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

The problem is: not as good a business as the current rip-off model on which these places operate where the developers sell them all off so they extract all of their capital but still charge exorbitant fees each month. In some cases they are also entitled to a cut of the price whenever anyone sells a flat too.

Your mother is lucky. Where I live social housing is only for people with not much money in the bank - the rest of us are just supposed to deal with the constant fear of having to move as best we can.

But in this particular case isn't the issue that she was out of the housing market for 14 years, during which time prices have risen enormously.

She could have immediately bought somewhere after selling the house but didn't.

So in many ways she's more like a first time buyer problem with a big deposit but not enough to get what she'd like.

Most people downsizing won't rent for 14 years in between selling the family home and a flat.

Yep!

We were very lucky to get my Dad a bungalow near us.

He had to downsize from a lovely 2 bed cottage in a nice area to a 1 bed in our much cheaper area. For the cost of the 1 bed bungalow he could have brought a 4 bed house where we are.

Meanwhile me, DH and DD are rapidly out growing our 2 bed terrace but stagnating wages and high cost of living just doesn't make moving somewhere bigger realistic right now.

Something does need to be done about the service charges.

And about the flats losing so much value to quickly although I'm not quite sure how on that.

Because, aside from that, they do tend to be nice properties that are perfect in other ways and often in good locations

PP who said about as long as the service charge is cheaper than rent it doest matter, but I think some pensioners get housing benefit which they wouldnt get for a service charge, but also some people are moving from a property with no service charge so it is a new cost for them. Downsizing doesn't always free up huge equity that will cover the charge. Not everyone had a big 4 bed in a good location.

Me and DH are 66 and 70, not elderly but some mobility issues. We are downsizing to a park home mainly because we want peace and quiet due to arsehole neighbours. A bungalow would have been ideal but way out of our budget even if there were any available.
Hope she finds something op.

She was lucky in that nobody else wanted the flat because it’s first floor and the area is bad. At the moment she can manage the stairs. We or the council will fit a stair lift when required.

What about a Park Home? They are like bungalows.

The first flat I bought, in London was a maisonette. From the outside it looked like a pair of semi detached houses but was actually two downstairs flats and two upstairs flats.

It worked well for everyone, oldies could live in the ground floor, anyone else could have the upper floor flats, they all had gardens - either front or back.

It just takes a bit of thought and the will, but developers aren't interested

The country is building the wrong sorts of houses though and there needs to be thousands more social houses. I’ve banged on about this before the election. I don’t get why housing is not more of an issue. Is it because homeowners don’t want prices to drop? Housing is a basic human right.

I agree, what is it about a retirement flat that’s different from a regular flat? I’m assuming because people are saying retirement flat not supported living it’s not warden controlled etc? Or are they?

Couldn’t she buy a regular flat within her budget? What do you get with one specifically for retirement? (Except it appears excessive service charges?)

I think there is one other thing that could help. Too often sites are developed with commercial ground floor units and flats above, instead of all flats. Several near where I live with the ground floor never let, whereas the flats occupied straight away.

If the flats have lift(s) then SC is a lot higher than flats without them.

Some property management schemes charge stupid amounts of SC which the residents get little or sod all back. Unless they put the money in a sink fund - for future expensive jobs such as doing the roof, painting the exterior etc.

Yes exactly. I am not blaming your mother of course, she did what she thought was best at the time, but unfortunately these are the consequences.

She is like a first time buyer which has put her in a very tricky situation.

I think this is why it's wise to consider your retirement needs earlier in life rather than wait until it becomes untenable.

Round here too and bungalows that haven't been converted to two storey are a rarity.

Yes I've noticed it quite a lot. I live in a village whereby the average age is late 50's according to the last census so we have a lot of elderly. We've been inundated with new builds around us the last ten years. These are all 'executive properties' and the bungalows are going for 500k alone. We are living in the West Midlands, nowhere exceptionally special kind of thing. These are not the housing we need here we need a retirement village built. One with affordable rent and lower than the market value. I'm not sure where the nearest one is I don't think there is one within a five mile radius. Every morning I see three or four cars turn into the village, these are carers. They are in the village all day visiting people in their homes. These are often the massive 4/5 bedroom homes with unkempt gardens. The poor people living in them who aren't engaging with anyone else but their carers all day. So many of them would probably welcome more suitable housing. My step mums mother lives in one of these retirement village, doesn't need daily help but has poor sight and mobility. She was able to downsize and has a much better quality of life. Blind as anything but gets on the bus with her chums, has dinner with them and takes part in social activities on site. Sitting alone in her house 45 minutes away from family and unable to drive was really affecting her MH.

