Allira
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I’m wearing mine. 😂
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Telling OAP's to sell their home.
(272 Posts)I was watching a talk show this morning and one of the debates was about re-instating the winter fuel allowance. One of the people who called up to speak to the panel was saying that she was recently widowed and now lived alone in a large house with only one state pension and a small private pension income from her late husband but she was just outside of the threshold to claim income support.
One of the panels advice was for her to sell her home and buy a smaller one. The lady was 81 years of age and had lived in her home since she was married many years ago. She said that when her husband was alive there was two state pensions and her husbands full private pension of which she now gets a small portion. She told the panel that there was no way she could afford to sell her house as they had used much of their savings when her husband was ill to buy medical equipment and keep the heating on 24 hours a day because of his illness.
She also said that heating a house for one costs the same as heating it for a family. She said she canno claim income support as she is abocve the threshold for claiming benefits.
I totally understand what the lady is saying because she could have been speaking about me. I live in a large detached house, get a state pension and a portion of my late husband's private pension and pay tax on it as well. I am also just above the threshold for pension credit so cannot claim any benefits at all.
My question is, why are we being told to downsize our homes, I love my home, I have been here since we married in the 1960's and raised a family here, my home is my heart, when I go out and go back home again I breathe a sigh of relief because I am back where I belong as I am surrounded by my memories. Also I am 84 years of age and could not do with the stress of moving.
I can manage on my income, that is not the point, the point is, why are we being told to sell our homes, get something smaller so we can afford to pay our energy and food bills.
Exactly, merlot. Our house is far bigger than we actually need until family arrive when it suddenly shrinks alarmingly. Family arriving gives us a real boost and helps our mental health - presumably that will matter more and more as time goes by.
No one is making you move house. Suggesting that you rent a room is only mentioned as a solution to those that are MOANING about not being able to afford to heat a large house on a small pension.
Your decision/ live with the consequences.
paddyann54
*karmalady*where are all these young families who can afford large homes vacated by older folk? Not here ! The answer is more council houses though I understand council tenants are considered second class in some parts of the country.When I got married almost 50 years ago we were lucky enough to get a brand new 3 bedroom semi with garage and heating included in our council rent It gave us the chance to get on our feet and start our business and 8 years on we bought a flat leaving the house for someone who needed it.
That is in my opinion,the Way forward ,more good quality council homes .Council homes that by the way,earn their keep and are used as collateral by councils .Instead Thatchers sale of them with the proviso of the profit(if there was any) couldn’t be spent on more building has left many areas short of essential homes.In my area we have newbuild council and housing association homes springing up all across the county
I agree we need more Council/social housing but in fact, surprisingly, there seem to be many young couples who can afford the type of house we only dreamt of when we were young.
The only reason we have a larger house is because we moved from a very expensive area where we could barely afford the mortgage for a very small house to a cheaper area.
Poppyred
No one is making you move house. Suggesting that you rent a room is only mentioned as a solution to those that are MOANING about not being able to afford to heat a large house on a small pension.
Your decision/ live with the consequences.
Anybody thinking of renting a room from me would be well advised not to do it! 😂
But IMO it’s quite unreasonable to expect to be subsidised by the taxpayer, in order to stay in a house that’s much too big for you.
What is needed in such cases is evidently someone else to undertake all the PITA faff of estate agents/solicitors/removals men, not to mention helping to decide what of all the maybe much-loved contents will have to go.
I dare say it’s often adult children who undertake all this. Maybe the lack of any such help is why a lot of elderly people don’t move.
My Dad didn't cope at all well after Mum died.
He lived hours away from all the family.
He neglected himself and ended up in a care home.
Eventually the decision was made that he should move to an extra-care apartment near me.
My sister organised the purchasing of this, and the sale of his house.
I cleaned and ruthlessly tidied the house ready for the estate agent's visit and photos!
My husband and I helped Dad decide what he would need to bring to be comfortable and feel at home in his new apartment.
We mainly brought some of his furniture, some kitchenware, some clothes, some books and later his car.
My brother helped Dad bag up what clothes were staying behind, including Mum's clothes.
(My auntie, Dad's sister, later sorted the bags out sensibly for the charity shops!)
Some big furniture went to family members, quite a lot stayed as the house purchasers wanted it.
Anything else left went via a house clearance company.
Mum and Dad had lived in their 4-bed house for 47 years, since we children were 14, 12 and 9 years old.
He downsized to his 1-bed apartment when he was 87.
He's told me he feels safe living here.
Moving him wasn't something we could have done in a weekend, it took a lot of planning and needed to be done in stages by a team of people.
A friend says she's read that you should start to plan to downsize around the age of 70, leave it much later and it's all too much!
Oh Primrose, that is such a sad post. I hope that your BIL pleases himself and tells his daughters to keep their thoughts to themselves, and that he lives to a very great age, or at least long enough to spend all of his money.
