Calls for Help Freeing Up Family Homes

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

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?

I don't know. I don't agree with the capital gains tax on your main home at all. fair enough if you are able to buy another property.

also if the people did sell their house would horrible pokey flats be built in its place creating more overcrowding and cogestion with lots of cars etc. This seems to happen alot where I live.

A big house is sold then up springs a block of flats. This doesn't help flooding as there is so much concrete.

I remember when Miras was partly abolished in the late 80's/

Another thought...perhaps those 'rattling around' in massive empty stately homes that nobody goes to see any more could be persuaded to rent out to young families at low cost, subsidised by the government of course.........I really don't get why the ordinary old people in the land shouldn't live in their own homes, whatever the size, even if it does seem to lower the tone of the street, as suggested by corygal

So let me get this straight. Young couples are being priced out of the housing market - I'm guessing they'd be looking for 2-3 bed terraced/semi type houses, if they could afford them. OK.

Old folk are rattling around large houses, so should be encouraged to move to smaller places. Assuming that most old folk would like to have a spare room for guests, I'm guessing they'd be looking for 2-3 bedroom terraced/semi type houses. OK.

Demand will go through the roof (pardon the pun).

How is that going to help anything?

I think older people are more likely to look for single-level apartments or bungalows than houses. A lot would like to have some kind of warden control or other security. So not 'care homes' but retirement communities where they are with people the same age and which have facilities they value. Younger couples are looking for gardens for children to play in, don't mind going up and down staircases and want to be near good schools etc. I don't think it's necessarily true that the two will be fighting over the same properties.

this may go some way to helping with the housing crisis at a particular level

I think it is fine to incentivise, but not good to pressure.

Also, with fractured families and more people living away from families, this could have negative impacts if visiting children etc have no-where to stay.

Is this just an idea that has been touted for England, or for other areas of the UK?

I live in NI and this is an issue over here too.

The street I live in has several detached homes with 4 bedrooms, occupied by widowers or elderly couples. The other houses are smaller semis with 3 bedrooms and I guess that I am not alone in wanting to swap my semi for a detached....

I think it is UK wide TryLiking

I think it's fair enough for new tenants to socialised housing to no longer have tenancies for life and be made to downsize once their needs change.

My Dad worked jolly hard all of his life, and until his dying day got huge pleasure out of looking through the windows at 'home', enjoying the views. He loved his home, and it was his reward for all of his extremely hard work. Mum felt differently. It was only 'home' while Dad was there; it was on the market within five weeks of his death - because that was right for her.

People can't be bullied into moving out of the home they love - it has to be their decision, but with practical help available if their family aren't able to offer it, so that it doesn't become too much of an ordeal.

They are suggesting it for England at the moment Sansa. Though if passed it would probably be rolled out UK wide.

Is this really about matching what two parties need/have? Or about grabbing stealing taking what someone else has, that we would like but do not have?

There's nothing to stop anyone now wanting a larger home. They rent/buy one. Simple.

Unless you are in HA home, you can, if you can afford one.

Where I live four bed houses are over £1m and out of reach of most young couples. Meanwhile, the council continues to give the go ahead to build hundreds of 1 and 2 bed flats. It's crazy and is just stoking family house price inflation. I know we need first time buyers but planners and developers seem to have lost sight of what the average family needs.

I can't see any harm in giving people who no longer need big houses some sort of tax break to move out (but what? no stamp duty if they downsize?) but I don't think it will free up very much extra property because homes are not just assets but places people love.

My grandparents down-sized from 4 bedroomed to a 2 bedroomed property in the 1970s as did my DH's GPs. My parents and PILs however have 10 spare bedrooms and numerous reception rooms in their own homes between them plus second homes containing a further 5 bedrooms.

I wonder if this is the experience of other MNers and if so, what has changed since the 1970s that mean that the current GP generation find it so difficult to downsize. When I was a child, big family gatherings took place in our house so the argument that the older generation need big houses for families to come and stay doesn't really seem to hold true.

