(10-08-2012 03:15 PM)vanessa warwick Wrote:  According to this article, a lot of Britons are relying on property as a pension. This may make schemes that promise to provide a pension through property appealing.

Many Britons relying on property to fund their retirement.

Nearly one in three Britons is relying at least partly on their property portfolio to fund their retirement, and one in ten is relying wholly on it.

The figures come from research carried out by Baring Asset Management, and come despite recent the recent downturn in the property market. Using property to fund retirement could be a risky strategy.

Commenting on the figures, Chief Investment Officer at Barings Mario Valensise said ‘it is astounding that over one in 10 people have focused all their retirement planning on property...this suggests a poor understanding of the risks involved’.

Even those with a property portfolio, rather than just their own home, using property alone to fund retirement is risky. Markets can and do change quickly and it can be difficult to plan retirement on the basis of property income only, as returns are not guaranteed. The advice from financial advisors is that a pension is the only way to guarantee a retirement income, with property or other income being a top-up.

There is evidence that many pensioners are choosing to become landlords in order to supplement their pensions. They tend to rent out their home and either rent a cheaper home with the proceeds, or live with family. For those who have paid-off their mortgage, but are unwilling or unable to sell their family home, becoming an landlord can be a good way of gaining a steady income in old-age.

A far more effective way of supplementing one's pension is to take in lodgers, there are lots of professional ones.
Round my way they are prepared to pay up to £700 pcm.
Have 2 spare rooms, that is a lot of money
Yes you effectively sacrifice your privacy.
It is my experience that most of these professional types leave for work early, get home late, have maybe something little to eat then off to bed, go on the lap top a bit and then to sleep.
Weekends they are generally out an about.
You hardly ever see them.
I've had to encourage mine sometime to come and have a cup of tea and have a chat, this they have appreciated.
Most elderly people would appreciate occasional younger company.
Lodgers I have found tend to be very considerate and polite; possibly they might be different if they were a tenant.
I wish I had a 3 bed house, I would be raking it in
Nobody ever tells the taxman and nobody if single ever tells the C Tax dept there is now more than 1 person there.
That is the reality of the situation whether govt likes it or not
When all the tax avoiders like Vodafone and Mr Green are prevented from using tax havens and their wives names then perhaps pensioners might consider advising relevant parties.
That day will NEVER come

Yes Paul, you make a valid point.

We rent out two rooms in our house and that brings in £1100.00 per month.

I think many pensioners could stay in their larger home and rent out a couple of rooms for income, rather than downsize and struggle.

I also agree with you that professional lodgers do not have a negative impact on your life, provided you find the right ones. My experience is largely the same as yours in that they are out a lot of the time.

There is a great saying: "If you don't get what you want in life it's because you haggled about the price or you didn't want it badly enough".

People say to me and Nick"Ohhhh, I don't know how you can bear to have lodgers in your house. We would never do it!".

I reply "That's the price we are willing to pay to live in our dream home in our dream location".

I agree taking in lodgers is a perfect way to stay in your home without the risks of arms length letting. It is a perfect cure for loneliness for the elderly too giving them a reason to get up and get dressed in the morning and to have routine. I know several people who have taken in a lodger and most of them would not go back to living alone.

Follow me on Twitter @landlordtweets

lol, how did this turn to lodgers.

Taking in lodgers is a privacy risk and also a security risk, I dislike the idea of pensioners taking in lodgers in the last years to pay bills and making themselves vulnerable to predators.

Us younger folk should be though, such a good way to help decrease the costs. Im not sure it could be described as a "dream home" though if you have to live with others. Its something with youth I would put up with for a short while. Put simply, id rather live in a small 1 bed than a large 4 with others.

(11-08-2012 01:09 PM)Adam Hosker Wrote:  lol, how did this turn to lodgers.

Taking in lodgers is a privacy risk and also a security risk, I dislike the idea of pensioners taking in lodgers in the last years to pay bills and making themselves vulnerable to predators.

Us younger folk should be though, such a good way to help decrease the costs. Im not sure it could be described as a "dream home" though if you have to live with others. Its something with youth I would put up with for a short while. Put simply, id rather live in a small 1 bed than a large 4 with others.

I think you outline an ideal scenario.
However what tends to happen is an older person has a home larger than they need as the domestic circumstances have generally changed.
This means there is spare space.
They do not wish to sell, are perfectly happy where they live; they just need a bit of cashflow.
Downsizing doesn't really do it.
Market conditions especialy now are detrimental to selling and there are the costs involved in selling and purchasing..

