What are you all up to

We're generally encouraged to have water meters in the south because we need to conserve water. Scotland has an abundant supply.

I tried booking my hairdresser today, with full bookings when they open, second jabs due and maybe a short break I can't get my hair cut till late April!  Good to hear Scotland is opening up. 

Would be nice Francis if she did allow self contained holidays before the 26th, fingers crossed.

We have Craigie gardens booked for a few days from the 19th April, then down to a lovely CL near Stranraer. Those 2 could now not happen unless she has a change of heart. If she does allow local sites we don't really have any near us we would use, they are all in 'other' areas. We could always go out for the day in the MH

Why should we be forced to downsize due to a tax?

Time CT was based on ability to pay, as the SNP said they would look at many years back, not on a perceived nice house, nice area they must be loaded approach!  They made things worse a few years back by imposing an arbitrary £500 increase on properties in our band, over and above the regular increase, presumably on the "must be loaded" approach.  So much for their manifesto proposals.

We have done the arithmetic and decided to stay in a house we designed and had built 33 years back as long as we can afford to do so.  To move to a 2/3 bed bungalow in this area would cost us over £30k in costs, fees and stamp duty, so we have decided to stay.  We prefer not to have the hassle of moving, plus here we do have somewhere to keep our caravan.

When we had the house built we used a lot of good quality materials, and saved by doing quite a lot of the work ourselves.......it was the only way we could afford what we wanted.  As a result we have had minimal outlay on maintenance in the last 33 years, we still have our original kitchens, bathrooms, CH boilers, windows and doors, though we are planning a change of our en suite bathroom soon.

In this house we know every detail of the build, where every structural member, water pipe and cable is, the area is excellent, the neighbours pleasant, why would we want to move to a place we know nothing about, with unknown neighbours?

The housing market here is much more stable than in southern England, so unlike , no doubt, properties in your area JVB, having built a quality property, we reckon that in 33 years our house is now probably worth only about 4 times what we spent on it back then.

As TG said, getting a water meter here is expensive, so there is no encouragement to do so, we have looked into the matter.

 Most people in our area have a water meter. As its just the 2 of us it saves us a lot of money. We pay £39 a month for water at the moment.

I agree about not moving Kj. We live in a 4 bedroom detached house. We moved here in 1988 with 3 teenagers. We looked into moving/downsizing a few years ago and decided that it would just not be cost effective after taking all the costs involved into account. Anyway we like the space and love our garden It was brand new when we moved in. It was a one off built by a local builder and very solidly constructed so maintenance has been minimal so far, although a few niggles are beginning to surface. 

Kj

I can well understand you not wanting to move, we feel very much the same, particularly whilst we have the motorhome which we wouldn't want to put into storage. There aren't many bungalows in MK anyway and those that are would cost more than our house would sell for. Our only real option to downsize is an apartment which we are not that keen on. The difference in price between 3 and 4 bedroom houses, when you take into account moving costs and possible refurbishment costs hardly makes it worth it. 

I am not sure how you get over the Council Tax system. You need some sort of tax to sustain local services and even CT does not pay anywhere near enough without further Government support. They tried Poll Tax but that wasn't acceptable to enough people for it to work so I am not sure what alternatives there are?  Is it unreasonable to expect those that have more valuable house to pay more than those in more modest properties? I don't think we will get any future  favours in terms of subsidies to pensioners as many politicians of all stripes seem to think we have had it good for so long? So I don't see anything changing in our favour.

Owning property does give us options however. It does give us the opportunity to move somewhere smaller and less expensive which could cut down on costs even if we are inclined not to follow that route. Anyone who owns a house outright as a valuable asset and there are many opportunities to take advantage of that asset value if you should want to without moving.

David

Got  a text on my mobile just before evening meal today, quite ruined my sense of taste . As a result of last Fridays  blood test, I now am looking forward, NOT, to a telephonic appointment with Diabetes Specialist nurse. Gulp. Somehow I think that Brian is going to need earmuffs for that one !!  

Ah well, I will just have to rely on my innate charm, wit and good nature to get me out of this one  

I hope you hear about your 2nd jab soon nellie. When was your OH's 1st jab? Mine was the middle of January so I am hoping to hear about my 2nd one in 3 to 4 weeks.

OH had her first jab on 5th Jan and mine was 5 days after hers, so all things being equal I should get word this week. 

The medical centre, and all that are involved in giving the jab, are very well organised now, as OH was in and out in 20 mins including waiting time. They've obviously got it  down to a fine art now...lots of practice I guess.

I can hear what you are saying and can see why you are reticent to move ,but then as we get older ,we have looked at many options to move,to the coast,   our house is not big,,but the draw of all the facilities we have ,has kept us here ,  , and it is a very nice area ,as several of our friends have said ,even a couple who live in a village in Notts , it no wonder you have decided not to move from here,

Besides as these properties were built for the council in the late fifties ,from who we bought it in 1994 (thankyou Maggie),for £27,000 cash sale when i was given the opportunity to retire early,with also a redundancy package  ,the best investment ever with the price of these properties now 

We do not have room to keep any of our LVs here although we do have a garage for our car ,at the end of our garden ,although it belongs to the council (and will not sell it to me)

The costs are not cheap for either the storage or garage but then we are in a very high cost area, for most things so our costs probalby match yours when our leisure LV and car storage costs are counted

Ours is the only house on our little street now that doesn’t have details of what we paid for it, some 37 years ago. But even we are astonished at what our neighbours properties are selling for at the moment.  Big houses, big gardens, and most folks buying are heading up here from the South. We found out last week who our next door neighbours will be. Thirty something couple from Surrey, no children, he is in Army, she works from home, sound really nice, couldn’t ask for anything better really unless current occupant could stay.
If we move, it will be a downsize, and the area will be the prime driver. Somewhere further North, edge of somewhere like Pickering, or one of small villages around there. Mind, we would consider Scotland, Borders as well. Or Northumberland🤔