AIBU to think a couple moving into in a five bedroom house is selfish?

[activedough]

AIBU here??

I’ve noticed that a couple have recently moved into a 5 bed detached property in my area. They don’t have any children…

I honestly don’t understand it. Why on earth would two people need five bedrooms?! Surely a house that size should be going to a family who actually needs the space?

It just seems incredibly selfish to me when there are families struggling to find suitable homes.

@activedough back in the mosts of time we bought a five bed house because we wanted 3/4 dc. Sadly we only got two. However, we stayed in the house for more than 20 years and then bought a seven bedroom one! Because it ticked our other options for garden and entertaining space. One of those beds became a bathroom and another a dressing room.

If people spend their own money, it's their business and theirs alone.

I don’t think there is a demand for larger (5 bed) properties. Certainly not where I am. There’s loads sitting on Rightmove unsold.

They have earned their money. They can pay for it. Not your business. 🙄

Not everything revolves around families with kids. 🙄.

Nothing stopping stopping a family buying a big house.

What a ridiculous post @activedough. If they are late 20s then jsbt their a high chance they are planning for this to be their future family home with their kids.

will you be paying their stamp duty if they buy a small place and have to move again in a few years when they have kids

We live in a 5 bedroom house. No children at home - they’re both adults now. No plans to move. Are we selfish?

YABU. Its none of your business.

I live alone in 4 bedrooms.
There are plenty of similar houses going up for sale in my area every week so it's not like I snatched the last remaining one. Families came and looked at it plenty of times over the 8 months it's been on a market. It, presumably, didn't work for them because it didn't have a big garden and parking for multiple family cars.
But just to be spiteful to all the families with children queuing outside and asking me to give up my house, I converted one of the bedrooms into a walk-in wardrobe.

My 5 bed house was empty for 5 years. There was ample opportunity for a larger family to buy it. But they didn’t.

And if there was a large family with kids living in it then, presumably, it wouldn't use any energy at all? Make it make sense, please.

Absolutely none of your business. What a ludicrous post.

I'll bet you live somewhere bigger than you need, so do all your family and friends....

It's not fair!!!! I want a lego room. I deserve a lego room.

I would also like an empty room just to sit peacefully in with green walls and a beautiful view. I suppose I could just go outside.

Nobody is stopping the family with 4 kids buying the houses 🤷

All of you that are saying it's greedy and selfish to buy a house that is bigger than you need, can you honestly say, hand on heart, that if you won the lottery you wouldn't buy a house with more bedrooms than you strictly need?

I suspect most of you would. In which case your opinion is fuelled by jealousy. At least recognise that.

@activedough I thought you were going to say it was a council house! The house in question will have been advertised on the open market for anyone to buy. So it's an equal opportunity situation (for those with the right money) but obviously nobody with 5 kids either wanted it or could afford it. Are you suggesting that the open market system is abolished and that vendors sell their properties to "more deserving" people. Would that be achieved through a government subsidy? And who would you deem more worthy? Perhaps you'd like to set out your proposals for us all to consider.

Imagine you could only live in houses that matched how many kids and adults.

You get married, allowed to buy a 1 bed.
Then you have a child, so you now are allowed to pay for the privilege of having to buy a 2 bed.
A few years later, you're now allowed to buy a 3 bed.
You complete your family with a 3rd child. So now are allowed to move into a 4 bedroom house

Coating you tens of thousands in solicitors, searches, moving costs, and stamp duty.

But what happens when your oldest moves out? Does uni count?

Are you now forced to move out and buy a 3 bed, as you only have 2 kids living at home, and then again down to. 2 bed house in a few years,and again when all the kids have moved out?

What is the permissable time frame from kid moving out to you being forced to sell your house?

What if you haven't got enough money t pay stamp duty on the 6th house you've been forced to purchase?

Honestly....

I can guarantee 99.99% of those posters are living in houses bigger than they actually need.

Why is this any of your business though?

We only had a 6 month old baby when we moved into our 4 bedroom house; we are now expecting our 4th DC so all the bedrooms are in use. Completely normal for a young couple to buy a big house if they are planning children in the future.

Maybe they want to run a B and B.
Maybe they want rooms for hobbies.
Maybe they have friends who intend to visit and stay.

Five bedroom houses are for anyone who can pay for them.

OP sounds Old School Soviet

Is there a shortage of family sized houses available to purchase in your area? There are loads on the market here.

You'd hate me. I bought a 4 bedroom house and knocked a wall down to make a HUGE bathroom so it's a 3 bed house now. I'm barren so no kids, just the 2 of us with 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms.

This is a weird thread. The most fundamental reason it’s not unreasonable that they live there is how the housing market works: if you have the best overall offer for the person selling then you get the house, it’s not the same as a council allocating housing.

There can be lots of reasons someone buys a house and the bedrooms are not necessarily to do with it. If you want a certain amount of downstairs space or particular layout that might mean more bedrooms come with that kind of house, as one example.

As they are a young couple, they could also be planning to start a family - perhaps even a large one if it works out for them - and don’t want the hassle of moving again and the expense of that when they can afford the house they want to live in long term now.

I half agree, but with the notion that the whole house is heated. That means it's an unnecessary carbon footprint issue. Otherwise I don't think it's selfish.