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

I gave my children a small gift towards their deposits. However NY biggest contribution is helping with childcare now that I am retired, in order to save them part of the extortionate cost of this toward their mortgage.

I used my pension lump sum to help son and daughter with their deposits for houses. It’s so hard for young people now, with the way house prices have risen. I’m very pleased I could do this.

I encouraged my young adult children to open 'Help to buy' ISAs shortly after they were introduced and gave them the initial investment. They can save into these monthly and as well as the interest get a 25% bonus if they buy a house.

We have only one child and have been in a fortunate position to help fund her through university and to get on the housing market. It is always challenging to get on the housing market, but I think it is a lot harder nowadays.
I was a joint name on her mortgage, and paid half of it whilst she studied another three years for a PhD, and for a few years after until she was more settled. It allowed her to get a good start in her adult life, and she was grateful for that help.

We were fortunate to be in a position where we could contribute to savings deposits for both our DSs from our own savings and investments. We both had well paid jobs and it hasn't affected our own retirement plans. We also helped them to save the balance themselves by letting them live at home rent free while they trained and began their first jobs so they could put money away. They and their girlfriends were very disciplined about this and didn't waste money while they were saving. We feel we have given them the best start we could and are pleased that we could help.

We were lucky enough to have sufficient savings to give each of our two DS a 10% deposit for their first homes. My DH's family did the same for us when we were young, and we were determined to help out in the same way if we could.We are not particularly well-off (both teachers) but this was important to us.

I'll be retiring in a few months and then plan to downsize as soon as I've de-cluttered my huge house. I hope to move to a cheaper area too so should be able to release quite a large amount of capital. Once I'm mortgagefree this will help me have a comfortable lifestyle in retirement and be able to gift some money to my children enabling them to get on the property ladder if they wish. Any money I give them will be a gift , and not dependent on them buying property, although my DD is most like ly to buy her own home first. DS 's situation is more complex as his wife may have accommodation with her job, but I will give them both the same amount - an early inheritance - to do with as they wish. Both have already had car loans from me. DD has paid hers back and DS only had his this year. Until I downsize I couldn't afford to give them the money but I didn't want to see them paying huge interest charges for a car loan when I was getting so little interest on the money in the bank, so it made sense to let them borrow from me.

My own mother gave me money for the deposit on my first home and the same for my brother. I doubt I'd have got on the property ladder myself without her help until I was married , and we would have had to start much smaller then. When my brother bought his first home he needed more from her than I'd had so she gave me the extra cash to keep things fair and I bought a few things I needed that I'd been managing without. I hope to do the same for my children and downsizing should make that possible.

We used an inheritance to help our son and daughter buy a flat together. When DD got married, DS bought out her share of the flat and she used the money to buy with her husband. Of course we helped DS to pay her some of the money as he didn't have a high paying job. There was a legal document signed by us all, but I can't remember what it said.
Luckily, both children are very grateful and very helpful to us so we are happy to have helped them.

I have helped both my children with a deposit - gifted to them. Luckily it came from an inheritance so hasn't compromised things too much, although would have been useful money in retirement. They are both good at getting free and second hand items, so that is up to them. It is now their responsibility as I feel I have done my bit to give them a really good start when they needed it (mortgage much less than rent!) and hubby is saying we have to think of ourselves a bit more now.

My husband and I are currently considering putting money into a property for our children. My husband has managed to keep his inheritance from his parents home which is not large but will be a good deposit towards a property and I have a small inheritance coming from my parents house sale which I want to put to good use rather than fritter it away. After Christmas we are looking to see a mortgage advisor to point us in the right direction.

We helped both our sons to buy their properties. The first we helped by taking out an additional mortgage and paying their deposit. The idea was that they would then remortgage after 5 years and pay us back the initial sum plus half of the equity accrued over the period. We would then pay off the mortgage and the extra cash would go in our pension pot. Unfortunately, the housing slump happened and we ended up out of pocket as the house did not increase in value. For our second son, we just gave him £10,000 towards his deposit, almost cleaning out our premium bond holding. Fortunately we have managed to replace them now, and both the boys are settled and have some equity in their own properties.

I helped my middle son aged 28 buy his first house in 2014. I paid the house purchase legal fees and lent him half the cost of his house. My mother gave the other half in her inheritance planning (as she did to my oldest son and has made provision to do so for my daughter). I used my pension tax-free sum for this. I did not take legal advice but am interested in finance and read a lot around this subject. I initiated the conversation as I was aware that he was looking for somewhere to buy. It has worked well and I would do the same for my daughter if she wanted. My son has an interest free loan and is paying us back regularly.

