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Calls for Help Freeing Up Family Homes

444 replies

CogitoErgoSometimes · 19/10/2011 07:35

Free Up Family Homes The charity 'The Intergenerational Foundation' is recommending tax breaks to encourage older people to leave oversized homes. They estimate that there are 25 million unused bedrooms in England. Half of over 65's have 2 or more spare rooms in their home. Housing minister Grant Shapps doesn't sound keen on the idea. But what do you think? Should home-owners and tenants be encouraged to trade down for public-spirited reasons? Or should they be able to rattle around in their multiple spare bedrooms and left alone?

OP posts:
abendbrot · 21/10/2011 22:40

Iggly it doesn't help that you only have one child - who will look after you when you're old? Smile

gaelicsheep · 21/10/2011 22:41

I disagree with you there though - I don't think the nuclear family lark is at all unrealistic or unachievable and I think it is one answer to an undoubted problem.

iggly2 · 21/10/2011 22:43

Pension scheme.

abendbrot · 21/10/2011 22:43

The trouble is when you set up home you move away, into a new cycle of life. The last thing you then want to do is go back home to the house you grew up in - that doesn't make sense to me. I think it's right that older people downsize to move in with the younger ones.

abendbrot · 21/10/2011 22:45

By nuclear family I meant 2.2 children with parents, everyone in their shoebox.

Extended family I thoroughly approve of.

iggly2 · 21/10/2011 22:46

My son will not have the struggle me and DH have to educate, feed and clothe him. He will do well and is exceptionally bright and works hard.

abendbrot · 21/10/2011 22:46

My children are far more reliable than my pension scheme I fear.

gaelicsheep · 21/10/2011 22:47

That kind of assumes the younger ones can afford a home of their own though doesn't it? And a home large enough to house their parents as well as their own family. My parents would love to move to be closer to us, but we have a very modest sized house that is not large enough for them as well. I'm talking about the many situations where the youngsters can't even afford to rent a place, let alone buy.

We've been in financial trouble and one option would have been to move back to my parents, except they had downsized and they now don't have room for us. Not even to stay for more than a couple of days as their place is tiny!

gaelicsheep · 21/10/2011 22:48

Sorry abendbrot - my mistake! Brain dead as usual! Grin

abendbrot · 21/10/2011 22:53

If your parents downsized, is it rude to ask what they did with the money?

iggly2 · 21/10/2011 22:55

The irony is that potentially I should earn well in a good few years (professional) but will be to old to have more children....

abendbrot · 21/10/2011 22:57

Never wait for anything to have children. Have them when your gut instinct says you should. Sod the expense and practicalities. I waited far too long to have mine, was spoonfed some feminist nonsense about not having them too young and have severely regretted it.

gaelicsheep · 21/10/2011 22:58

It's a fair question. We have our house because they helped us out with a deposit for which I am extremely grateful. They will do the same for my brother when the time comes.

They are also doing a fair bit of "SKI-ing" it has to be said Grin, but I will never begrudge them for that as my dad worked really hard all his life and his health is failing so who knows how much longer they can stay active. I think they have the balance right.

If I thought we could help out our kids financially I know we would, but I just don't foresee us having the spare cash. My parents have "investments" and "savings" that we can only dream of just now.

iggly2 · 21/10/2011 22:58

Have a second child lose the house Sad.

Rhubarbgarden · 21/10/2011 22:58

I disagree with the generalisations about baby boomers having a better life than later generations. My baby boomer mother had none of the opportunities I have had - she wasn't allowed to stay on at school to do A-levels because she was expected to go out and earn a crust. Then although she enjoyed her job, she was expected to pack it in when she got married, have children and stay at home. she lived in a small house in an undesirable part of town and scrimped and saved in order to put me and my brother through private education as the local comprehensive was so dire. The opportunities I had growing up in the seventies/eighties she could only dream of - good education, university, career before family, becoming a stay at home mum because I want to not because my husband prefers it that way. I live in a house that is bigger/worth far more than either my parents house or my in-laws house, and I know many people in this situation, so I don't think it's fair to blame the baby boomer generation as a homogenous group.

abendbrot · 21/10/2011 23:00

Regretted leaving it late, I mean. Not having them.

