Should older people move house to make way for the young?

My family do not live near me so when they visit they stay with me. Am I supposed to put them up in a Travel Lodge?

Same here - especially as two bedrooms are filled with "stuff" that they use when they come.

Certainly should not have to move. Plus, there are just not enough suitable properties for downsizing. Where I am, in a semi rural area, 4 bed detached, anything like a two bed bungalow costs more than my house. My family do not live near me so when they visit they stay with me. Am I supposed to put them up in a Travel Lodge. I was brought up in council housing, 4 kids, and when the two oldest left to marry a year between each other, (those were the days people lived with parents until marriage) we moved to smaller council house.. Brother married so parents and I moved again. All to save money in rent and in accordance with council policy of renting appropriate sized home. After I left parents moved to 1 bedroom bungalow, again council owned. Of course all have been sold off now. If someoe could find a property I like, where I like and can afford then I'd move, Until then, I'm staying where I am.

People should only move house if they want to. You have bought it and are entitled to have it.
I have a large house that is easier and cheaper to run than smaller houses I've owned. I have lots of visitors and family to stay and they don't have to find hotels for their visits.

What next?
Bungalows only available to the over 60's?
Large houses only available if you can fill every room with your children, and a requirement to move out when you cannot.
Nobody allowed to own more than one home?
Air B&B's banned.

I would love to be able to buy a new build house and gift my present house to my daughter.

What an envious and privileged position to be in.

Norah - sounds beautiful and idyllic.
However, as I am on my own, I would like to see houses and people around me.

There is the same problem in France, however, I own my own flat, for 40 years, and if I cannot afford the costs I will have to move. I will cry but I will have no choice, Therefore, I don’t see why a person in social housing should have a spare room and refuse to move because they have lived in their home for years.

storey

Doodledog

Norah

BlueBelle

No young person would want my 3 storey Victorian house with no central heating, sash windows, and fireplaces but
I love it. One grandaughter loves it who knows what ll happen when I’m gone

I feel the same.

Nobody wants this old one storey home, no central heating, fireplaces, huge gardens, even larger yards.. we love it as much as when we married.

I always think your house sounds lovely, Norah. I can't really picture it (in my head it could be Downton Abbey or Little House on the Prairie), but you always describe it as homely and happy, which is what matters.

Thank you, it is lovely albeit a bit boring. Not Highclere. Very much an old one story family home with a Mansard addition and conservatory. Farmland and trees, no other homes to be seen.

Kitty55

Dear Doodledog, please stop putting ideas into the governments think tank we already pay enough and NO I don’t think older people should move out if they don’t want to. You may as well include single people too, when would it stop. It would be the beginning of a police state.

I'm not doing anything of the kind .

I don't think people should have to move unless they want to, and even then, I think there are a lot of things to be considered before doing so (as I have said on the thread).

The only way I would seriously consider moving and staying in my home town would be if one of my children decided to move back here and needed a larger house for their own family, in which case I would think about moving somewhere smaller and letting them have this one. That is a most unlikely situation though, as neither of them have children and they are both settled in careers in their own home towns.

I'm not giving anyone ideas, I am simply repeating the ideas I have read elsewhere, and asking for people's opinions on them.

We want to move but finding something which will suit our needs is difficult and houses like ours are rather static on the housing market. Moving is also very expensive so it has to be absolutely right for us to take the plunge.
I would also make the argument that as we age, we need help to do things like the garden so we add to the economy that way. It might be a small positive point but every little helps.
I am not so sure about social housing. I can see why it would be a wrench for anyone to leave a long tenancy but should it cost the country more to provide homes for young families whilst others are under occupied. It is certainly a conundrum.

We live in 4 bed detached house. Across the road from us is the doctors' surgery, pharmacy, council offices, swimming pool/sports centre and theatre/cinema. I can walk to 3 shops/garages selling all the basics etc. The buses stop within 100m from our front door. We have 2 railways stations a 10 min walk away. One runs east/west, the other north/ south. The 2 bed flats near us charge £3250 per annum service charge plus council tax which is more than our council tax bill. I have a garden they don't. Give me one good reason why we should spend £1000s in moving costs and stamp duty let alone the stress invovled. We are staying put as long as we can!

This is just my opinion: if people are in council or housing association I feel they should be encouraged to downsize, even if they have lived there a long time.
However the council and HA need to give them an incentive because moving isn't cheap and decorating probably needs doing.
I do think if people are in their own owned homes its up to them. Again, its blinking more expensive and disruptive for home owners to move.

I would love to downsize, unfortunately one of my sons and his family live 200 miles away so we need the rooms. Then I have the other grandchildren come and stay when they are here. I want my family all around me.

JaneJudge

I hate cleaning so although I wistfully drive past the nice big Victorian houses on the river, the reality of cleaning them and paying for the heating makes my rose tinted spectacles a little duller

Oddly enough I prefer older houses because they reuire less cleaning. They are far more forgiving of the odd sheen of dust or mark on a wall.

When we had a new house the slightest thing showed up that marred their pristine newness. everything had to be tidy otherwise it looked like a slum. Older houses understand and merely look relaxed and homely.

I have lived in my 3 bed end terrace grade II listed house for 40 years - raised my family here - retained through a messy divorce and ran, with DH #2, two successful businesses from here in the last 23 years - I'm very close to the High Street and supermarkets (walking distance) and have built friendships with neighbours some of whom have been here nearly as long as me. I have no wish to downsize even if there was something around here to downsize to - there are very few bungalows and I really can't see the benefit to anyone of moving to a 2 bed house with a postage stamp garden crammed into an estate full of young families - those homes are the only ones currently anywhere near affordable for my grandchildren.

