Find out how Gransnetters helped their DC get on the property ladder

I didn't help my daughter buy her house as she had a 100% mortgage but I did help with money in fixing it up. I paid for her boiler and the leaking roof in my DGDs' bedroom.

When my daughter's 12 year relationship broke down which was 6 weeks before her wedding and they had got a house together some years before, it had to be sold, and she moved back in with us for about 6 months, but we heard of some flats nearly ready that were half ownership, so we gave her the money we had saved up over the years that would have been for the wedding and gave this to her for a deposit. Her partner's mother was so upset she wrote us a cheque for all the deposits we had put on all the various things such as the cake, photographer, the hotel venue room, etc. etc. so that is the only way my daughter received any money from us, as with our own house unless we have to go into a care home, then it will be given upon our death.

When my son and his now wife decided to get married we wanted to help them move out of their rented accommodation and buy their own house. We had both recently retired so we gave them a one off lump sum of £10,000 out of our savings for their deposit. They were astonished and thrilled. First they moved house, then they got married. The other in-laws were not in a position to make contribution so it limited the kind of property they were able to buy but it meant they could become home owners on the property ladder. My only sadness was that they bought a house really close to her parents instead of closer to me. But once you give away money it is not your business to direct how it is spent.

Just helped my youngest son buy a very dilapidated but cheap house - we paid full 5% deposit and he is paying us back very gradually. Of course we have also helped out with paint, decorating , moving etc. We are glad to help but it has meant that our holidays will not be abroad for the next couple of years!

We were lucky that we could help our 3 DC with a deposit for properties many years ago. Today property prices are so much higher. Our youngest son bought his flat about 15 years ago. He still has it and uses it as an investment now, it was the best thing we could have done for him. Our older DC we helped about 20/25 years ago. We gave them each the money as a gift. My H and I both retired early and had the cash from selling our businesses, and we inherited some money from our parents around that time too. We were lucky we could do it. And so were they!

My DH partners family gave them a deposit to purchase.

not got our own children but nieces live in their parents buy to let homes at a reduced rate to get them on their way and to get used to paying their way, bills, general living costs etc.

I bought a house for my in-laws back in the 80s and suggested that they leave it to my children rather than me. That certainly gave the children a hefty start on the property ladder. Best thing I ever did.

I helped my son with his deposit when he purchased his house but I have not yet been able to help my grandsons. My sister did Equity Release to help her son get the deposit for his house and it means she has no value in her property now. I don't want to do this as I worked hard to buy my house and I do not want to give it up for a fraction of it's cost.

My parents helped me onto the property ladder but deposits are so high now that it is difficult. I will give my son my inheritance from my parents. It is grandparents who can help the most as I hope my son will be in his sixties before I pass away.

Just read OP and realised that there were a lot of questions I didn't answer.

There was no Conversation to be started. It just happened. DD went to university in South London, in the early 1990s when there was a huge property price slump but rents remained high and we worked out, that if she bought a 2 bedroomed property and rented a room out it was cheaper to buy than rent. She bought her flat for half the price it had been sold for 3 years previously.

We put little or no money into her house purchase but our most important contribution was DH acting as Guarantor for the mortgage. If she didn't pay he would. DH was checked out to see that he could afford the extra mortgage, as if he was applying for an extension to our own mortgage. As well as that we did all the property hunting, except viewing, helped her sort out all the formalities and acted as removals van, purchasing agent and decorators and plumbers. She (and her brother, later) each contributed £5,000 from money they had from regular savings we had made since they were born and a small legacy.

With DS 4 years later, it was different. House prices had risen a lot and he was in an expensive area. Here a fortuitous legacy helped. This provided 2/3rds of the price of a property and I took out a mortgage in my own name on the balance. DS supplied the deposit from his £5,000. Ownership was in our joint names. He actually paid the mortgage and all the costs of running the flat. An unexpected job change meant he needed to move out after 2 years. By that time the price had risen further and were still rising so as the mortgage was in my name, I took over paying it, paid him back his deposit and his share of the price rise and then renting it out commercially while he moved to a region where prices were lower and he was able to buy without any assistance from us as a first time buyer.

The key to the assistance we gave our children, which was financial facilitation, rather than actually giving them money, was that DD bought right at the bottom of a housing slump and DS bought when prices were rising, but had not reached their peak. Another year after DS bought and we could not have helped either of them as prices would have been too high.

No legal problems at all, we both fully understood what was required. DH just had to prove he could afford to act as Guarantor on DD's property. I bought DS's first flat jointly with him, with no exact share specified at my lawyers recommendation. This was so that if I died DS would own the whole property without it being included in my estate.

