A slippery slope to being forced to downsize?

We moved into a tiny one bed house one year ago. Never looked back. No mortgage. Tiny front garden. Had the whole place insulated. Such an easy home to run. We have a caravan. Stored else where, so we travel around uk and Scotland every opportunity. Perfect life really. Some could say we bought a first time buyers home though!

Having bought our first house 18 years ago, three bed semi, nothing posh I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of being told to downsize or move away from here.
Bloody cheek in my opinion and should be addressed to second home owners/people living in massive mansions and those who spend more than x% of their lives living abroad for tax reasons.

Rant over

I agree loopylou.

Me too loopylou

I am just stroppy resistant whenever someone tells me what I should be doing.

I would be happy to downsize but the rabbit will not share!!

And no !!

Talking of downsizing.....did anyone notice that the Pope rolled up to the White House in a Fiat 500?

Wel done the Pope! Respect!

As popes go, this one seems the best so far!

We downsized nearly ten years ago. Because we wanted to. Because the rambling, extended house we'd brought the family up in and the rambling, hard to maintain garden had become a pain. A burden. So we moved to a two bedroom and a box room house in a town within walking distance of everything we need. It didn't free up any cash - financially it was a sideways move - but it has given us more time and none of the worry our friends have about heating, gardeners, maintenance etc they have in their big homes.

But, they love their big houses and can afford to keep them (even though moaning all the time) so why should they move? There are though a lot of older people, retired, with less money who can't afford the upkeep and maintenance who might like to move, but don't have the will power/backing/finance to do so. A bit of support for them would be a good idea.

Also councils and housing associations do have a problem. Is it fair that an elderly person should live in a large three or four bedroom house when there's a family of four squashed into a small two bed flat with no garden just down the road?

This story is not going to go away. In today's DT letters the opinion is that it is stamp duty and other costs stopping people downsizing. Well in my case , as others have said, it is my home, we worked and paid for it, we can afford to run it. We have separate bedrooms because it suits us, we have spare rooms for family to stay. we have a conservatory so "we" can get away from each other and here we will stay while ever we can.

Sounds just like my house Ann we only moved in 8 years ago and intend to stay in it till they carry me out feet first.

There's plenty of new houses being built where we live, mainly 3 bedroom semis, but also (on the new estates on the outskirts of our town) 2-6 bedrooms, detached and semis and terraces and apartments.

I said on another thread that there are plenty of brownfield sites available for building, a lot of building land is owned by building firms who are not building for whatever reason, and there are many unoccupied houses

There is absolutely no need to force people to move or downsize, whether private, ha or council owned.

There just needs to be more building on land already available, both private builds and social housing.

Stop pressurising the elderly and making us scapegoats for the failure to provide enough homes, and start looking at the bigger picture.

anya we have noticed a large amount of building going on, too, so perhaps this is the start of the building programme to alleviate the housing problem
(And they can go away and leave us alone )

Social housing is another issue Nfk - I don't want to open up a whole new can of worms (where does that expression come from?) or to have the thread invaded by the lo taken over by the politics of the 'bedroom tax' as this has been done to death on other threads.

People who own their own houses should not be made to feel the should vacate them for any reason.

No one is going to make us do anything we don't want. We are the generation which votes so they won't want to upset us!

I wonder why they keep attacking us and not the younger people who live together (married or not) have children and then separate? Surely this is one of the reasons so many more homes are needed. Yes, of course there will always be divorce but why are there so many? Is it because they didn't think hard enough before setting up home together? Is it because they don't work hard enough to make the partnership work? I am not suggesting that this applies to all splits but these days it is so much easier to start living together than it was when I was young and that must be a contributing factor.

No, I am not a smug long married who doesn't understand. My DS is separated from his wife and one of the above applies!

Where I live there are many office blocks apparently in excellent condition on the main road which have been empty for a while and these are slowly being converted into flats. This is an excellent idea and more people living locally may keep the smaller shops in business. There are a couple of excellent bus routes, one to Heathrow and a tube to the centre of London so a car may not be needed.

We were thinking of downsizing to a bungalow, but changed our minds when we calculated the cost of estate agent fees, solicitor fees, removal fees and stamp duty (which can add up to £10,000 to the price of a bungalow). Instead we built a bedroom and bathroom on to the size of the house, and can now live downstairs if we can't manage the stairs in the future. Upstairs is very useful for visiting children and grandchildren from abroad.

An office block was built near us, Charleygirl - it must have the most fantastic views of anywhere around here.
However, it has remained empty for years.

Now, I wouldn't mind a (largish) flat there - provided I could have just a bit of garden to call my own as well

Hmm....it has been suggested that it is a pity that so many old people, myself included, live in houses far bigger than they need, whereas we see pieces on the local London news featuring families with three young children living in 1 bed flats. (three children same gender in the bedrooom, foldout bed for parents in living room).

The powers that be are trying to think of ways of redressing the balance and have suggested making it easier for older people to move to smaller accomm. Seems reasonable.

Personally I have no intention of moving at all, we use all the space and might put in a stairlift. However I do sometimes feel a bit guilty when eg our lovely E European cleaning girl asks if it is really just me and hub living in the 4/5 bed house.

DGD asks me the same.
However, they do have a bedroom each (although mummy and daddy have to share )

As do we, her DGP!

We downsized 9 years ago because we had watched my parents sadly finding themselves unable to manage in the house they lived in from 1967. When my dear father died my mother remained there but couldn't get upstairs so managed by washing in the downstairs cloakroom. The house was neglected and unsuitable for a career.

We have moved to a two bedroomed cottage with a shower room upstairs and a bathroom downstairs (where bedroom 2 is). We visualise a career could move in if and when we need care.

It was the best decision we have ever made. We love it and have a manageable garden too.

Our current plan is to stay here as long as possible as moving is so expensive. For the cost of moving we could pay for help in the garden and house for several years and we like having enough room for the family to come and stay with a garden big enough for the GC to have fun.

The only people forced to move are those in council houses with a bedroom too many for their deemed needs.
Who decides? People who live in houses with lots more rooms than they need for their family sizes.

We already live in a bungalow and I feel that as long as I have a good cleaner, gardener ,decorator I would not want to move. It's never been the house of my dreams but we had very little choice when we moved here and a very short time to find a house. I find DH doesn't want to move--can't be bothered-- but it's the tiredness of the house that bothers me. It really needs young blood in itto replace windows and doors. The kitchen I loved 25 years ago but it is getting harder to spruce up. DH really doesn't notice steamed up windows or battered counter tops.