East Devon District Council is offering its housing tenants up to £1,100 to help them move if they are finding their current home too big for their needs.
Many council’s tenants are finding that they no longer need so much living accommodation. Sometimes the garden is becoming too difficult to look after properly or they may want to move closer to family and friends.
Many council’s tenants are finding that they no longer need so much living accommodation. Sometimes the garden is becoming too difficult to look after properly or they may want to move closer to family and friends.
Conversely, the council’s Housing Needs team has lots of tenants and new applicants who are desperate for larger family accommodation and this is an innovative way of trying to find homes for these families, whilst offering support to tenants who have offered to downsize.
Housing Needs staff are keen to talk to anyone about the possibility of downsizing.
Any discussions would be without any obligation to move and tenants can turn down the smaller property if it’s not what they want or where they want to live.
If tenants do decide to move from a general purpose house to a smaller flat or bungalow, they will be paid up to £1,100. The money can be put towards furnishing their new home or to help meet the cost of moving.
Two tenants who are very happy they made the decision to move to a smaller home are Mr and Mrs Saunders from Exmouth, who said: “Our house was too big for us after the family had left home and we seemed to be rattling around inside it.
"It took all our time to keep the grass cut, and there was the cost of heating a large house. We now live in a bungalow where everything is designed to make life easy. We downsized and it was the best move we ever made.”
