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

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.

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.

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.

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'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 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.

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 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.

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.

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 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 came into some money following a personal settlement. I needed to ensure that the money covered my immediate and future needs. I invested in a property and my daughter and Sil rented it for a few years. This gave me an income. They then wanted to get onto the property market and I sold up and took some money from my rental property and it has acted as a deposit for them. A legal document was drawn up to show my percentage of the property and I expected to get that from the property when I retire. I could have charged them rent but chose not to as I knew money was tight. (Paying the mortgage is £350 less than renting!) My circumstances have now changed and I have asked for some of my money back. This will be done as a remortgage this year. As they are now in better and more stable jobs this should not be a problem. Communication and keeping accurate records is a must.

My DS worked very hard to get an honours degree in Motorsport Engineering. It was always his dream to work in F!. After 18 months working for Toyota in Cologne, he returned to UK to work for Renault F! team;living the dream. I had retired so did have some cash available to help with the house deposit. A just reward for all his, and his girlfriend's hard work.

Our daughter has been renting for more than two years after a painful divorce. We hope to help her with a deposit to get her on the housing ladder. A similar sum will be given to our son to help with de corating and buying a new boiler.

We live in one of the most expensive areas in the country outside London. Our daughter saved for many years and finally bought a small property with her husband but we had to help with the stamp duty with was almost £10k. A few months later stamp duty was drastically reduced by the government. She has almost repaid us this amount after several years.
Our son, who is single, rents a one bed flat and is paying someone's buy to let mortgage but we will help him soon with a deposit either by downsizing or freeing up some pension money, it is the only way he will ever be able to buy. He currently has a 'help to buy ISA' which is slowly growing.
Where I live I don't know of any AC who have managed to buy without parental help.

We passed on money inherited from parents to our daughter so that she could buy her first house about 4 years ago. We hope to do something similar for our son but he is highly independent and at present says he does not want to take our money. However he is currently living with us rent free so that he can save the bulk of his salary and I'm sure we will find other ways to help him too.
My parents were not able to help me financially but an older relative gave me £2000 for a deposit on a tiny London flat; this was in 1985 and I was at risk of being priced out if the market if I did not get onto the property ladder quickly. I am very grateful for this help as it set me up well for the future and I was determined to help the next generation as much as possible.

We used the large equity in our house as security for loans to get all three children on the property ladder. It was pure luck our home appreciated so much in value so it seemed fair to give some of the increase to them to counteract the price of (appreciated) homes. However, loans are expensive to service (even given low-interest rates) so we are now selling our home to pay them off.

We’re planning to help our DC with house deposits, but it’s hard to find a balance and not leave ourselves short in retirement.

My 18 year old granddaughter has been living in a mother/baby home for the past. 4 months. I would love to be able help set her up with a home of their own either rented or bought.

We helped our eldest daughter and son-in-law with their deposit when they bought their first home and will do the same with our youngest daughter. We are pleased we helped them get on the property ladder and when they moved they rented their first home out as my son-in-law is self employed so is seeing this as his pension.

we did it on our own and i know the cost of ownerships gone up significantly so we will have to help out.

We helped our daughter by contributing towards her deposit and helping with all the paperwork involved with setting up her mortgage. This was approximately 6 years ago.

I saved deposits for them from when they were young of 10k each to get them on the property ladder

I also have not been on a position to help my children buy a property. I have helped in other ways, which hopefully is equally important.

I am putting money aside to help with their deposit. I have a small second property (my pension) which could be used as a guarantee against a loan.