mint Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050800/Over-60s-exempt-stamp-duty-free-occupied-homes.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 For my recent operation I was given a hospital gown with D N R on it. Now I wonder what that meant? [:@] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 It means that some little fascist in NHS management has worked out that death is cheaper than continued treatment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted October 19, 2011 Author Share Posted October 19, 2011 [quote user="Benjamin"]For my recent operation I was given a hospital gown with D N R on it. Now I wonder what that meant? [:@][/quote]But, Benjamin, you've survived to tell the tale![:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 By his own efforts apparently! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 [quote user="sweet 17"]But, Benjamin, you've survived to tell the tale![:D][/quote]This is no word of a lie but I discharged myself. [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 It would help if our dear Emma, the author of the article, understood the issue and thought it through properly.On the one hand she complains of older people squatting in large multi bedroom properties and proposes help and encouragement for them to downsize, and on the other complains that "House ownership is virtually unaffordable for younger people in the parts of Britain where there is work."How exactly will downsizing help those younger people when all it will do is push up prices for whatever smaller and potentially affordable properties there are ?In any case if someone were downsizing to a property costing over £125k but under £250k then stamp duty is only 1% so do they really think that that would be sufficient incentive to motivate them to do it !There are no quick fixes for the totally dysfunctional UK housing market. It's like dieting, short of shock starvation it takes at least as long to lose weight as it does to put it on - and UK has been gorging for decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarkkent Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 [quote user="AnOther"] It would help if our dear Emma, the author of the article, understood the issue and thought it through properly.[/quote]To be fair (and I never thought that I would say that about a Daily Mail reporter) Emma is only repeating (or reporting) the ideas of the Intergenerational Foundation.[quote user="AnOther"] "On the one hand she complains of older people squatting in large multi bedroom properties and proposes help and encouragement for them to downsize, and on the other complains that "House ownership is virtually unaffordable for younger people in the parts of Britain where there is work." [/quote]I am one of these older (not that I could ever pass for being old) people squatting in a large house. In general, it could be said that I am well off; in reality I am asset rich but cash poor.My son and his partner cannot afford to buy a house of their own. One way that I can help them is by selling my own house so as to release equity and give me a pile of cash which could help them buy their first home. This leaves me with the problem of finding somewhere to live and I am likely to be in competition with my son for a suitable house. One solution would be for me to look for accomodation in a "retirement village" such as this. These places are thin on the ground at the moment, but with a growing over-60 element of the population may become a sensible solution (though not everyone would want to be surrounded by elderly neighbours). [quote user="AnOther"]There are no quick fixes for the totally dysfunctional UK housing market. It's like dieting, short of shock starvation it takes at least as long to lose weight as it does to put it on - and UK has been gorging for decades. [/quote]Absolutely true. And it needs a firm policy decision - and action - from the government to ensure the problem does not get worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 From DM "The Intergenerational Foundation, which based its findings on English Housing Survey figures, said it was not encouraging the Government to 'turf out' older generations. "That's very good of them . I shall sleep easier knowing that.. And in one of the spare bedrooms if I should choose to ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 A few years ago I came across a very funny (and very official looking) letter in French that talked about "you, the recipient, have just reached an old ripe age of xyz and we are officialy ordering you to present yourself at the local crematorium with a handfull of very dry kiddlings, etc.etc...." My Grandmother (87 to date) never saw the funny side of it......[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 I'm reminded of the 1973 film Soylent Green.....perhaps not as far fetched today as it seemed then.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted October 19, 2011 Author Share Posted October 19, 2011 [quote user="Clarkkent"]My son and his partner cannot afford to buy a house of their own. One way that I can help them is by selling my own house so as to release equity and give me a pile of cash which could help them buy their first home. This leaves me with the problem of finding somewhere to live and I am likely to be in competition with my son for a suitable house. One solution would be for me to look for accomodation in a "retirement village" such as this. These places are thin on the ground at the moment, but with a growing over-60 element of the population may become a sensible solution (though not everyone would want to be surrounded by elderly neighbours). [/quote]I'd be inclined to be very wary of those places.The management charges (garden maintenance and communal areas, eg) could be disproportionately high.Also, if you do become unable to look after yourself, I believe that they ship you off to some home anyway where you might be neglected, or ill-treated at worst and condescended to at best.Also, these "units" (can't dignified them by calling them "homes") can be difficult for you or your dependents to sell on at a later date.That's the worst case scenario but, the ways things are going, who's to say the "worst case" might not become the inevitable?[+o(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 In the US retirement communities I have heard about give several levels of care all in one location, you might start indepedent living in a 'normal' house on the development then decide an apartment with a warden would be wise, then residential care etc.....this allows a person to keep the friends they have made as they go along and the various changes are less frightening because the surroundings are familiar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 There was a series on TV a few months ago where young people went to work in an old peoples complex in the UK. That looked a lovely place, similar to Russethouse"s description with people living in accomodation suitable to their health, from pretty bungalows through to full-on nursing home care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarkkent Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 [quote user="sweet 17"]I'd be inclined to be very wary of those places.The management charges (garden maintenance and communal areas, eg) could be disproportionately high.Also, if you do become unable to look after yourself, I believe that they ship you off to some home anyway where you might be neglected, or ill-treated at worst and condescended to at best.Also, these "units" (can't dignified them by calling them "homes") can be difficult for you or your dependents to sell on at a later date.That's the worst case scenario but, the ways things are going, who's to say the "worst case" might not become the inevitable?[+o(] [/quote]Are you speaking from direct knowledge or hearsay?There is a commercial property development company which is relatively well-known in Britain which, I think, does conform to some of the characteristics you mention. I have a friend who is currently trying to disentangle her mother from this company and is finding it difficult.The scheme that I linked in my earlier post is, I consider, rather different. It is one of five being developed by Birmingham City Council in conjunction with housing associations and a charity called Extra Care. I know someone in an Extra Care facility (not in Birmingham) and is very satisfied with her life. It is quite likely that the unacceptable conditions which you describe may not be found in these places. My mother spent the last 20 or so years of her life in a housing association sheltered complex - and found it a happy and fulfilling experience.In my earlier post I was talking about the problems which may face me if I made a particular decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Soylent Green - that was a pretty chilling film the first time round. I went off mushy peas for quite a while I can tell youWhen my mum had her stroke four years ago and was kicked out of the hospital into a residential home (without the family being informed), the first thing they did when my dad got there was sit with my parents and ask for details of whether mum was to be buried or cremated etc, both my parents were horrified and reduced to tears at that callous meeting and now, my mum is fairly strong and enjoying her life best as she can from a wheelchair with paralysis and no voice, she will probably outlive my dad too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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