Unless you are in HA home, you can, if you can afford one.

Yes living within one's means is a useful trait. Previous generations seem to have a better capacity of deferring pleasure, and coping with what they could afford.

We're lucky enough to live in a 4 bed house, which we need, but the road we live on has, to my knowledge, only two other families and the rest of the houses which are 3 to 6 bed are all occupied by elderly singles or couples.

This is typical of our area - where there is a housing estate of 2/3 bed houses, they are occupied by families, and the 4/5 bed houses are occupied by the retired couples etc because they are the only ones who can (mostly) afford the prices round here.

I agree schoolhelp.
I had a typical MC childhood and we had an annual new pair of shoes, caravan holidays and went out to the Berni Inn on the occasional high day.
As such my parents have a beautiful large house to enjoy now.

Berni Inn Slacking - remember them well. We weren't materially spoilt because our parents could remember when they struggled for food and heat, and always kept something by. A habit my mum keeps to now - she saves some of her pension each month - at 86!

I actually don't think a couple in a 3 bedroom house is under occupied both my parents and ILs live in detached 3 bed houses. They have a master bedroom and a spare bedroom for when we come to stay and the 3rd bedroom my dad uses as a study. My ILs live in a bungalow and use their 3rd bedroom as a dining room which is converted to dc room when we stay over. Both houses are not huge about 1100 square foot. Under occupation is when people have no real use for rooms often using them to store junk. We have viewed enormous 4-5 bed houses with vast gardens occupied by a single usually elderly person. Often they live in one or two rooms and the rest of the house goes to rack and ruin as they can't cope with the upkeep. But most will not sell them for less than their enormous asking price even though they are moan on about the maintenance. I don't think it's a good use of taxes providing services for keeping the elderly in vast houses where basic maintenance is beyond them we should be looking at sheltered accommodation with the option of buying your own flat or smaller house in the complex

So what if they only use part of their homes? Why should people move to a little flat?
We don't live in Communist USSR.

I think it's very simplistic to assume that the elderly will happily move out of their homes to make way for the younger generation.

Downsizing isn't always much cheaper as flats often come with significant maintenance charges. Warden controlled properties tend to have very high service charges which can be off-putting for the elderly. It works out cheaper to adapt your home with stairlifts etc and to pay carers to come each day.

Many retired people are still paying mortgages and won't be able to get new loans to finance their move. Even the cost of removals will be beyond the finances of many pensioners. Tax breaks are unlikely to cover all the costs of moving.

I also had a typical MC upbringing and remember that nobody used credit cards. This has stayed with me as I've never used credit or borrowed money other than a mortgage. If I can't afford something I don't buy it.

I think if there is an insentive scheme available and older people choose to use it, that's fine. But I don't think anyone should be pressured or encouraged out of homes they have spent a long time paying for (or are still paying for).

To be completely honest if DH and I (2 double bed, 1 reception) were asked to swap houses with either his parents (currently in house with 3 double beds, 3 single beds/studies, 2 large receptions) or mine (4 double beds, 3 large receptions)

...I have no idea what we would do with the space, we could do with one extra bedroom but not 4!! They, however with decades worth of stuff between them, have no trouble filling such large houses. My parents use 2 of the bedrooms as a bedroom each and have 4 offices between them. There is no way they would cope in our house.

I think longer life expectancy is throwing up lots of issues of which this is one of them.

A friend of mine recently became a millionnairess because her mum finally
died- it took 6 months though for this friend to clear out all the junkantiques and realise the cash, and the house was finally sold at a knock down price because it needed a complete overhaulredecoration

Now I am really pleased for this friend, but I wondered the following: why does it need for someone to die before the younger ones help to clear out the house : why do modern people turn up their noses at perfectly good houses just because there is no home cinema and the kitchens /bathrooms need updating ; Why don't the elderly take in lodgers; why do most houses nowadays have to be split between siblings so that they end up having to be sold as one sibling cant afford to buy out the other; why do grandchildren not want to be left their grandparents houses?