Are very long mortgage terms a good idea and other housing matters?

[ratsintheattic]

Affordability of housing troubles me. As interest only mortgages are taboo for everyone but BTL buyers I was wondering if having a mortgage term of 40 or even 50 years would be a good idea. Renters can definitely afford the interest on a mortgage and the capital repayment would be very slow but better than not at all.

Disclaimer: not landlord bashing. I am one but also dismayed at the fact that what seems the majority of families cannot have the security and freedom of home ownership.

On a separate note, my local authority had just announced it is using £12m to buy one and two bedroom homes to rent at affordable rents. Is this a feasible solution going forward? If LAs bought places with 50% or 60% mortgages they could cover interest and maintenance costs at a much more affordable rent then private rentals.

Just a couple of thoughts. I'd be interested to hear what others think.

I'm a first time buyer at the age of 20. Our Max mortgage term was 35 years which we would then be 55 when paid off

Standard mortgages here are 30 years, pretty much regardless of your ages at the time you take out the mortgage. I think our mortgage system is still pretty much based on the 'old model' of someone buying a house 'early on' and then just staying there, like most of our parents did. Not as common these days, for sure. But the expectation is that your house will be worth more than your mortgage balance when you are ready to sell or upgrade.

The mortgages aren't 'passed down'. If a home isn't paid for when a person dies, the heirs must 'discharge the mortgage' in some way. They can either sell the house and pay it off, get a new mortgage on their own to cover the amount owed on the 'old' mortgage (sometimes that's called 'assuming the mortgage', but it's really qualifying on one's own), or let the house go into foreclosure and the bank takes it back.

Sorry to sound ignorant, but what's the usual length of a mortgage in the UK?

No wowfudge our landlord did not have the decency to tell us he had put the house on the market. A friend saw it in the paper and told us. This was half way through our lease. Renting is not something I could do again, my mental health wouldn't take it

You cannot easily get a 25 year mortgage beyond the age of 40 what ever your circumstances. In order for the mortgage companies to offer a 40 year mortgage the person would have to be no more than 25.

Yes, Oliversmumsarmy, things would need to change.

As someone who moved from London to a town in the Midlands, I see the age of first time buyers is far lower here than it is at home.
I suspect the existence of London makes many national average figures worthless.

Saying that, it is a dysfunctional market where we make money from our own children.