retirement housing

I wonder what skate decided?

A very old thread, revived by a spammer.

What is it like in a housing set up like Anchor where you buy a flat(no rentals) but a warden ugh I hate the name, why not manager?
I am very active 70s Do you have real freedom , eg family visiting eg grandchildren , maybe a little one staying overnight in your own flat, not the communal one where you pay £30 on a different floor. How do you find out what it’s like to live there?

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Welcome busybea to this site, it's a very helpful one. It's an awful dilemma for you isn't it? Nobody wants to leave their frail Mother in a nursing home all by herself with no visits from anyone, and your brother is no help at all.
if you lived in Bristol, could you still visit your Mother once a month?Travel is expensive I know. Can she read letters?If she can it may be lovely for her to get a letter from you every week. Can she speak to you on the phone also?
Are you happy with the nursling home? Any chance of moving her to one nearer to Bristol if you settle there?Hope that you find a happy outcome to your problem.

busybea I think the chances of your retirement date being changed again when you are a year from retirement are very unlikely.

If the state retirement pension is all you have to rely on make sure that when you get it, you check whether you are entitled to Pension Credit. This is a supplement given to all pensioners whose incomes (from all sources) are below £145 a week if you live alone and £222 if you are a couple and it can be a bit more. The site to look at is https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit

You will, of course also be entitled to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

Thanks for your help and advice its much appreciated. I have contacted Bristol and am going to arrange to stay with my daughter for a week and go and see the supported housing ~ the staff don't live on site so I will arrange to meet them at whatever develpment they are at on a particular day. If there is an empty flat or a kind resident available may be able to see the inside of a property hopefully. I asked them about the room sizes too as having read what some of you put this worried me ~ the people spoke to at bristol were v helpful•. Re mum ~ to be honest not really sure if she knows who I am sometimes I am convinced she does ~ she cries when I arrive and leave and if I show her pictures of her little great grandaughter. I have spoken to the staff who say she is fine the rest of the time. I will have to talk to my brother about visiting her more but to be honest I don't feel I can trust what he sez ie he sez one thing and does another so couldn't rely on him ~ has his own agenda. All the caring has been left up to me including getting the care quality commission in to her last care home due to their leaving her bed soaked in urine etc plus going in all the time and organising doctors to visit when she was very ill for weeks ~ my brother didn't know about it so obviously wasn't visiting when he said he was•. Your comment about `it doesn't matter what I do re work has given me pause for thought ~ the thing is can't rely on the government date as they have already changed it twice so they may change it again which means I will be working longer than a year ~ have no way of knowing which actually makes me very angry, however have always wanted to work for myself and even when (and if!) I am ever allowed to retire by this unhelpful government want to go on working for myself hopefully as the gov pension isn't enough to live comfortably on. The idea was that should collect my pension this year 2014 which would have enabled me the time to concentrate on developing an on line business and work from home. Best wishes.

Busybea Such good advice given by FlicketyB I think you would be surprised how many 55yrs + do live in this kind of accommodation,even if you accepted an offer from a housing association it does not mean that you have to agree to a visit every week,some of my neighbours just have the option of having a emergency call button or a polite telephone call from the Care Centre but you have the choice.We are far from being an old community yes we do have some older people living by us but they do enhance the neighbourhood as do the younger families who live nearby,so well worth looking at what may be available. Good luck and keep us informed

busybea, welcome, yours is a real dilemma. If it was just you and you are so unhappy where you are I would think moving to be near your daughter was sensible, but it isn't that simple as you have your mother in care in London. Would your brother visit her more if you moved? Does your mother still know who you are and enjoy your company?

The Bristol Housing Association sound very proactive and willing to help. Perhaps next time you visit your daughter you could ask them to show you what kind of accommodation is on offer and discuss the weekly visit they make to tenants. It may feel intrusive but it means if you need help of any kind or there are problems with the flat you have someone coming in each week you can tell and who will make sure the problem is dealt with.

At 61 you probably will find that most of the other tenants are older than you but they are all obviously able to live independently with a little help so you may well find that they are mainly mentally and physically active and may share some of your interests.

As for work, with only a year or so before you reach retirement age, it really doesn't matter what you do as you will not need to do it for long. If you moved to Bristol any work would help you get to know the town and people in it.

I think you need to investigate all the options, carefully and then write a list of pros and cons of moving to Bristol or staying put, or perhaps moving but not before you reach retirement age for example. Seeing it in black and white on paper can be very helpful in making a decision.

So glad to have found Gransnet ~ am a new nan to a beautiful 8 month old girl• Am so in a dilemma would realy appreciate your input• I am a very young 61, live in london in a horrible area in a not very nice but roomy housing assoc flat, my mum is 87 in a care home nearb with dementia and chronic pain/in a wheelchair, my brother 7 Years younger than me lives not far away ~ is unhelpfull and a general pain ~ rarely visits mum. I moved my bed into the sitting room of mums flat when she could no longer cope on her own and cared for her for a year and a half. I was rushed into hospial and mum put into a care home ~ my brother and other relatives were nasty about me and mum stayed in the care home. I no longer speak to my family apart from my married daughter ~ she lives in Bristol ~ I hate where I live, my daughter wants me to move to Bristol ~ I hate where I live now ~ am lonely despite trying to join activities ~ bristol have sent me info about sheltered housing cos I am over 60, have been on sickness benefit due to asthma and depression caused by the fall out over my mum. I am so afraid if move into sheltered housing I will be surrounded by `elderly` people. I donl look or feel 60 and have loads of interests which I pursue at home ~ have heard that sheltered flats are very small and I would find someone coming into my flat on a weekly basis intrusive. I am no longer depressed but the asthma does restrict me a bit, now have to look for a job (the government have now moved my pension date twice so I now won't start collecting it until 2015. I used to teach and advise in further education/lifeskills ~ my daughter has suggested work in a shop•your input would be appreciated• I desperately want to be near my daughter and grandaughter•

FlickertyB I do think we are fortunate from some of the discriptions I have heard about,our Housing Association is very proactive with regard to investing a lot of their money into modernising all their properties over the past few years,so yes we are fortunate indeed.

