advise for elderly parent thinking of selling and moving to renting (and us for reacting)

RAS

The bit that scares the bejezus out me is the caravan. One of my relatives used one as a second home, so I saw quite a lot. Even then site owners were pretty brutal at times, often through smiley faces.

What will £20k buy her? Where does she think she is going to put it?

At lot of sites don't accept semi- permanent caravans that have not been bought from them, at a premium. And require any van over 5 years old to leave the site. 

If she finds a more tolerant site, she'll still be paying a substantial rental fee, plus utility fees. Expect a fee to winterise the van and another to open up. And she may be required to disconnect all the utilities if she leaves it for a "longer period." Does she have the skill set to disconnect and reconnect them? If she has a hook-up, that is easier but costs extra. 

And she could still get an out of season notice that her van is going to be moved, at her cost, to a less favourable corner because its older and she's not pushy enough.

She may also find that any work on the van has to be done by the on-site team.

I fully understand her mid-life crisis, being a similar age. But I wouldn't sink my capital in a van. And does she know how cold they get and how much it costs to heat them?

She's not got a lot of capital but has a decent income. Much better to find an over 55s flat (HA or similar) or buy a lock-up flat with the capital and spend her income on travel.

ArbitraryRandom

luvchocolate said:

There is no upper limit for your financial position to get a housing association property 

Yes, but if it means you meet the criteria for the lowest band and the average waiting list is several years, then is it a realistic option?  

Looking at the Preston policy online it would seem they would only qualify for 'low demand housing':

An applicant will not qualify if:

They have a gross annual income of £60,000 or more and/or have savings or assets of greater than £30,000. These amounts will be reviewed on an annual basis to reflect the economic climate

An applicant who is eligible but does not qualify under section 6 for accommodation can apply directly to the partner landlord of their choice to be placed on the Open Property Register (OPR) for “low demand” properties. OPR properties will not be subject to this policy and will only be used as a last resort. For further information please see the OPR policy.

Applicants on the OPR will be free to bid on all properties advertised on Select Move and which are designated by partners as open to OPR applicants but will only be considered if the property attracts no bids from suitable qualifying applicants and is deemed to be suitable for OPR applicants by the advertising partner.

Worth looking into I'd agree, but unless they want to spend significantly more than £20k on the caravan then I'm just wanting to make sure she doesn't get her hopes up...  

KxMx

Over 55's housing tends to have lower demand than the average social housing property, sometimes age is the only criteria to qualify, and getting such housing can be even easier with an HA rather than council.
Some is bid on through the local area system, some you apply directly through the providers as they are not all on the bidding system. 

Murphybear

Nearlyold said:

She could of course rent a small dedicated retirement apartment  from the likes of McCarthy Stone, but with the cheapest at circa £1k pm for a 1 bed Flat, the £80k from her house sale would not last for long. 

McCarthy & Stone properties are outrageously priced.  They are no better than ours (I’ve seen one development in Devon) but the rentals are at least twice what we pay.  We had a letter from our HA yesterday.  They are giving £200 to each tenant to help with the cost of electricity.  I bet most landlords aren’t doing that.  

theoretica

I think it would be good to look at the reality of properties that are available and how they would suit her, and continue to suit her as her needs and wants change  What is available as older living (purchase or rent), private sale, private rental.  What comes with maintenance done, or stability guarantees...   Then look at how she could afford her top choices.

Bam60

We sold our Victorian terrace six months ago because of the rapidly declining area, awful neighbours and very steep stairs. Also at 66 and 68 we no longer want to be bothered with maintenance and have no children, so are not concerned about inheritance.
During covid restrictions we spent a lot of time walking around a local beautiful housing estate built for factory workers in the early 1900s. We discovered a lot of the houses were still owned by a charitable trust who do not sell properties therefore giving security of tenure, 
 We joined the waiting list and after 12 months were offered a 2 bed apartment, built in 2009, but in a style sympathetic to the heritage properties.
It is beautiful. Spacious, bright and comfortable. Neighbours are lovely and most in a similar position to us. The few maintenance issues we have had have been addressed immediately and we haven’t regretted this move for a moment.
We have also freed up capital to enable us to take a lot of holidays in the U.K. while we are able and the rent is easily affordable from income.
Would it be worth the OP checking out if there is any similar housing in their area?

MobileSaver

MikeJXE said:

I moved away (30 miles) 2 bed flat, ... after a year at the start of lockdown  I moved nearer to them, ... After a year I move again across the road ... I moved again  in February to a I bed

Were all of those moves your choice or were some forced upon you by the landlord?

It's great that it worked for you at your age but for a lot of people (especially those in their 70s) moving so often would be more than they could bear.

GDB2222

MobileSaver said:

MikeJXE said:

I moved away (30 miles) 2 bed flat, ... after a year at the start of lockdown  I moved nearer to them, ... After a year I move again across the road ... I moved again  in February to a I bed

Were all of those moves your choice or were some forced upon you by the landlord?

It's great that it worked for you at your age but for a lot of people (especially those in their 70s) moving so often would be more than they could bear.

It would depend on how minimalist your lifestyle is. Some people manage with comparatively little ‘stuff', which obviously makes moving easier.  

gwynlas

There are a number of people who like the idea of a static caravan as a means to get away from the everyday giving them a change of scene without having to travel. They can make friends amongst other owners and have a social life that does not revolve around their home and family, like a holiday. Some save year round to manage site fees.Others see caravans as a detiorating asset. She probably does feel the house is getting unmanageable and expensive to maintain and wants to offload the stress. There are numerous rental properties around for the over 55s owned by charities or housing associations it is unlikely that she would get more than a one bed but this depends on local pressures.. We were talking recently how for some people living in proximity to other oldies would be their own version of hell with cliques and gossips. I  think I would prefer to find a flat in a well managed block to purchase outright

MobileSaver

GDB2222 said:

MobileSaver said:

MikeJXE said:

I moved away (30 miles) 2 bed flat, ... after a year at the start of lockdown  I moved nearer to them, ... After a year I move again across the road ... I moved again  in February to a I bed

Were all of those moves your choice or were some forced upon you by the landlord?

It's great that it worked for you at your age but for a lot of people (especially those in their 70s) moving so often would be more than they could bear.

It would depend on how minimalist your lifestyle is. Some people manage with comparatively little ‘stuff', which obviously makes moving easier.  

Agreed regarding the physical stuff although moving your entire worldly possessions from even a small 2 bed flat is not something most people would relish having to do too often in their lives.

Before all that though you have all the hassle, time and effort of finding a new place to live and once you've found somewhere you then have to sort out new phone, internet and utilities and contact countless organisations with your new address.

Maybe it's just me but I'm only in my 50s and can think of 101 things I'd rather be doing than all the tedious admin involved in moving home; I'd be particularly disheartened if this was all because of a landlord's decision rather than my own and that's the main negative of renting - in most cases security of tenure is minimal, more so now due to the government's misguided policies towards landlords.

Of course a key change which is much more of an issue the older you get is moving away from your neighbours, family and circle of friends. As your mobility decreases, even moving a few streets away could mean the difference between keeping in touch or not with people you've known for years. As the years pass after 70 you are less likely to continue driving so will rely more and more on others coming to you for social contact.