This is exactly what we have found with trying to help my parents downsize. They have a 4 bed detached house looking to downsize to a 2 bed bungalow. By the time you've paid stamp duty, estate agent and conveyancer fees, they just can't make it work.

For some people this is not going to work, I accept that, but for others, it's the ideal plan.
Equity release to buy. (Not the type that reverts to the company)
Depending on the age of the buyer, they can get a large discount off the property they wish to buy - at 66 it would be about 35%
Now this isn't good news for any inheritances, but it could just keep your parent safe and happy.
I don't want to turn this very worthwhile thread into an argument about equity release, we can argue it out on another thread, it's just something I am putting out there for those at their wits end.

@Chocolateorange22
These people in their large unkempt home aren't all poor souls, as you see here on many elderly parent threads, so many are incredibly resistant to change or help, absolutely refuse to downsize or part with a penny for help.
Also, I've seen many families encourage parents to stay in their homes beyond when they really shouldn't, to avoid the house being sold for care costs.

Not all retirement flats are the same but they tend to be cheaper than the equivalent flat on the open market because they are restricted to over a certain age group.

You are less likely to have a flat occupied by students or younger people having noisy parties, or a baby crying in the night or toddlers running up and down..

They often have emergency cord pulls put in each room as standard.

They have proper lifts that work and sometimes a communal lounge which if you are properly elderly is nice to go to.

There can be a onsite manager for part of the week, who isn't a warden or carer, but is there to deal with property issues.

Sometimes they are just in a better location. There is a company near me where all thier properties are next to the village hall. Which normally means a bus stop too.

Indeed ,my parents are both 82 and live in a large four bedroom house, which they own they don't use the upstairs at all now as my mum can get upstairs due to poor mobility ,they have converted their dining room into a bedroom ,they have a shower room and toilet downstairs
And a bathroom upstairs so they have everything they need on the ground floor ,they will never move ,the house would be perfect for a growing family bur it's in a desirable area so not many young families could afford it.

I don’t get why housing is not more of an issue. Is it because homeowners don’t want prices to drop?

yes

My DDad has moved to a retirement flat, it's an older development about 30 years ago, reasonable price and service charge about £350 a month. Lovely feel and I'd be happy to live there.

Someone else I know has recently moved to McArthur Stone, from other sales listing's for the same site, they are double the price and the service charge is three times what my Dad's is. I also saw in sales listing when they sell MS take 4%

Oh definitely I don't dispute that in the slightest. It's not much of a life though if you can't access all of your home and enjoy it. There is one elderly lady who gets pushed around in the village in a wheelchair, I imagine she looks forward to this walk all day. However the carer walks with headphones in chatting on a call in her home language. So it's not like the lady is getting any stimulating conversation. It makes me so angry that this lady is just existing. There has got to be something somewhere that allows her to keep her wealth, allows carers in but has stimulation from her peers. It makes me incredibly sad.

Funny you should say that....

We have looked at a few and have found a really lovely 12 year old park home on a nice established site that is beautifully decorated with a little patio and raised verandah.
It's got hand rails, and proper ramps to the doors so she wouldn't fall

Park homes when you sell - you have to pay 10% of the selling price back to the land owner (another rip off scheme that has been going through parliament for years)
But due to the low site fees she would be no worse off losing that amount, (around £15,000) which would equate to 16 months rental amount

And because the park home allows anyone over 45 she can give it to my brother if needed.

These park homes can last for 70 years, and although they don't generally increase in value like a bricks and mortar as long as they are maintained they do sell well.

It may be the perfect solution As she will be fully independent

I don't understand why park home style developments aren't used more widely. Some of the holiday ones are like villages, and these could be built quite cheaply, differing sized properties to alleviate the housing crisis. If they are considered suitable for pensioners, there's no reason why they wouldn't be suitable for anyone.