In fact that's another thing that has added to our crisis. The fact that the generation gap is larger. If we all had children at 25, there would always be four generations in every family, with two earning generations in the middle and two non-earning ones either end.

gaelicsheep · 21/10/2011 23:00

Having said that maybe one day some of the investments might come our way, if the Government doesn't destroy them all first, and we will be able to pass that on but I would never plan my life based on that assumption. The way I see it we got a helping hand onto the first rung and the rest is up to us.

iggly2 · 21/10/2011 23:01

Yep it's not just the baby boomers with the house price rise it may have happened on your watch to "Rhubarb" [hgrin].

abendbrot · 21/10/2011 23:03

You're right Rhubarb, it's not right. It think the thread is about people rattling about in expensive houses and we want them for ourselves
or something.

iggly2 · 21/10/2011 23:04

we want the opportunity...........

abendbrot · 21/10/2011 23:18

yes that sounds better.

scaryteacher · 21/10/2011 23:22

'I think it's right that older people downsize to move in with the younger ones.'

That's nice for the younger ones - what have we done to deserve that? Perhaps we don't want our parents/in laws to live with us. I would have cheerfully looked after fil, but sadly, he died last month. I will not however, be offering to house mil any time this century. Whilst I would have my mum to live wit me, we have done it before for six months when she retired and was house hunting near us, but that was the time limit for our respective endurances.

As for the care funding discussed earlier - having just had my fil in a care home, there is very little state help available even before one looks at the value of a house. If you have capital over £23,250 you pay all your fees (except the NHS contribution if in a nursing home) and once you reach £14,250 your capital is disregarded, much like with HB. It is unrealistic and unkind to expect an elderly person to cope with putting their spouse into care, sort the finances for that, which are long and complex, and then have to deal with selling, finding somewhere else, and sorting the detritus of a lifetime out to boot.

Iggly, by the time you're mid 40s you may have changed your mind about handing everything over to your son; mine will be 25 in exactly 9 years time, and I don't propose to downsize to give him a house deposit. He would feel guilty. We will give him help through uni and he can live with us for as long as he needs, but I am not Italian or Spanish, so he needs to be more or less moved out by his late 20s.

Of course, another way of having care is having enough space to be cared for at home, either by a live in carer, or a team of carers - you still pay obviously, but it is not so much as a home and you stay in your own surroundings.

abendbrot · 21/10/2011 23:30

You do realise scary that your son will need to be earning around £120,000 a year in order to afford a mortgage for £360,000? What if something happens and he can only afford £90,000 like most of us on average earnings? Studio flat? At 29?

edam · 21/10/2011 23:30

rhubarb, there's a difference between individual stories and the whole population. In general the baby boomer generation is far wealthier and had a far easier ride than those who came after them. Individual members of that generation will vary, but it is undeniably true that there has been a massive transfer of resources from the young to the old - ridiculous house price inflation being an important part of that.

My mother is part of that post-war baby boom. Sadly not comfortably off thanks to divorce and repossession but still, she had free university education, full employment when she first started work, houses were affordable, etc. etc. etc. My Dad had free education, secure employment, a final salary pension and early retirement (but two divorces mean he doesn't have a house worth loadsamoney).

(Are you THE Rhubarb from ye olden days btw or a relative newcomer?)

scaryteacher · 21/10/2011 23:44

Abendbrot - I have no control over what house prices do or don't do in the future, so I have no idea what they will be doing in 13 years time, and nor do you. Ds may choose to go and work abroad in which case he will rent where he is working (the norm in Europe), or he may work for a company which gives expats a good package and help with rent. He may decide to stay in the West Country in which case house prices are lower.

If he has any sense he will start small with property and trade up, rather than going in at £360,000 straight off, unless of course he becomes a banker and can afford it. Where do you even get the figure of £360,000 from?