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?

Yes lets put our Elders on a Factory system.
Move them out and stick them in a smaller unit untill they die and go into a box in the ground.
Bring the new blood in to breed and fill the rooms,untill the Kids leave the House and then stick . . . . . .the same system repeats.

I know an old Sow that doesnt need her Two Bedroom House,can she be the first to go?x

"Those houses will come back into circulation eventually - through inheritance. Which opens up a different can of worms, in that property will only be affordable if you have an inheritance behind you."

So social mobility is stopped...............

"However some of the young people want everthing straight away. No going round second hand stores for furniture. (Our only new piece of furniture was our bed )" New furniture from Ikea maybe £1000 to furnish a pokey flat, dosen't make up for the fact that a generation (or a bit more) ago that would have paid for an extra bedroom.

Oh........ I have mainly second hand furniture, including my sons pride and joy piano from a junk shop.

She is 32 and is willing to breed with any Male that comes in sniffing distance.
But generally her second room is vacant as her 7yr old lives with her Parents.
Can we move her out,please?x

More people should move in with their parents. Seems crazy that you have couples rattling around in big houses and their children can't afford to buy, maybe even rent, a home. Make moving in, or staying, with mum and dad a sensible long-term option. That way a family home is exactly that.
Alternatively, where there are no offspring needing a home, encourage people to rent out a room or two.
To suggest that having more huge expensive houses on the market, and fewer smaller starter homes (due to them being bought up by downsizers) will actually help anyone at all is plain ridiculous.

Uncomfortable with your premise it seems flawed.home owner can't be compelled to sell up

I do not think this no stamp duty thing would work (how is it far to say that richer (on average) older prople should pay less .

In fact I know retired people who have up sized (due to getting an inheritance). At the same time as their son's family were facing repossession due to redundancy.

Sorry, typos galore, rubbish keyboard !

I think maybe no carrots and stick approach. Hopefully merely bringing the growing ridiculous of the housing crisis in this country to the attention of people will be enough (families in cramped flats, single and couple occupancy of large houses).

I do not think this no stamp duty thing would work (how is it fair to say that richer (on average) older people should pay less .

I'm not sure that would work - it's a bit like offering a tax break to a single man with no kids/dependents to give up his big expensive car and drive a tiny little Smart car or Mini. In practice, those who are able to downsize already have done so. The reality is that most elderly people keep big houses because 1) strong, cherished memories of happy times with the family in it, 2) presence of spare bedrooms encourages grownup offspring and young relatives to come and stay over more often - esp at Christmas, 3) it is easier to keep one large house as an inheritance to pass down to children, rather moving and paying stamp duty, conveyancing fees, etc etc just to move house, not to mention the inconveniences of contacting friends/businesses/GP/council/etc of their change of address and telephone number. And if the elderly get tax breaks, what about those who really need it to move - eg young families who work and pay tax, but don't get paid enough to make house moves more affordable?
Utopian idea, but no, the reality is that we actually need better town planning.

""Those houses will come back into circulation eventually - through inheritance. Which opens up a different can of worms, in that property will only be affordable if you have an inheritance behind you."

So social mobility is stopped..............."

No one should have to depend on our grandparents leaving us an inheritance to be able to afford a house. If you really want to make houses affordable, you need a level playing field to start with. Increasing inheritance tax would be a start.

I think it's a great idea to remove barriers for those who want to be able to downsize, but I don't think anyone should be forced to sell out their larger home for a smaller one. Family come and visit, need somewhere to stay - how is it going to help an older person, possibly widowed, if they are forced into a one bedroom unit? Their family may never visit again, if they are far removed and can't afford to stay in hotel/B&B - ditto friends etc.

I have no doubt my father would be on the list to be "forced to move" but he regularly has friends from overseas staying, sometimes students (from whom he receives a modest remuneration), has had lodgers, both paying and non-paying (people who have been in dire straits and needed somewhere to stay for a few months) and has family to stay quite regularly, including a couple with grown up children with SN, so they need 3 bedrooms. His social life is in part dependent on these external people coming into his home and being able to stay - why should he give that up? If my sister is made homeless (with her 3DD) he would take her in as well - this is an ever-present threat for her, with her dodgy financial situation - but if he shifts into a smaller place, he won't be able to do that. Plus he has over 40 years of memories of life with my Mum there - why should he give those up?

If HMT ever wanted to offer an incentive to downsize: how about a bond in which the downsizer could invest some or all of the capital released, to be cashed by the estate after death, with appreciation parallel to house prices, free of capital gains tax?

Then nobody would hang on to a house just to protect their capital.

ScroobiousPip: Inheritance tax is a punishment for hard work and saving and should be scrapped, not increased.

