Are you thinking of helping a family member buy their first home or have you already helped them? Share your experience - £200 voucher to be won.

My grandson has worked full time since 16, he's now 23 and he and his partner are about to move into a housing association property, but they need to undergo many financial checks first. Its so different to what it used to be. No way near as easy.
I doubt any of my grandchildren will have their foot on the ladder of home ownership for many years yet thanks to the fact that housing is in short supply here, plus its so expensive. But the plus side is we live in a beautiful area, so you take the rough with the smooth.

They make it too hard for youngsters these days though.

Unfortunately, we are Not in a position to help our 2 children. But when my daughter's marriage didn't go ahead 15 years ago we gave Her the money we'd saved for the wedding + she got a flat on half ownership - mortgage + pay rent on the other half. So when my son after years in housing association with his partner, wanted A house of their own, her parents gave them a deposit which is to be repaid at 200 pounds a month for x number of years. Interesting.

I helped my son and his partner to buy a home as they were living in a dark gloomy flat and just had a baby.
Alex is an only child and would have got his inheritance later on in life.
I just wanted my grand daughter to have a nice place to live
They actually bought my parents old house with the deposit I gave them
Plus an inheritance from sister.
I think it was a great thing to do

I loaned my second cousin the money for a deposit on a house when her mother (my cousin) died. Her parents had divorced and her Dad took the money from the Life Insurance Policies (he had re-married), so she was left homeless! Her older brother was married and renting a home, so not in need at that time.

We have been fortunate to have been able to help all of our children with their deposits.

When my parents retired in the 90's, they wanted to buy their rented home. As I was in a position to help I gave them 10K over three years.

I seem to be the odd one out. We helped our children out when they were at university, paying their rents and tuition fees. They’re all close in age so at one stage we were paying out for 3 rents and our own mortgage, and only kept afloat by juggling interest free loans and credit cards.

Since then they’ve all managed to buy homes nicer than ours by their own efforts, and none of them have asked for or needed our help. If they’d asked, we would of course have done what we could.

We are saving up to help our niece as she is buying he rown home, we want to get her £1000 towards it

A lot of thought and help is given to helping our younger family members buy their first house. I find myself now thinking about the help we can give them towards their retirement.

Most of us are more long-lived than we were. GN members in their 60s and 70s often talk about at least one parent alive and often fit, well into their 90s.

With occupational pension schemes now few and far between, perhaps what we should be thinking about how much we can leave our children when we die to enable them to have a comfortable retirement.

Our retirement has been made much more comfortable because we inherited money from our parents in our 50s and 60s as we moved towards retirement

I wish I could have my children more but I just don't have the money. I've saved up and have managed to give my daughter £1000 but I know it's not much

My husband and I paid for our children’s education and they all went to university. Hence we were not in a financial position to give help when they bought houses. However they subsequently all have had excellent careers and were able to finance the buying of their own houses.

Yes, helped both DD. Rather give money when they need rather than as an inheritance

We have helped all three of ours with their deposits. They have also had to save and work hard to get mortgages of their own too. Can honestly say I’m very proud of them for the work ethic they have. Of course they have been lucky with having our support as we are not wealthy by any means.

One of the dilemmas is wanting to treat everyone equally, wanting to help all of the children to have homes, and knowing that each have different abilities to return loans.

Been a parent I need to be fair in how I help my children when they wanted to buy a property. I helped them with part of the deposit for the house and made sure the amount was the same for each of them.

My son has just left home and moved into a rented house but I would really like to help him buy his own house and get his foot on the housing ladder. It’s so difficult because I don’t have a lot of savings myself and I only work part time, but ever since he was a baby I’ve saved his child benefit money in a savings account so I can give that to him now he’s older as a deposit for a house which should hopefully be a real help to him.

We helped our two sons with equal deposits for their first properties and their grandparents also contributed to it. One son had saved when he was at home with us and could buy a nicer property with his partner who had saved too and whose parents also contributed the same as us. Our other son did not have any savings and his wife had nothing either, but what we were able to give them got them to get onto the property ladder.

Hope to help but time will tell if it will be of any help given house prices, especially if they want to try and buy where we live now.

We helped both our children to buy houses, giving them the option of money towards a wedding or a house - and both chose the latter. We were also lucky enough to be in a financial position to help them take a step further up the property ladder a few years later when their families started to grow. We started off our married life with nothing, and have built up our financial reserves through sheer hard work and not wasting money; we feel as if we would rather give money to our children than to the taxman - and while we are alive to see them take advantage of it, rather than after we've gone! One problem linked to this issue (which friends have experienced) is when you help your child to buy a house with a partner, and their relationship ends. That can cause huge problems - so it's best to have a proper legal contract to secure any money you have invested in your child's property and prevent a financially and emotionally unpleasant potential situation later.

We helped our daughter and her partner by giving them some money towards the deposit for their flat. They had already saved quite an amount but we wanted to help them get onto the housing ladder.
When they moved in we took a week out to help them with redecoration too. That was a few years ago and now they are looking to trade up to a small house.

My daughter loves the house we plan to sell. So we intend to provide her with the deposit to buy it (mortgage repayments aren’t an issue). She gets a home she loves and we get the perfect buyer who is ready whenever we find our perfect retirement home. Everybody wins

My daughter was left with a year old baby boy and no home thanks to a feckless husband. I am lucky to have a very understanding husband who is not the father/grandfather of my daughter/grandson. Between us we had enough cash to buy her a house for them both to live in. She pays no rent but does pay council tax, contents insurance, TV licence etc. She and my son will jointly inherit when we pass on. We are not wealthy but fortunately live in a part of the country where housing is relatively cheap. It is a two bedroom ex local authority property. They are very happy there and we are delighted to have been able to step in.

My mother helped both me and my brother buy our first homes. I hope to do the same for my children by downsizing / moving to a cheaper area to release capital for this purpose. The move will enable me to be mortgage free and also live closer to my grandson, if things go to plan. Being nearer to family seems more important as I get older and travelling long distances gets harder, so we should all benefit.

I am planning on giving one daughter £15,000 for a deposit on a house once I sell the French house we have owned for 18 years. The other daughter has her own house and doesn't need any financial assistance at the moment so I will adjust my will accordingly to make sure it balances out in the end. It seems crazy that my daughter and her partner spend more each month on rent than they would on a fairly hefty mortgage so I am happy to help.

This is exactly how we feel. We gave the deposit for the first house; after the couple had rented for few years and made their own decision to settle down together. We have offered money towards their next home, if required. It is our privilege and just means they get their inheritance sooner.