Have you given any thought to also apportioning 2 or 3 rooms into a self contained living space with stand alone entrance? You could then rent this area of the house and avail of rent-a-room relief. This would generate a nice income stream for years to come.We're empty nesters (early 60s) and we love the aspect and location of our mid-sixties bungalow. However with 5 bedrooms (one a cold attic room) and an aging perspex-roofed conservatory, the house is too big for us. It is also draughty and consequently expensive to heat (oil). Mrs. P has arthritis so needs a warm house. We want to modernise re. building a new 'proper' conservatory at a different part of the house. We want to relocate and modernise the kitchen and also the attic room. We have given it a lot of thought and really do not know where to begin.
Our budget is roughly 400k. Is the notion of knocking the bungalow down and rebuilding with a smaller, passive-type house as crazy as it sounds? Or even feasible for that kind of money? Opinions welcome!
No you wouldn't be crazy. I've done it myself and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. So I'm all for downsizing based on the facts you presented, I don't see an issue with you upgrading the bungalow to bring it up to your standards, I'd focus on insulation too. At my age I want a place that takes less work, where I don't fret about empty rooms and the cost of heating them never mind cleaning them. Both my parents, individually also downsized, from very big houses, I hadn't realised that until I started writing this. It was the best decision for both of them as no children were at home. They wouldn't have been able to manage a large property. It's not when you are 60 you have to worry about it's when you're getting to 70. Also now that I think of it, both my grandmothers were the same, one went into a bungalow, the other was in a large house but neither she nor my grandfather went upstairs as they could not, so they stayed downstairs for the last 20 years and they had no bathroom, only an outside toilet on the ground floor level. When you get over 60, you are highly unlikely to want to move, so yes, move now.Would we be crazy to leave our beautiful big home to try to turn bungalow into smaller version of it?
Always said we'd like to do last move this side of 60.
Thoughts please
The government should not incentivise the wealthy. You can well afford to downsize. What the government should do, particulary in Dublin and other large cities is encourage decent apartments for downsizers. If they built quality and I mean quality, apartments then older people rattling around in 4 bed houses would move.In current housing crisis, why on earth do government not offer some kind of incentive for ppl to leave large family homes & downsize to something more matching their needs. And I stress only if folk want to. I see my own mother, still living independently at 81, who does all her living/sleeping downstairs but with 3 wasted bedrooms upstairs.
Government policy on housing makes no sense at so many levels.
Could you link us to that proposal please, I'd like to have a look at it. (it's very healthy to have people walk places, keeps them living longer, council is ridiculous)Any suggestions?
Currently any "profit" from the sale of your home is entirely tax free. So nothing can be done there.
If a smaller house needs upgrading, there are grants for that too especially energy upgrades.
Possibly planning criteria / incentive to encourage builders to build some 55+ age houses. - There was an application near Kildare town but it was roundly rejected because it was 1.5km from the town and council said "such developments should be more central". Obviously people aged 55+ and in Kildare are incapable of walking 20min. The actual internal layout was superb.
I've gotton rid of so much stuff it's unbelievable. Stuff that I don't need and stuff the children don't need which they wanted me to keep forever. They each had to learn to only keep 'stuff' that they really cared about. Not what they wanted to keep, which was everything. Even had arguments about which pictures and paintings I would bring.We find it hard to dispose of stuff that we have accumulated, so maybe that is our only real excuse for staying here.
