Downsizing in my retirement

Choose your landlord carefully! Private landlords can give notice when they like & before you know it, you're out. At present, due to Covid it's six months notice but that is very likely to change.
Moving into a dedicated retirement block like a McCarthy & Stone might be better, but much more expensive.

An aunt of mine bought a new retirement apartment, McCarthy and Stone I think, secure, convenient, communal lounge, suited her well, service charges were high of course, also I did hear that resale value was not good.
I’m sure I would not want the hassle of having to maintain an old house in my later years.

My DM sold her London flat when aged around 65 and after living with us for a few years, rented with a housing association in Cambridge, where she had family. The capital freed enabled her to travel and visit her DC overseas and she had a pretty good standard of living.
The rent and maintenance was fairly low.
Eventually the flats were put up for sale and her DC bought it for her so she stayed in her lovely, ground floor flat until she died 12 years ago.

I’ve rented for the last 12 years. It has oodles of advantages - no maintenance, and you are more easily able to move if you choose because you don’t have the hassle of selling and buying. You can move through life more lightly. I wouldn’t consider buying again.

You have to choose your landlord carefully, but contrary to the horror stories, I’ve found my landlords helpful and decent. If you get a duff landlord, move on.

One thing is that you need to have less stuff if you choose to move every so often. I keep a storage unit close to where my adult children live for the stuff I don’t want to throw away, but don’t need around me.

I'm with Lucca definitely. Don't put yourself at the mercy of landlords if you don't have to.

I downsized for that reason. My three storey house was in need of updating etc. I bought a flat and most maintenance is
covered by a management fee we all pay each month (5 flats).

It was an excellent decision. I love my flat.
Don’t rent ! Buy smaller.

I'm intested in the topic raised, surprised it hasn't produced more replies and then noticed it's under Site Stuff. Could mods please move it to a more appropriate category so Rowsie might get more help on this?

DD and I have 3 lots of friends who've recently had problems because they rent. When they needed to move because owner was selling up, they found it difficult to find somewhere that wasn't much more expensive and/or that was in the same area. I really felt for all of them.

I have no personal experience but it's becoming quite popular, according to a few articles I read last year.

These retirement flats look like they come with Assured Tenancies, so you won't be moved on against your will!

Rental

The problem with renting is that you have no security of tenure, DD 2 has had to move twice because the owner has sold and given them notice.

However I’m assuming you’ve been on the Property rental sites so you should have a good idea of rental costs, so you can weigh up the costs involved. If you spend all of your money on holidays and need to go into a care home you will only get into a Council run home, rather than be able to choose one.

Good luck whatever you decide

I think that first of all, if you live in London, you are in a very enviable position as you should be able to sell it for a very good price and blissfully retire and travel until your heart's content. We have just sold a 4 bed house, downsized all our furniture to a storage unit the size of a single garage, and temporarily moved overseas until we decide what we want to do and where we want to live. I think I would spend a little money giving the house a bit of a facelift. this will help to sell more quickly. Downsizing and moving to a rental will be the best decision you will make. Have you thought about moving out of London?