The more taxes we abolish the better. On the old v young point we are all in the same boat. There is more poverty in the old than the young , actually despite what newspaper articles says. Many of the elderly are lonely. Plenty live on a state pension. Many saved all their lives and have capital but not much and are trying to live on their building society interest rates which are very low..

The fact some older people worked hard and bought a house does not mean they ought to feel bad about having achieved that. Plenty of them survived the war, many fought so that the rest of us now live in relative freedom and many of us remain very grateful to them for that; plenty went through huge privations. I don't count myself amongst that as it was my parents' who survived world war two but even so some of the things I have endured are not what most young people today expect (2 weeks unpaid to have a baby then back to full time work, every item of baby equipment second hand, only drink water as orange j uice too expensi ve etc etc). Things which we take for granted now were not things people used to have and many of those people really really struggled to buy a house. It wasn't an easy thing. We were paying 12% interest rates in the 80s. Childcare without any tax credits etc was 100% of one salary for some time. The fact I have a house now is because of those privations. No one should resent the results of the fruits of my labours. Also we haven't benefits from house price rises. I would have no problems with prices being what we paid in 83 when I first bought or 97 when we moved here. The rise has been of no benefit to me as I still need to house us all.

How on earth can inheritance tax be a punishment for hard work??

The whole point of an inheritance is that it is free money gifted to children who have done nothing to deserve it other than have the good grace to be born to wealthy parents! It's a concept that should have died out with entails. Get rid of large inheritances and you create a level playing field for all.

ScroobiousPip: you seem to be assuming that parents only die after their independent living NT children have reached their majority.

I would not want to see new rules that disadvantage the vulnerable so harshly, especially if motivated only by a wish for the State to remove property from people at their death.

My mum and dad live in the council house my dad was born in. He has lived there all his 65 years. MY mum has lived there for 40 years. They keep the gardens beautifully, have made many improvements inside (new bathroom and kitchen) and are model tennants.

WHY should my parents have to move from a home they love just because they rent from the council????? Are privaet home owners "better" than those who live in council housing???

They have 2 "spare" bedrooms - one of which my dad uses as a computer room (its too small for a bedroom, really) and a spare room that the grandkids/family use when they stay. Does this sound excessive??? Really???

This is yet another attack on those on low incomes......my PIL live in a large 4 bed detached with a huge garden. Just the 2 of them. No one is telling them they should leave their home!!!!

Agree Beccaroo.

Scroobious If you work and save your family are punished after you die. If you abolish large inheritance you abolish much of the incentive to work and save.

Inheritance tax is a totally voluntary tax on the stupid. No one needs to pay it. If you give your assets to your children 7+ years before you die you don't have to pay it as you leave nothing at death.

Council housing should be only for those in dire need on a temporary basis and I think we are moving towards that. Bob Crow and his partner who earn over £100k should not be in subsidised state housing.

I am really angry about this, actually.

My parents live in council housing.

My brother and his wife lives in a rented cottage.

My sister and family live in a huge 5 bed house

I have just bought a 4 bed detached.

WHY are my bro and parents deemed "less worthy" of their home!!!????

FFS.

The point is that most people agree that the current system is flawed but when push comes to shove no one wants to accept their part in the financial changes that are needed to bring in a fairer system. We're happy to tell the elderly to move on but sacrifice our inheritance? No way.

To that end, at least Xenia is honest about being in it for herself. It's not a POV I agree with but it is at least she is consistent.

If we want a fairer system for our children, greater social mobility and affordable housing for all (not just the wealthy) then all of us will have to bear the cost of change. However painful. House prices don't magically come down over night - someone somewhere is going to lose out.

xenia

You really do live in cloud cuckoo land, dont you? sigh.

My parents have both worked since they were 15 years old. They both have skills but my dad is an engineer and my mum has been in the caring professions for years (in nursing homes and hospitals). Hardly well paid occupations. Not exactly hedge fund managers! And not skills valued by society, sadly.

They have never missed a rent payment - even when my dad was made redundant in the 1980's. (they used up all their savings...he was too proud to claim the dole) They have never claimed any benefits (except CB) I shared a bedroom with my sister until I married and left home at 26. My brothers bedroom was more like a cupboard. We had no central heating or indoor toilet until I was 13 (I am 39 now).

Did you see the programme "poor kids"???? Did you see the conditions in some council housing that are actually making children sick???? Mould and damp. No double glazing. Faulty electrics.

The idea that council housing is some sort of "perk" or "favour" that should only be handed out if you are literally on the street is so archaic I can barely believe people think that in this day and age. There should be more "emergency" housing available, I agree, especially for those fleeing DV but I guess you think that refuges shouldnt be subsidised either?????

Shame on you.

scroo

I was brought up to work and care for myself.

I expect - and will recieve - nothing when my parents die.

They have nothing to leave.