First time buyers aged 60+

[MaryMashedThem]

My parents are both in their 60s, mum will be 70 next year. They've never owned a house as they've been on a low income their whole life - enough that they could rent privately but not enough to save for a deposit while renting. Until now. They finally have a good sized deposit saved (around 50k I believe, although they haven't told me exactly). Do they have any hope at all of anyone giving them a mortgage?? They'd be looking at properties in the 200k bracket.
I feel so sad for them that they scrimped and saved all these years and have lived their whole lives being shunted from one rental to the next. I think the longest they've been in one house was about 8 years, but it was usually more like 3 or 4. I just want them to spend their retirement without that level of stress.

150k mortgage at 65 years old. There are some indefinite mortgages but they are expensive. I guess it depends how much they are willing to pay a month. They will probably be be paying about £1500 a month mortgage on that! Can they afford that?

They would be better applying to the local Council for sheltered housing at that age. Sheltered housing usually has less demand than normal council housing. It would be a secure tenancy, possibly with a small charge on top of rent for warden, grounds maintenance etc.

It is possible to get life time mortgages with pension income but they're £££. Money Saving Expert has a Mortgage's forum that you could post on - lots of brokers on there to give advice.

If a couple takes out a mortgage together, the bank usually takes the oldest age into account and calculates the mortgage term accordingly up to the repayment age cap. A few banks have lending age cap between 60 and 70 yrs and a repayment cap at 85 yrs, but in real life, I don’t know of any lender that would lend the amount of 150k to almost 70yo FTBs on a 15 yr term.
No matter the age of the mortgage holder, the monthly repayments should not exceed 45% of the gross monthly income. Do your parents have a life insurance in place?
There is a government backed shared ownership scheme for older people - where they buy a part of a property and rent the other part. If they buy 75% of the property, they life rent free.
Would you be able to take out a mortgage or loan for them?
Or could they look for a secure tenancy with a longer duration?
Would they be willing to move to a more affordable area, so they could look for properties under 100k?

I really feel for your parents and sincerely hope, they are able to make their lifelong dream come true 🍀

Shared equity might work but I think mother of 3 above is correct.

I agree that applying to sheltered accommodation with housing associations or the council could be an option. They would be secure, but unfortunately still paying rent. The alternative is to be rent and mortgage free by buying a cheap property outright in the UK or abroad. But it would probably involve moving far from friends and family, private health insurance if moving abroad.

What’s your financial position?
Do you have a big mortgage or are you able to expend yours and use their savings and get something for them? It wouldn’t be straightforward and would be yours with all the tax implications of 2nd properties, but it could take them out of rented.

Do you have other family who might be in a position to add money to a pot too?

Realise this won’t be possible for most people.

Or is there any possibility if a bigger house with an annexe if you pool resources?

Private renting with the fact landlords sell fairly regularly becomes less and less appealing as people get older.

Retirement properties tend to be cheaper and have a condition to be over a certain age (over 50s) I think. So, maybe try that?

Hmm 🤔 can you help them with getting a mortgage? Is that allowed?

Thanks for all the responses. I've been out all day and only just had a chance to look at them. Lots to think about although it looks like a 'regular' mortgage is out.

They definitely wouldn't be able to afford £1500/month - that's more than their entire monthly income. They currently spend about 60% of their income on rent and live very frugally on what's left. So they could manage about £950/month - but I don't think a broker would lend to them on that basis.

I'm not in a position to help them very much - I give them about £100/month to help them out but can't afford to do any more than that as I'm on a pretty low salary myself (although have managed to get a mortgage thanks to help from my PILs). We have no other family in the UK except my sister who's also stuck in the private rental market probably for her whole life.

We haven't looked into sheltered accommodation or council housing so I'll look at those. They probably would have been eligible for council housing but have always resisted as they felt others had greater need than them and they were just able to get by by living very frugally. But I think they'll soon be priced out of the private rental market so they might have no choice but to apply to the council.

I'll look at retirement properties too - those look a bit more reasonably priced but the issue of whether a lender will be put off by their age remains. Perhaps some of the brokers on the MSE forum will be able to advise.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. If any more are forthcoming they're very welcome!