Having spare rooms always gives you the opportunity to earn additional income
A 1 bed doesn't.
Therefore you preserve your options with a larger property.
Of course there is the issue of offspring returning home at ages of 30 odd due to the parlous nature of the property and job market.
So just when you think you could rent your rooms out, you might get a a plaintive phone call saying Mum...................................is my old room still free!!!!!?
I've lost my job and I cannot afford the rent, can I come back so I can save up and have cheaper living costs.
Most parents would cave in and see their higher lodger income disappearing out of the window for a lessor amount, if any!!? from one's offspring.
I would much prefer to have a larger property where I would have flexibility.
I think if there are concerns about predators which is something to be considered, it cannot be beyond the wit of offspring to have knowledge of the lodgers that Mum and Dad have just to reassure oneself that they are not predators.
Indeed I would potentially go so far as to suggesting that impurtant documents, passwords etc are kept in a safe.
I include things like bank books etc.
However it is perfectly possible to have checks carried out on a lodger to verify their circumstances.
Of course there can never be any guarantees in life.
So for a very small risk you can achieve some fairly decent returns as opposed to being asset rich and cash poor.
There is risk in everything.
And you would still have your house.
Remember you can have a lodger removed after 1 months notice by the police if they refuse to go.
Very rarely does this situation ever arise.
But yes taken to the enth degree as you suggest you do lose privacy and there is a slight risk form maybe predatory lodgers.
One has to decide how much one's privacy is worth and if you are prepared to take on a certain level of risk.
This is clearly down to the individual.
No one can prescribe lodgers as a perfect situation.
There is however an ever increasing demand from older professional lodgers who do not want to be in a party house, but want to be in a normal domestic set up.
Clearly it would ideally be with partners etc
If they are not in such a situation then lodging within a normal domestic situation is something that they would aspire to be in.
Being a lodger in a nice household is as much as most can afford etc.
Being a lodger means they don''t have to worry about all the other domestic issues that come with either renting or owning a property.
Most live-in LL are amenable and flexible and are prepared to allow the lodger a degree of domestic life themselves, even though it is not their house.
Like allowing a friend to stay overnight etc!
I think when you see the success of roomshare websites like spareroom one can see the demand is there.
There will always be the situation that things you choose to do in your own home might be constrained by the presence of lodgers etc.
Relevant sacrifices have to be made by all parties.
I like the sacrifice of Vanessa receiving £1100 pcm for giving up her privacy.
I just wish I was in such a position to make such a similar sacrifice.
My 2 bed flat is OK but nowhere near on a par with Vanessa's situation.
I say lucky old Vanessa; you can have some nice holidays on £13200 not taking into account the extra loo rolls you find you have to buy!!?

(11-08-2012 01:09 PM)Adam Hosker Wrote:  lol, how did this turn to lodgers.

Taking in lodgers is a privacy risk and also a security risk, I dislike the idea of pensioners taking in lodgers in the last years to pay bills and making themselves vulnerable to predators.

Us younger folk should be though, such a good way to help decrease the costs. Im not sure it could be described as a "dream home" though if you have to live with others. Its something with youth I would put up with for a short while. Put simply, id rather live in a small 1 bed than a large 4 with others.

Most of the people who I know that have lodgers enjoy having people sharing their home. Where they live neat a college or university they often take overseas students who want to live with English speaking people to help them to learn good English. For a person who has retired it is very stimulating to talk to intellegent young people and to feel that they are helping them. Others take people who are on short term contracts and don't want the hotel room life, they tend to be at work all day and only spend a few hours in the house during the evening, often they go home at the weekend so the intrusion on privacy is not an issue.

You seem to have an image of "pensioners" as old dodderers who are vulnerable and need to be protected from "predators". The reality for most people is that the "pensioner" who owns a large home has probably had a successful career that has paid for that home and is unlikely to be as "vulnerable" as you imagine. The people who go to live in these nice homes are also likely to be career people or students who don't want to pay a lot of rent. live in hotels or share an HMO and they are usually very nice people.

As Paul B has said many people get to a time in their lives where they don't want to loose their homes but cannot afford the upkeep and this is a very small compromise for them.

The reason that this subject has come up on this thread is because taking in a lodger is another way of making a property cash flow and providing an income to increase your pension.

Follow me on Twitter @landlordtweets

(11-08-2012 01:09 PM)Adam Hosker Wrote:  lol, how did this turn to lodgers.

Taking in lodgers is a privacy risk and also a security risk, I dislike the idea of pensioners taking in lodgers in the last years to pay bills and making themselves vulnerable to predators.

Us younger folk should be though, such a good way to help decrease the costs. Im not sure it could be described as a "dream home" though if you have to live with others. Its something with youth I would put up with for a short while. Put simply, id rather live in a small 1 bed than a large 4 with others.

Adam,

What works for you is just that. It works for you. Extrapolating that to everyone else is where the flaw lies. If people want to rent out a room, it is there room so they have the right to do so even if you do not like it. If they are not mature enough to appreciate the risks, there is a different problem. I would rather they have the freedom to make their own decisions than we start restricting what they can do based on their age (high or low).

That is Right John, of course they have the right. Well, except it it steps into HMO Regulation.

Mary, Pensioners in their latter years should be protected from Predators. Many are vulnerable in their latter years due to slow down in memory and mobility. Not all, sure.

Im not objecting at all, I do dislike the idea of pensioners having to resort to sharing.
I do like the idea of younger persons having to resort to this to lower overheads.

wow Paul, Will make a coffee and read your article.

(13-08-2012 04:23 PM)Adam Hosker Wrote:  I do dislike the idea of pensioners having to resort to sharing.

Adam,

Are you saying you dislike old people have less money than they would like to have?

What does "resort to sharing" really mean? Maybe they should resort to selling the property? Or maybe they should resort to getting a job?

Who is forcing them to resort to doing anything? Are they not picking the option because they want to do so given their economic situation (under used asset, desire for more income)?

I seem to be lacking the belief that many pensioners would be eager to share their home.
If they had to do so, I would I imagine it being a last resort to keep afloat.

Who is forcing them? Lack of money coming form savings or our Fiat Currency. Lowering of payments in some cases to OAP's and rising cost of energy.