Dear Doodledog, please stop putting ideas into the governments think tank we already pay enough and NO I don’t think older people should move out if they don’t want to. You may as well include single people too, when would it stop. It would be the beginning of a police state.

Dickens

JaneJudge

Younger people cannot afford big houses in many parts of the country. The problem isn't older people

That's it, in a nutshell.

Which is probably why the 4/5 bedroom new-builds in my town remain on the market. The reason is certainly not because of their location as they are all near to the local shops and within easy walking distance from the 2 schools. They are, also, pleasing to the eye. They are just not affordable.

Depends where you live. We used to live in Oxfordshire, High tech Silicon Triangle, builders mainly built 4 bed detached houses and sold them. We sold our large old house to a couple around 30. He was something in the city, she was a scientist in a research centre.

Builders do not build houses unless they have good reason to sell them. This is why you see so many half built estates these days with few tradesmen working on them.

The reason houses are not selling at the moment has nothing to do with affordability. There are plenty of people out there who want to move and can afford them. The problem is the very uncertain economic situation in this country and overseas, that mean many people have just put their plans, whether a new home, a new car, or even a holiday overseas, on hold until the economic situation is clearer.

So my husband and I have worked for 40 years ( a combined 80 years ) and have only recently paid off our mortgage and we should move for a younger generation ? I don't think so.

I hate cleaning so although I wistfully drive past the nice big Victorian houses on the river, the reality of cleaning them and paying for the heating makes my rose tinted spectacles a little duller

Dickens How many of us could afford big 4 bedrooms houses when we were young? A good point. Not too many, I suspect.

We couldn't afford new/big 65 years ago, nor new/big now.

I do wonder just how many retirees there are in reality living in these huge houses that would make such a difference to the housing problem.

As do I. That's not reality where we live.

Allira

Dickens

JaneJudge

Younger people cannot afford big houses in many parts of the country. The problem isn't older people

That's it, in a nutshell.

Which is probably why the 4/5 bedroom new-builds in my town remain on the market. The reason is certainly not because of their location as they are all near to the local shops and within easy walking distance from the 2 schools. They are, also, pleasing to the eye. They are just not affordable.

How many of us could afford big 4 bedrooms houses when we were young?

I know we couldn't.

How many of us could afford big 4 bedrooms houses when we were young?

A good point. Not too many, I suspect.

There's a 5-bedroomed house next door (we are terraced), it's a Grade II listed which might put some people off - but its sales price is considerably less than the new-builds, even less than the 4-bedroomed houses. My neighbour told me he'd not had a viewing for over a year. Those with larger families just cannot afford the houses on offer.

I do wonder just how many retirees there are in reality living in these huge houses that would make such a difference to the housing problem.

Dickens

JaneJudge

Younger people cannot afford big houses in many parts of the country. The problem isn't older people

That's it, in a nutshell.

Which is probably why the 4/5 bedroom new-builds in my town remain on the market. The reason is certainly not because of their location as they are all near to the local shops and within easy walking distance from the 2 schools. They are, also, pleasing to the eye. They are just not affordable.

How many of us could afford big 4 bedrooms houses when we were young?

I know we couldn't.

JaneJudge

Younger people cannot afford big houses in many parts of the country. The problem isn't older people

That's it, in a nutshell.

Which is probably why the 4/5 bedroom new-builds in my town remain on the market. The reason is certainly not because of their location as they are all near to the local shops and within easy walking distance from the 2 schools. They are, also, pleasing to the eye. They are just not affordable.

NHBC reports that in 2025 only 122,012 homes were completed with 75,227 in the private sector and 40,123 in the affordable/rental sector.

Meantime:

1. Action on Empty Homes reports that over 350,000 homeless people are trapped in temporary accommodation and thousands are sleeping rough every night while 1 in every 25 homes in England alone sits long-term empty - 1 in 10 in some parts of the country.

2. The Skilled Worker Visa: temporary shortage lists most building trades and professions.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-temporary-shortage-list/skilled-worker-visa-temporary-shortage-list

3. Approximately 11 million people of working age in the UK are not working including a million NEETs.

A scapegoat must be found for all this and this time it’s older people for living too long and wanting a bit of space to do it in.

I don't think there's any "should" about it, that comes across as somewhat police state. I know it was mooted before by a conservative MP. I believe I speak for many, people don't want to be dictated to as to how they should live, even in the mildest terms of a suggestion could still be viewed an affront and to an older demographic especially as that sometimes goes with the ageist, bedroom blocker inference. Particularly annoying for those who've lived in their home for years and at their time of life don't want the upheaval of a move and just want to stay in that home with all its memories and a community around them that's familiar. Fresh in my mind from 5 years ago when we moved to where we are now, no matter how smoothly it goes it's still stressful.

As many have stated here, moving from a larger house doesn't necessarily make it easier for those trying to get on the ladder. Conversely it could make it harder if too many older people were maybe downsizing and therefore vying for smaller properties desired by first timers. The bottom line, we all know it, more affordable homes for those struggling to set up independently.

From my personal point of view, if at such a time it was just me, I could conceive downsizing to maybe a smaller house, it would still have to have spare bedrooms as family members, including grandchildren often come to stay.