it’s enforceable.

We are a family of 3 in a 4 bed house that’s on the large side. We use all the rooms. Do we need to sell up?

absolute claptrap and BBCR2 sadly scraping the bottom of the barrel for segments for JV. I’ve stopped listening to R2 and threads like this make me glad o have.

Both quite good. I think he'd make a good James Bond.

Really? Maybe you would like to tax my bank account too for the benefit of others. Why should a possession that one has worked hard to buy be handed over on some politico's whim? My car seat 5 in comfort, will they steal this possession too for the benefit of those who have a lot of children?

People are entitled to live in a house they've bought and lived in of course. They shouldn't be forced to move out and downsize. But I do think it makes sense to both individually and for larger society. My grandad lived in a big 3 bed house by himself, garage and a huge garden. In the end the garden went to waste, he didn't drive no need for the driveway and garage and he couldn't get upstairs, slept mostly downstairs spending all day in one room. It was a pain to maintain the property too. I know the house had lots of memories and he was settled there, but he would have been better off downsizing to a bungalow or flat years before. At the same time I was living in a 2 bed flat with a family and no garden!

Is he on the radio? We don't get much channels being so remote. I miss radio. They can't do the mountains lol!

I would love to downsize. But the type of property I want - detached bungalow centrally positioned within a large plot so not on top of any neighbours - is rare.

Plus there are the extortionate costs involved in buying and selling property, along with the ridiculous, anxiety inducing fear of chains collapsing, gazumping, etc and it seems easier to stay put in our current house.

I was not implying you were saying that people should be forced. I meant it is only the devils work if you are forcing people.

Don't give em ideas...

The real issue leading to this ‘debate’ is that the UK housing market has not kept pace with population needs, not only in terms of numbers of houses but quality and property sizes. This is 100% the fault of government who prioritize greedy developers and not social needs. Of course no one should feel morally obligated to downsize.
This 100%

There's always comments on social media about developments in my area. The main trend is that there's either a lot of smaller developments of 4/5 bed executive houses on a scrap of land that's close to, but not in, a desirable postcode/area enough to market the properties at a higher price.
Then others there's the bare minimum social housing or affordable properties, and then the rest of the estate are 4 bed, 2 bath houses that are unaffordable to a lot of local people on local wages.

There's also endless threads with problem with developers not finishing the roads, not having any bins, not signing things over to the council because they're not finished, not providing the sort of landscaping and communal outdoor areas that the plans suggest, building junk left uncollected, but the developers seem to have moved on building yet more houses elsewhere in the region.

None of it is geared to local need.

Annie and Fred live in a 5 bed detached in the Home Counties. Its worth £900k.

£900k for a 5 bed detached house in the Home Counties, you'll be lucky,

Probably need to add at least half a million to that price tag, actually probably nearer a million.

I’d quite like to downsize - solo living in a 3 bed currently. No kids to leave anything to. But I want a 2 bed with a garden and drive and every two-bed near me is a terrace with on-street parking and a yard.

I can see both sides of this. Does it make sense for one or two people to be rattling round in a 4 bed house? Maybe not. But speaking as one of two people who are rattling round in a 4 bed house, it isn't that simple - we moved here with our three boys who have all moved out now, but we have lived here for years, and love it here - not just the house, but the area - we have friendships here, groups we go to, and there are lots of lovely dog walks nearby. And we like having enough space that the family can come to stay.

And the thought of moving now is quite daunting - dh and I are nearly 60, I'm in poor health (depression, anxiety and long covid), and dh has MS (although he currently has no symptoms or lasting effects - fingers crossed that carries on). And over our years together, we have accumulated a lot of stuff - furniture that fits our current home, lots of books - all the sorts of things people accumulate - and the thought of going through all of that and reducing it enough to fit in a smaller house is exhausting!

But the flip side of that is that we are probably as healthy now as we are ever going to be - I may get over the long covid, but I have other long term issues, and dh may deteriorate, so it would make more sense for us to bite the bullet and do the decluttering and downsizing now, rather than leaving it for another 10 or 20 years, when it will be even harder!

Oh bless.
That requires a suitable property to downsize to. Where I live the nice areas have very few 2/3 bed homes. They are all 4 beds. People like the area so they stay.

Well said!!

The term 'Boomer' is unacceptable - reporting this.

Don't bother love, we're of the generation that is quite capable of defending ourselves when necessary, not being terminally offended by the slightest thing.

Those bungalows are exactly what we want. We want a decent size garden and would happily renovate. There aren’t any where we live. They’re unicorns round here.

Haha good one, try getting boomers to do that 😂
Nit just boomers. Ds and hud gf ha e bought a 4.5 bedroomed house with no intention of having children. Thery are paying for it so why give it up..

Homeowners? No. Their home, their choice.

Private rent? Up to them. Rent is more on a bigger house, if they want to pay more rent it's up to them.

Social housing, housing associations, council housing? YES. They should downsize. Social responsibility and all that.

I can see why it might make sense for lots of people to sell up and on, but I don't think it should be forced or expected. It should be their choice.

I think they should remove the stamp duty for those looking to downsize. Might help boost it a little 🤷🏻‍♀️