Yes we helped our son buy his flat by lending him £22000 which he added to his savings. He pays us back £200 a month and only £7000 to go now. Now we are retired we like the extra £100 a month each to top up our income. We should say let it go now as he has a new baby but that would mean giving the same amount to our daughter. We couldn't afford to give him the money as not that comfortable in our retirement.

My daughter became too ill to work or study at 18 and very ill indeed and bedridden at 21. I myself had had to take early retirement four years previously when I too became chronically ill. We lived together with my husband, her father, in our small house in London while he supported us as a teacher. Because of the huge increase in value of homes in London, I was very concerned that on our death she would lose her home because it would be subject to inheritance tax. There is really no recognition of the plight of people in our position. We were able to save money as many of the things people spend it on, holidays, meals out, entertainment, clothes and so on were not things we could do or had need of anyway. However I don’t think we could ever have saved enough money for her to pay inheritance tax without selling the house. She couldn’t even come downstairs, let alone sell and buy a house. My husband eventually retired, my daughter though still ill became well enough to be able to spend some of the day out of bed and occasionally go outdoors. We were able to leave London for Scotland. We were able to buy our daughter a flat here out of our savings as property is cheaper. and she is able to live independently from us with some help as a disabled person. It is such a relief. We sold our house in London and because it had increased so much in value we were able to buy ourselves a place to live here and have money left over. We have been very fortunate in these respects. Above all it has been wonderful to see my daughter get a small amount of life back. My heart goes out to parents of sick sons and daughters who have no hope of improvement and to people who by chance don’t own a house in a place where property values increase or who are not free to move to a cheaper area or are living in rented accommodation with all the difficulties that involves for sick people. I know we are lucky.

gave my daughter money towards her first flat.

We gave our daughter the money for her deposit five years ago. The mortgage is now much less than the comparative rental and the house has increased in value. This was a win win for both parties as when the wedding came around the young couple paid for it themselves and we did not have to get involved. The conversation was always on the agenda and our daughter only had to choose a house.

We lent our elder daughter & son-in-law the deposit on a flat after they'd rented for many years. They both worked hard & lived frugally but could never save enough. They bought a lovely little period home which they've done up themselves & paid us back every penny within four years, so pleased we did it for them.

We have been lucky enough to help all three of our children get onto the housing ladder. There was absolutely no way that they could have saved for a deposit as well as paying rent. They all work terribly hard, but the house prices just keep going up and up and we wanted to help them whilst they could still afford a mortgage.
Neither myself or my husband’s parents were ever in a position to help us, so we feel privileged that we could help our own children. We would much rather give them the money now rather than they wait until we die.

My younger son was doing medicine at uni and was living in the most damp,dirty squalid digs! When my father died we used some of my inheritance to buy him a decent house as we knew that he would be there for some time!
We consulted a solicitor and I stood as guarantor for the mortgage. We helped decorate and furnish the house and he let out 3 rooms to friends so was able to pay the mortgage.
We then gave the same amount of money to our eldest son who later used it towards a house of his own.
I’m so glad that we gave them a good start as now that we are retired and living on a reduced income they are in a position to treat us to holidays etc!

I gifted the deposit to my dd and her dp for their house, to get her onto the property ladder. I had to sign a letter saying the money was a gift and I would have no claim on their house or expect the money back (or words to that effect).
I also provided the deposit for the house my son lives in, though we bought it as joint owners, so house is legally half mine and half his.
Both deposits were from the inheritance I received when my parents died.

Over a decade ago I was lucky enough to inherit a quarter share of the proceeds of the sale of my mother’s small house. I had the legacy diverted to my children and it allowed each of them with a little more help from my savings to put down a deposit on a small flat and two of them have gone on to buy a house. The third is letting her flat and living with me to save for a house so I have been fortunate enough to have been able to help them all a great deal.
Our first flat cost £6K and first house 24K so we were the lucky generation. I feel sad for youngsters today.

I have only one child and have left everything I have to my child but I am not in position to help at the moment

Gave DS a substantial amount of money to buy a house. He then found a girl friend and sold and moved with her (within 6 months). Soon forgot , girlfriend got a good deal

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when I was younger I brought my mums home with her she was on benefits and not allowed to buy a home. I was a model so was doing ok. She later moved in with my sister so I rented the home out and brought my self a small flat. That meant when I met my 2nd husband I already had two homes so I was able to help my two girls. but things have changed and its not so easy and I certainly couldnt help them now my husband died and I work full time but its a struggle I would love to help my grandkids but i know i never will be able to.