Are we obsessed with our spare bedrooms?

The Housing Minister, Chris Pincher, has suggested older homeowners are “rattling around” in their homes as they are too big for them. He implied they are selfish and should sell up and move to a retirement home when he spoke to a committee in the House of Lords. He says that many British homes are “under-occupied” and could be better used by younger families with children.

He went on to say that the Government will aim to persuade UK housebuilders to build more developments suitable for OAPs, freeing up space in their existing homes, which in turn would open up more homes for first and second-time buyers.

Interesting idea, but seems a bit much, doesn’t it?

The fundamental problem of the housing ‘crisis’ – when looked at locally - is that the supply of homes in the Maghull area has simply not met demand. This is one of the factors driving increases in property values (and in turn rents), consequently ensuring home ownership becomes less attainable for the first-time buyers of Maghull.

So, it’s understandable that either demand needs to drop or supply needs to rise to stop this trend getting worse for the generations to come.

Don’t get me wrong, I think that plans to help first-time buyers on to the ladder with the ‘First Homes’ initiative is a good thing. The idea is to increase the supply of new homes being built just for first-time buyers. But it’s targeted to deliver just 1,500 homes in around 100 locations in the next two years, and that’s clearly nowhere near enough.

In 2004 the Government sponsored the independent Barker Review of Housing Supply Report which was tasked at looking at what could be done to level the playing field regarding the housing needs for the UK. The report found that the UK needed 240,000 homes to be built each year just to meet the demand of a growing and aging population. Since 2000, the average number of properties built in the UK each year has only been 177,975 per year. This means we have been around 62,000 homes short per year on average. 20 years of this annual shortfall means 1,240,500 too few homes – hence the massive uplift in house prices over the last two decades.

One option that could resolve the housing crisis is if the Government looked closer to home, concentrating on matching households with the appropriately sized home … and this is what the government have shone a light on … people with too many spare bedrooms. It’s used to find suitably sized homes by local authorities and housing associations, why not the private sector?

Is having a spare bedroom something that in this day and age really necessary?

3,879 Maghull homes have a spare bedroom.

Well, everyone needs a spare bedroom don’t they?! Especially in the light of lockdown where many of us needed to work from home. Or for friends and family to stay over. Or even to dry the washing.

5,136 of 11,112 houses in Maghull have two or more spare bedrooms

That’s 46.2% with two or more spare bedrooms, compared to the national average 45.2%. Bigger family homes were the kids have flown the nest perhaps?

Of the 9,836 privately owned houses in Maghull, 4,944 have two or more spare bedrooms that’s 50.3% expressed as a percentage, compared to the national average of 53.9%.

So you can kind of see the logic - there is the spare housing capacity in the Maghull area.

The Government hit the social housing sector with their ‘Bedroom tax’ in 2012, (also known as under occupancy charge or spare room subsidy) which meant that in council homes you would receive less in Housing Benefit or Housing Costs Element in a Universal Credit claim if you lived in a housing association or council property and were deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms.

Now it seems the Government have concentrated on the group that makes up the bulk of homeowners with spare bedrooms, the older owner occupiers of large properties, in their 60’s and 70’s, where the kids have flown the nest.

However, there are many explanations why these mature homeowners do not downsize. These people have lived in the same house for 30, 40 even 50 years, and as one matures in life, many people do not want to depart from what they see as the family home. Much time has been invested in making friends in their neighbourhood and it’s nice to have all those rooms in case every grandchild decided to visit, at the same time, and they brought their friends!

Shouldn’t the Government keep its nose out of where people live? Why is it assumed that retired homeowners want to downsize anyway?

The subject of downsizing is delicate, and subjective.

Many would miss the extra space if they downsized, or may resent moving out of the family home that they worked hard to buy, maintain and created so many memories in. Remaining in your home is not greedy, it’s just the accepted human longing to enjoy a life after 50 plus years of working and paying your dues and taxes.

I have spoken in previous articles in my blog on the Maghull property market that there aren’t enough bungalows being built either. And anyway, why should you have to relocate and wave goodbye to all your neighbours who have become friends and provide a support network?

There is a case made by some that mature downsizers could be given stamp duty tax breaks to get them to downsize, yet I am not sure how this could be policed, and it doesn’t solve the problem of increasing the overall supply of property in the UK.

The real issue isn’t spare bedrooms, it’s the need to change the planning rules to increase the number and type of new homes being built that will satisfy these mature homeowners with excess spare bedrooms to move into.

Big national builders have exploited ham-fisted planning rules since the 1980s, but no political party seems to have the answer. Housing Minister Chris Pincher might say he wants to persuade builders to build more suitable homes for mature people, yet his Government’s actions don’t seem to match his words.

In the Queen’s Speech this spring, the Government announced a proposed new planning system, which would create “simpler, faster procedures for producing local development plans, approving major schemes, assessing environmental impacts and negotiating affordable housing and infrastructure contributions”, or in layman’s terms, allowing more building to take place.

However, word coming out of Government is those plans could be cancelled following the Conservatives’ surprise defeat in the Chesham & Amersham by-election to the Liberal Democrats in the summer, which was blamed by some Conservative MPs on the new proposed planning laws.

So, whilst the Government decide what to do, what can mature Maghull homeowners do if they feel they do want to downsize?

The biggest fear many mature Maghull homeowners have is they will sell their large Maghull home but be unable to find anything to buy – thus making themselves homeless

In this current Maghull housing market, the issue isn’t selling your Maghull home, but ensuring you find the right home to move into. Feel free to drop me a line to discuss how we can help you find the ideal home to move into if you are considering down-sizing. We’re just here to help you sell for the best price, we help you move forward too.