While possible in certain areas and for certain types of property, it's very difficult to get planning to achieve this in most areas unless the property is suitable for conversion into two stand-alone dwellings.Have you given any thought to also apportioning 2 or 3 rooms into a self contained living space with stand alone entrance? You could then rent this area of the house and avail of rent-a-room relief. This would generate a nice income stream for years to come.
https://webgeo.kildarecoco.ie/planningenquiryCould you link us to that proposal please, I'd like to have a look at it. (it's very healthy to have people walk places, keeps them living longer, council is ridiculous)
Yes of course you can do this. The house sounds totally unfit for your next decades and you should be aiming to be comfortable. I was sent a video of a new built 3 bed bungalow yesterday which cost 275K to build. If you are going to do this you should do it now. Where you begin is get a good builder in to give you an idea of what is possible. Based on your large size I'd aim for a 3 bed house, with a side granny flat all done with top finishes, the best insulation and heating. Your aim should be south facing and if that means putting the front door to the side of the house than do it, I don't get the Irish obsession with front doors facing the street.We're empty nesters (early 60s) and we love the aspect and location of our mid-sixties bungalow. However with 5 bedrooms (one a cold attic room) and an aging perspex-roofed conservatory, the house is too big for us. It is also draughty and consequently expensive to heat (oil). Mrs. P has arthritis so needs a warm house. We want to modernise re. building a new 'proper' conservatory at a different part of the house. We want to relocate and modernise the kitchen and also the attic room. We have given it a lot of thought and really do not know where to begin.
Our budget is roughly 400k. Is the notion of knocking the bungalow down and rebuilding with a smaller, passive-type house as crazy as it sounds? Or even feasible for that kind of money? Opinions welcome!
So : Water Ireland, Esb networks, the HSE, Transport Ireland, Fisheries Ireland, Health and Safety were all written to by the council. They tthen write back and made a comment if necessary. But there seems to be only one objection from a lay person, for a woman. And she lives next door. Objections were it's a rural area, the football pitch lights would interfere with her light, traffic increase ..............
Hi Leo, what planning would you need here?While possible in certain areas and for certain types of property, it's very difficult to get planning to achieve this in most areas unless the property is suitable for conversion into two stand-alone dwellings.
And the funny thing is it is next to a nursing home.So : Water Ireland, Esb networks, the HSE, Transport Ireland, Fisheries Ireland, Health and Safety were all written to by the council. They tthen write back and made a comment if necessary. But there seems to be only one objection from a lay person, for a woman. And she lives next door. Objections were it's a rural area, the football pitch lights would interfere with her light, traffic increase ..............
There's a report from the Council Transport people who agree that it will cause problems for traffic, something about Vulnerable Road Users (what is that?)
The planning is for bungalows for elderly people, a football five a side pitch and a creche, which sounds lovely to me.
There are 6 grounds for refusal.
a) zoning (it's an expanding town needing housing so I didn't really understand it) but the areas is zoned community and educational.
b) location is too far away for the elderly !
c) same as b) but now it's because the creche and football pitch would be too far away from Kildare town (does this mean a football pitch should be beside the main street? Laughably the report mentions that is it a 'remote' location.
d) Kildare hates cars and wants nobody to use a car, rural location mentioned again
e) rural location, and they are very insistant on bicycle lanes and footpaths (isn't that up to the council?). I've no idea but there isn't a hell of a chance at my age I'd get on a bicycle in Kildare, Dublin maybe which has actual bicycle lanes.
f) layout is bad they say, they think the choice of finishes are low quality
So for us older people they want us all living next to the main street so we use bicycles. Anyone know where this nirvana is in Kildare town? That is less than 1.5 km from town center?
The changes that can be carried out to a building without the need for full planning permission are defined under Exempted Development. See here / here.Hi Leo, what planning would you need here?
In terms of the Rent a Room scheme there may also be an issue around dedicated external doors into the separate unit?The changes that can be carried out to a building without the need for full planning permission are defined under Exempted Development. See here / here.
Developments like the creation of a separate unit like a granny flat or the addition of external doors are not exempted, and so a full planning application would need to be submitted in advance. In many cases where granny flats do get permission, it is based on the medical need of a family member and a condition is attached forbidding the renting out of the unit.
External doors in themselves are not an issue there, just ensuring that rent a room is just that, a room and not a stand-alone, fully separate dwelling.In terms of the Rent a Room scheme there may also be an issue around dedicated external doors into the separate unit?
Revenue rules state "The rented room or rooms can be a self-contained unit within the house, such as a basement flat or a converted garage"
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