Property for old age pensioners - this really needs sorting out

[Egggyweggghead]

My mum is 83, and fortunately still quite active and independent. My dad died a few years back, so she sold her house and moved near me
She lives in a 1 bedroom private flat with garden in a small town, that she pays £800 per month for (which is cheap)
Her landlord, due to an illness is selling up, so she needs to find somewhere else to live.

It has been quite an eye opener over the last few weeks over how few options there are regarding housing for this age group

Because of where we live is really expensive She has just enough money to purchase a 1 bed flat or terraced house with no or unkempt garden in a not very nice area of town or in a bigger town 10 miles away,

There are no rentals- anything that comes onto the market gets snapped up quickly and she needs something on the ground floor.

There are hundreds of retirement houses around us that have been up for sale for months/ years, yet they are building more and more 'luxury' retirement villages
The maintenance and service charges on the places up for sale are £2-5000 + per year
All are being reduced in price, so the prices are as low as £70,000 and still dont sell -whilst a small bungalow would be £350,000 which she can't afford

Also the retirement homes take 3-4 months to purchase, like a normal house and she needs to find somewhere quickly

I have hunted for retirement homes to rent, but they are either stupidly expensive at over £2000 per month or are for social tenants only, which my mum doesn't qualify for.

It seems to me that we are desperate for housing in this country, and loads of oaps are living in houses that are too big for them and they want to downsize and move to a more manageable property

But the only option available is to move to a retirement home that they have to purchase which will lose them money and will be unsaleable in the end

I wish someone would look at the 1000s of retirement properties that are sitting empty around the country and change the leasehold and allow them to be rented out at a sensible price.

On rightmove there are 335 retirement properties for sale within a 5 mile radius

I'm not in the UK but we are facing the same problem here. I will be renting for the rest of my life (I'm 65) but have too much money in the bank to qualify for social housing for the elderly here (but not enough money to buy). They keep building luxury retirement villages, and even a studio apartment in a more modest village costs too much for me to buy. I am happy to pay a sensible amount in rent, but what I don't want is to have to keep moving from place to place as I age. I just wish someone would invest in long-term rentals for older people who don't qualify for social housing, but it seems no-one is interested - and the issue is only going to get worse.

The service charges in some of these newer retirement flats (often for almost no service) can go up though. Some increase massively over a couple of years. Older retirement flats were different. Affordable, no excessive and ever increasing service charges (and any charges were for genuinely essential services).

In some areas they're also very hard to sell. Near where a friend lives there's been one on the market for over a year and the price has been dropped several times. Very cheap to buy at first look - until the service charges are taken into account on top of the sale price.

Just my opinion but if she can't get social housing, she'd be better off buying a standard flat even if it doesn't have a garden. Which is a shame, I understand completely how important gardens are for elderly (and disabled) people who are at home a lot more than other people and might, even if not currently at that stage, become housebound.

@ForGreyKoala It's depressing how badly elderly (and younger disabled) people are failed in today's society. I'm sorry you're in this situation and you're so right there's a desperate need for affordable and appropriate housing for the many elderly and disabled people who full through the income gap - not rich but deemed to have "too much savings" for social housing - despite their savings being too low to afford (suitable) open market homes to buy or rent.

But in a situation where the elderly person would otherwise be renting, they will always be better off as long as the monthly service charge is less than the monthly rent they would otherwise have paid.

I've just checked my local areas social housing availability for 5 northern towns there is a whopping 48 properties available 3 of them are bungalows.

This is such an issue. No-one seems to be building anything that is suitable for older people except for these expensive retirement villages with all the downsides that have been mentioned. We have so many huge blocks of flats going up around here, probably this is happening everywhere, but they have no parking so carers wouldn’t be able to go there.

Have you looked for ex council properties? Some places have small groups of council properties instead of big estates & these ones often get bought under right to buy. You get more for your money & they are often at least 30% cheaper than a private property. If you could find somewhere your mum may be able to afford a bungalow or adapted house.

You are absolutely right OP. The developers see the elderly as victims ripe for ripping off. Retirement apartments with ludicrous service charges are a complete scam.

I don't want to be forced in to a tiny flat with no outside space, surrounded by other old people. I want to live in a normal community with all age groups. Much healthier.

I'm 60 and my DS will head off to university shortly, as which point I want to sell our 4 bed family house. I started looking for something suitable a year ago and quickly realised that bungalows are very hard to come by.

I could buy a smaller house - 2 or 3 bed - or I could buy a small plot of land and build my own bungalow. Or I can hang on to my current house. When I factor in moving fees and stamp duty, I might as well stay where I am.

Why didn't she buy immediately rather than rent? Rental is always going to be wasteful and property has always generally increased in value.It seems some poor financial decisions were made after the death of her husband.