Emotions didn't enter into it. We did it to get our children on the housing ladder before prices rose too much for us to do this. We wouldn't change anything we did. We got both children on the housing ladder, at minimal cost to us and them when prices were low, but circumstances in the housing market have changes so much that what we did is not repeatable.

2 of my children are currently saving to buy their own homes, my daughter bought 7 years ago. I am hoping to be able to put a bit towards their deposits.

I have helped both my Daughters at times , my eldest to move from a 1 x Bedroom Flat to a Victorian Semi with her Partner & Baby Daughter, The other with a contribution to the deposit on her first home with her Husband, would love to do more to help but live on a modest Pension and am unable to save with the cost of living as it is ! At least both Families , although struggling are in their own homes, a blessing in this day & age !

After my daughter was left as a single parent with three children she had very little left from the sale of her former home as ex son in law took most of the equity. I sold my house and we used the equity from that to pay the deposit and moving costs into a property big enough for me to have an annex. My daughter works hard and pays the mortgage, I run the house and do the school run with youngest GD.

DS was stagnating in expensive, grotty rented accommodation. There was little left at the end of the month to save for a deposit so I used most of my inheritance to help him to buy. No regrets, he's so much happier and more settled now. He is paying me back but I won't expect him to pay it all. He is gradually improving it and stamping his mark. Best thing I did!

We helped both of them with the deposit on their first homes.

We emptied our own savings to provide deposits for both of our DDs when they went to Uni. They both had mortgages with us as guarantors and funded the mortgage themselves via the 'rent' paid by their flatmates. We furnished and equipped the flats with the 'retro' furniture from the homes of their GP's who had recently died. Meanwhile DH worked on the flats, installing double glazing etc. and these were eventually sold at a huge profit which enabled them to buy family sized homes while they were pregnant with their first children. Their houses remain solely in their own names, although one is married and the other has a longstanding partner (father of the children). This pleases me as it ensures my DDs have security if there is ever a split -not that I am expecting this!

I gave my daughter some money from my savings to help with her first house. However, she had already saved up more than double what I gave her. I am a single parent since I divorced, and she is an only child and I'd rather help her now when she needs it than make her wait until I'm no longer around

I am not in a position to help my children sadly. We did have a mortgaged property when I was younger which we saved the deposit for. This was sold when we divorced many years later and not enough left then to buy another. I do though now think the whole system of buying is over rated unless you can buy outright. At the end of the day the bank/building society own your home until you have paid off your mortgage.

We've helped two of our children with deposits - part gift and part loan. It made sense to us to do it as otherwise they could have stayed living with us for years.

I have been unable to help my children to get on the housing ladder. It is something I would love to be able to do though.

When my daughter and her then fiance bought their house nine years ago my husband and I gave them the money for the deposit. They have been able to overpay their mortgage and are now mortgage free. They have just had their first baby so will be looking for a larger house in the next year or so. As they wish to stay in the same fairly expensive area it is our intention to help them with the purchase by gifting another sum of money. We would far rather they have the money now when they really need it than at some (hopefully) far distant time.

Well, I was in the fortunate position of having an inheritance at the same time as my daughter had her first child and local property prices in New Zealand where she lived were very low compared with those in London where I lived. So I gave her a house for her 21st birthday. I actually sealed the deal on the day I was flying back to the UK and the house was mine within three or four weeks. By the time she sold the house, property prices had begun to soar so she did very well on the deal and now lives in a lovely house designed to the wishes of her husband and her. Serendipity!

Unfortunately I am not in the financial position to help my relatives get onto the property ladder. I do think it's a good idea though.

We helped DS with the deposit on his flat in Spitalfields, London, 13 years ago. He was, and is, still single and, working for a charity then, and now self-employed, would not have been able to afford to buy a flat otherwise. We had a very small mortgage on our own London house and re-mortgaged in order to give him this gift plus the same to our DD who was married and already had a flat in London. Both still live in their flats (although DS has lived back at home for some periods and let his flat). We had bought our own (5 bedroom!) house in London in our mid-20s in the early 1970s and, although it was a struggle as interest rates were high, and I was earning very little, we could do it. I don't think either of our children will be able to buy a house in London until, if we don't need to spend it on care, they receive an inheritance when we die. I feel so sorry for younger people paying such high rents in London with little prospect of ever being able to afford a place of their own, and even sorrier for those on low wages who don't even have the option of renting a cuncil house since so many have been sold (such a stupid policy!).