Our house is arranged such that we could have a lodger but I don't think they would be happy to move out while one of the dds come for the weekend.
A friend says she's read that you should start to plan to downsize around the age of 70, leave it much later and it's all too much!
V3ra* yes, it certainly is!
Me too.
TopGunner
Me too.
Sorry, this was meant for the post. Damart vests.
Allira
^A friend says she's read that you should start to plan to downsize around the age of 70, leave it much later and it's all too much!^
V3ra* yes, it certainly is!
I agree with that. I was 74 when I moved. Lockdown and then losing DH postponed the inevitable but I’m glad I made some of my plans well in advance.
TopGunner
TopGunner
Me too.
Sorry, this was meant for the post. Damart vests.
I think I need two, one with long sleeves, plus long johns, today!
Allira
^A friend says she's read that you should start to plan to downsize around the age of 70, leave it much later and it's all too much!^
V3ra* yes, it certainly is!
The problem with that is when your husband has been ill from his mid 50's (which happened to my husband), then that goes out of the window. We had it all planned to spend 6 months of the year abroad and 6 months at home then he got an incurable illness and for the next few years I was his carer until he died aged 68. I had no idea what day it was never mind thinking about moving home, it took me three years to come to terms with it then after that I could not bear to move from the home that had been ours since the 1960's when we married.
I can afford the upkeep of my home, I can afford to keep warm and eat healthily and as far as I am concerned, I am as happy as I can be under the circumstances.
Long may it last.
Yes, we've had a few hiccups along the way. All seems fine until you suddenly find it's all too much.
Family coming to stay is another consideration too.
Someone said "Tell them to get a B&B" - all of them for a month or six weeks?
Septimia
We have a house larger than we normally need. We don't use all of it all the time, but it is needed when we have visitors.
We are heavily involved in local activities, the community and church. If we moved we'd lose all that. Nearly all the other houses in the village are as big (and expensive) as ours, or bigger, so no chance of moving locally.
What's the point of isolating ourselves by moving?
Indeed, Septimia,
Why should you isolate yourself by moving.??
Why should you aplogise for living in your own home that you no doubt slaved to buy in the first place.
I deplore the propensity in some quarters of trying to make older people feel guilty about absolutely everything including occupying houses of a reasonable size in their home location.
Should you wish to downsize, for any reason , that would be entirely different.
Obviously a bigger home entails more running costs.
That's all it boils down to.
Pensioners in large houses may be property rich but cash poor. I am in greater London/Kent border.
I cannot down size I have a two bedroom house, mortgage paid, it is worth quite alot more, than houses a but further out, but if I did move I would not have the support of my daughter, nor would I keep as much contact with friends, something that helps alot with my mental health.
I have lost my wfa, and can manage without it, but it was helpful. I have new state pension plus a occ pen. It's not that easy to just move, and some pensioners rely on their family for support so do not want to leave the area.
I am not a martyr, and would like my wfa back, people on PC get this allowance, rightly so, and it will not affect rich pensioners, it is the squeezed middle who will suffer those of us who have worked, paid into the system and saved for a good retirement.
Should you wish to downsize, for any reason , that would be entirely different
If there were any suitable properties on the market in an area where you want to live.
Just looked online again today - one bungalow new to the market today but yet again with a very strange layout.
If you can afford to live in a big house that is fine. If you can't afford to keep up with the running costs one needs to downsize. It is simply not fair to expect the tax payer to subsidise you to live in a bigger house than you need.
Also living in greater London my partner and I have a freedom pass which saves us alot of money, I still have my car, but to my partner who is fit and healthy, it is a Godsend, as he uses it alot.
People need to see the whole picture before advice like move is dolled out. My daughter, a single parent, one child bought a apartment in a very sought after area, pays the higher rate of tax, but with her mortgage, she also pays a service charge which is very high, so downsizing to a flat is not always a cheaper option and it would not help me. My daughter moved to the area with excellent Schools, green space, and she has my ex and my support if she needs childcare. It's a choice and comes with a cost. The flats round where I live are very expensive and I would gain no monetary value by doing so.
You need to plan ahead when moving. I'm amazed at my friend 80 who has just moved into a little terrace house with really steep stairs and no downstairs toilet or shower. I think upstairs only had a bath.
The term OAP is so all encompassing covering the extraordinarily rich to the very poor and those in their 60s to those in their 90s...
Precisely HelterSkelter1.
Suggesting that someone in their late 80s / early 90s should 'downsize' is a bit different to expecting those in the 60s age group do the same.
Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.
We live in a jouse far too big for us- but we love having family and friends come to stay, and have organised the house so we only heat and maintain 'our side' for when we are alone.
If and when it gets too much, and too expensive because of Sterling values falling even more (60% down since we moved here, its a massive loss), we will just have to sell. Couldn't possibly expect others to subsidise us for living in a property too large for us. Why should anyone expect this?
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