Gosh, that's helpful I'm sure many of us look back at things we could/should have done differently at the time, but pointing it out isn't much use now.

It is understandable to ask though - it doesn’t really make any sense.

There is a complex of retirement flats about 3 miles from me. There are no shops or bus route. People think of future proof. So there maybe one day they unable to drive or walk far.

My parents downsized to a property which is closer to shops and buses. Plus if need a stairlift fitted, it would be ok as previous home had staircase in the middle of the hall

Indeed.
I moved my dmum closer to me and fortunately found a retirement flat to rent at £900 per month including service charges. She moved at 81, has banked the proceeds of her house and we won't get stuck trying to sell it.
I am certain thar there would be a good business in taking over a block and having them all as rentable properties at a similar price.

Would she not buy a ground floor flat? Retirement flats are a rip
off, tbf she's had 14 years to buy a suitable home.

DH and I own our home, but it wouldn’t raise enough to buy a private retirement property. Eventually we may rent a flat or bungalow from a social housing provider (those are not restricted to local authorities). We’ve registered with a couple who know we’d have capital from the sale of our current home. I know others who have done this, and like several PPs I’d recommend the OP explores those options for her mum. Many social landlords base their older people’s housing policies on age, and their need for accessible accommodation. They usually have a mixture of some self funding tenants and some whose rent is covered by benefits.

There’s no way I’d buy a property built specifically for older people. Apart from the prices, the service charges can be hefty, also trying to sell them on after the occupant has died can be difficult. We wouldn’t want our DC to have that hassle.

It’s definitely worth speaking to local
housing associations. I work in housing an we have lots of wellbeing schemes which are for older people - they have wardens, but don’t provide hands on care and have different rules regarding savings. The flats are beautiful!

Retirement flats are being built like wildfire in our local area.

I’ve never really understood this as people downsizing means they’re taking the smaller, more affordable properties from the younger ones. Not many young singles or couples can afford 4/5 bed detached houses. (Unless of course the seniors are all moving into retirement properties, which they’re not).

Agree entirely about retirement flats - but it doesnt stop there. Tbh flats in this country are appallingly built. I can't see why it is legal to build or maintain a block of flats without lifts. My mum looked seriously at buying a flat when trying to downsize and loved the outlook of several flats higher up, but I had to be quite realistic and said to her I really thought it was a bit mad at 83 with a bad hip to buy somewhere high up with no lift access. And yet these flats were otherwise ideal for her.

The older ones at least had balconies or some gesture towards outdoor space- so many flats are apparently built for nonexistent people who never want to open a window or step outside; or when you sit down you can't actually see out at all, or at best they look straight into a blank wall.

Are there any almshouses near you? It's worth looking. And despite my hatred of retirement flats there are some that are better than others. There is one block near me that is so brilliantly located, and the service charge is genuinely reasonable. They are horrible in themselves but I can still imagine having an OK life in them, plus you can sublet them so they do come up for rent.

there would surely be money in building flats suitable for elderly so I can only think that there are too many health and safety issues around it to make it worth while for builders - or there is such a dearth of housing that it's more lucrative to build big family homes.
The rules over wired in fire alarms, green heating etc make it harder work to let. And letting to an elderly person who might pass away - well who pays the rent?
Sounds mercenary but letting is a business.
Possibly the expensive retirement apartments are owned by big investment companies, not individual landlords, and their money is in the building as much as the rents.

This could be done but would involve lots of building. I'm not sure if you have seen the threads on here when developers have plans for big housing schemes but there is alot of angry people, why here why do we need so many houses etc.
The only way it could be done is a massive change to planning law , it's completely outdated.

Is your house big enough to build a granny flat ?

This .
I think people are starting to realise what a red flag retirement properties are , I'm seeing more and more comment about how bad these McCarthy Stione type places are and the problems of selling at a huge loss and having to pay extortionate service charges until it sells which could be years .

Single storey little garden flat communities are perfect for the elderly and they just aren't around .

My gran used to live in a perfect development.
One bed terrace bungalows with small courtyard gardens. One parking space at the front and visitor parking bay. A central strip between the rows which had trees and grass and a few benches so people could socialise in nice weather and had something pretty to look out on when sitting in their living rooms.

On the edge of town and next to all facilities and a park.

Social rent.

Unfortunately wouldn’t be deemed viable now because they could probably fit at least three times as many houses and flats in the footprint.

Development land in suitable areas is just too precious to spend on what would be ideal.

Service charges are scandalous for many flats, not just retirement ones and the whole thing needs sorting as part of leasehold reform, which Gove started but didn't bother finishing.

The retirement flats near me are beautiful. If the financial model was right they'd make lovely homes.

My mother is in social housing. Not the best part of town but it’s a permanent home, a small flat which is easy to look after and surrounded by other older people. Her savings and income made no difference at all to her application.