If there was another Brexit referendum tomorrow ...................

[TistyTosty]

.......would you vote the same as you did originally?

MimpiDreams, there are several blocks of flats in my town reserved for the over 55s, with two more retirement complexes planned for the town centre. I'm not sure where all the carers, sales assistants, maintenance workers etc are supposed to live.

MimpiDreams which is a good idea to try encourage the over 55's to downsize and free up some larger houses, all though 55 is properly a bit early

Peregrina memory may be going a bit, but the terrace I was living in, in the 50's definitely had an outside toilet, I can remember all the kids used to throw stones at the rats at the bottom of the yard, it seemed to be fun at the time, I sure the rats played along as well.
perhaps you were one of the posher kids that lived up the road.

LoveInTokyo
Studios and one bed flats aren’t desirable to first time buyers any more.

Mainly because first time buyers are now couples in their 30s planning families rather than carefree 22 year olds who would have started with a studio and progressed to a family home by the time they were in their 30s.
I think you will find that most first time buyers have always been couples or a few friends getting together, I couldn't imagine a 22 year old single first time buyer, affording his own place unless bought for him.
I suppose you want to move into a 3-4 bed detached because studios are not good enough for you, ( sorry desirable ).
most couples started at the bottom flats etc and moved up when family come along.
Don't moan about high house prices in your area, move to where you can afford and look at the bottom end like we all had to ( unless that is beneath you)

Well I’m 60 and have no intention of down sizing, where would I fit all my prepping stuff. I like to enjoy my garden and certainly don’t want to live in a studio

I'm not sure who those studios and flats are aimed at, I can't think that anyone who is 55 to at least 75 would want one, We love the space in our 3 bedroomed house with large garden and drive, where would our caravan live in a studio or flat.

A lot of those over 55's flats are of course leasehold and there will be monthly charges for maintenance and caveats for large maintenance jobs such as roofing etc.

Hang on, what, Lanzarote is not in the EU?

Well back onto the OP, I answered for myself, but my DM is 85 and an adamant remainer. She thinks all of this is making the UK and the rest of the EU more vulnerable.

Re housing for over 55s and flats available at below market value for this age group. If you look into this it is often the case that you don’t own the property. You will just be able to live there until your death. Read the small print. Buyer beware

Still a cheap way to have a roof over your head I agree, but you would probably also lose out if you wanted to move and would have to sell back to leaseholders.

I like the idea that "the over-55s" are some kind of ignorant alien species that can't think for themselves.
Let me know when that is supposed to happen.

Rosstac, the point is - quite obviously - that the studio or one bedroom flat you think today’s first time buyers should be happy with is too small to raise children in. Women can’t freeze their fertility until they’ve managed to work their way up to at least a two bedroom place. In previous years a first time buyer in their early 20s could start with a studio because they had at least 15 years ahead of them in which to have children, so they had plenty of time to work their way up the ladder.

Why is this so difficult for you to understand?

A studio or one bed flat is not suitable for a couple in their 30s with children. It’s not a question of pickiness. You wouldn’t have considered it suitable for you and your children either.

(And yes, I know, in the third world families often live in a single room. And in the 1930s my great grandmother raised three boys in a one up one down. But our quality of life is supposed to have improved since then. It certainly improved a lot for the boomer generation, no matter how much you’d have us believe you all had to live in cardboard boxes and eat rats.)

Lanzarote is an autonomous region of Spain and as such is part of the EU.

Yes, that's what I thought. So "The evil EU built roads in Lanzarote though it's not in the EU" is cobblers, then. Who'd have thought it

I’m getting bored now. Ffs if you want a child and you are in a one bed you make it work. Some posters are so entitled. I suggest you watch “Cathy come Home” if you think baby boomers had it so good with regard to housing. My parents had an outside toilet in Central London in 1980 and an outside shower in a lean to. Look at old photos of the 60s and 70s re housing, especially in London, if you think it was a land of milk and honey. Progress has been achieved through hard work and has fuck all to do with the EU.

But that prosperity achieved since the 60s is put directly at risk by Brexit whether you like it or not. It doesn't matter what role the EU has played so far, brexit is a mess no one needs.

I’m bored with you too, frankly user.

Don’t forget to tell everyone what a passionate brexiteer you are next year. No whinging, no moaning.

“Progress” has been achieved through various factors, although it’s a bit of a stretch to suggest that the economic prosperity the country has enjoyed as a direct result of being in the EU had nothing to do with it.

Conversely, as quietrebel says, if there is a marked decline in living standards now, it will be quite easy to identify Brexit as the root cause.

As I said before, I find it curious that the exact same people who express a desire to return to the way things were before we joined the EU will suddenly start banging on about outside toilets the moment you point out that they are the luckiest generation in living memory.

On the bedrooms point, official guidance is that a couple or single parent with two children needs two bedrooms, provided that the children are under ten (if opposite sex) or under 16 (if same sex). After the age of 16 children need their own room. This is the official guidance that determines your entitlement to social housing or housing benefit.

If you think a couple in work and paying their own way should be expected to live in a single room with their children then you must be even more pro austerity than the Tories.

Not quite Elements The Canaries are an Outermost region and have derogated from some EU policies. I think VAT might be one, but I am not sure. We found this out when coming back from the Canaries last winter.

Having had the Canaries brought to mind, I wonder what will happen to places like the Channel Islands? They are currently in the Customs Union but outside the VAT system - hence those cheap printer cartridges coming from the CI (or did they stop that?They were going to. ) I could see the CI being mighty p'd off about not being in the Customs union and not being part of the EU, they didn't get a vote. And contrary to what is believed, not everyone on the island is a stinking rich tax exile.

If you think a couple in work and paying their own way should be expected to live in a single room with their children then you must be even more pro austerity than the Tories.

Ah, straight back to Victorian style poverty for working people. Nostalgia, innit?

That poster also met a Spanish woman in a posh jewellers who said Spain were watching the Uk with interest. Well, I can’t think of any more compelling evidence than that as to why we should leave the eu.

It feels to me that the Brexit winners so far are:

• Journalists
• a small group of privileged politicians riding the wave of populism to advance their careers.
• people employed at significant additional cost by the government and businesses to prepare for any of the possible scenarios we are faced with