Retirement flats are made all electric because it costs less to build all electric flats and the builders justify it by saying that it is safer.

This might have applied once but cookers come with fail safe devices on burners and all properties of all types have to have smoke/fire alarms, and radiators can have covers. However, nowadays, when buildings are highly insulated and the design of electric storage radiators is so much better, an all electric flat is not as expensive to heat as it used to be and is effective.

Glammanana, I think you are very fortunate to have found retirement accommodation that is modern and airy with individual gardens. Except at the very expensive end I have never been in a retirement flat that wasn't cramped and inadequate and wouldn't drive me to drink or leave me with a death wish in months if I lived there.

Riverwalk I do think that there is a wrong perception sometimes as to retirement living, there are as I see it some very good points to be had and they are now much more modern and airey than they where years ago all with modern fixtures and fittings etc,and many are built in areas where the community is shared with people of many walks of life.
Where we live is classed as "supported living" and it depends on the level of support the person requires I certainly do not need it but OH may just require help if he has a problem if I am away for the day,I then have peace of mind knowing support is available if he needed it.The 5 yrs we have lived here has proved the best move we have ever made.We have our own front door and garden/parking for my car/ nice neighbours /easy access to all transport facilities and no doddery old people

Unless you need assistance with daily living I can't imagine why anyone would want to live in 'retirement/sheltered' housing - I would find it depressing.

lucy I suspect the developers think that the doddery old people will leave the gas on and blow the place up!

Having researched online a number of retirement properties, besides having very small rooms, why do they all have electric storage heaters which from memory, when I used to have them, not only cost a lot to run but were ineffective in keeping my home warm during the day! Anyone know the answer?

It took my ex over three years to sell his late mother's retirement apartment – at a loss. And of course, he was paying service charges and council tax the whole time. If you're concerned about your children having a legacy, such a move would need very careful thought and research.

Many people think that the seaside is a great place to retire to but remember that it is usually over-crowded in the summer and often quite bleak in the winter, not just because of the weather but because many shops, restaurants, etc. close down out of season.

Judith think you are in the wrong country ?

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My dadhas een

My dadhas een

skate, it would be worth looking at the following site www.housingcare.org/. It is the housing information site for the EAC(Elderly Person's Accommodation Council).

It lists all the various types of accommodation available for older people round the country and also has a help and advice line.

I think I've mentioned on here before that it's essential to think about the future if and when your care needs cannot be met by the care providers attached to the retirement home. My mother lived in a lovely brand new apartment with a large bedroom, lounge/diner and kitchen. When she became extremely frail her life became a misery. She was at the mercy of indifferent carers who were not trained to meet her needs. It took me nearly two years to get her into a decent nursing home.

They are lovely places to live if you want to downsize and all you need is a bit of assistance but it's important to have a contingency plan for the future.

skate You will find information about their private lettings in The Saga Magazine they do it through their connections with Peveral the company that used take charge of service charges (not sure if they still operate under that name ) lettings are done if apartments have not been sold on and can be short or long term,they also have accomadation in their developments where you can stay for a few nights if you are going out of your area to view an apartment.
With regard to size of retirement apartments I must admit that I did find it strange when we first sold the big family house but I had a few years to get used to the change when we moved abroad and lived in a much smaller villa which made the transission more bearable,since I have gotten used to it I would not change my living accommadation for the world,so much free time for socializing and after many years of entertaining it suits me fine to say sorry we cannot put you up for that freebee holiday you where expecting lol.pm me if you want any in depth info re Mc & Stone and their procedures.

I know exactly what you mean by the size. I've looked at a few and they are all small. I don't have hobbies requiring extra room but I have never seen daytime telly and don't intend to start now! I am mostly out as my interests revolve around theatres and galleries, so maybe I could learn to live in a smaller space with less stuff. Glammanana (love the name!), it was actually McCarthy and Stone I was looking at. They seem nice if on the expensive side, and they offer help with the moving process which is attractive. I did not know they did letting, so thanks for the info.

One thing that puts me off retirement flats is their size. When I was a Home Visitor I visited a lot of people in retirement homes, both Housing Association and ones built by specialist housebuilders for commercial sale.
Everyone I went into was minute. Downsizing is one thing but most of these flats required one to divest oneself of all ones belongings to be able to live in them. There was an assumption that by the time you moved into one you did nothing but just watched tv all day or sat in the communal lounge.

These flats do not cater for people who have activities, such as sewing or any kind of craft work that require separate space. There is also usually no room in the flat/bungalow large enough to hold more than 3 or 4 people making any kind of social gathering impossible. Kitchens are minute, assuming you live on ready meals rather than enjoy cooking and freezing meals for later use.

The only exception I have seen is Hartrigg Oaks in York (already mentioned) - and these were built by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust which has connections with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a social research charity. A friend of mine lives there, her living room is at least 20 foot long. She has a large roomy kitchen two huge bedrooms with bathrooms and in the roof a huge room with velux windows approached up a straight staircase built with stair lifts in mind. My friend uses it as a study and music room, holding string quartet rehearsals in it. Her living room is large enough for social gatherings after concerts and family parties.