Elderly care is a costly business. The average fee for residential care homes is now around £1,300 a week and £1,512 for a nursing home according to Lottie, a platform comparing costs of care in the UK. This is the equivalent of between £67,000 and £79,000 a year. Fees are rising, and so are the number of years people need care for as life expctancy increases. It means more midlife adults than ever are facing difficult decisions over how best to look after their parents, financially and practically. Moving your parents in with you is a cheaper financial option, but places a far greater burden on you to manage care.
Constructing or renovating an outbuilding for elderly parents (a “granny annexe”) has become an increasingly popular solution. According to recent figures from the Valuation Office Agency there are around 60,000 annexes in England and Wales alone. Guy Hanson, 56, an executive, and his wife live in a bungalow in a village in Northamptonshire and in 2022 they completed a conversion in their garden for his parents to move into. He tells Sadhbh O’Sullivan about the process, the potential pitfalls and why it was the best decision.
Shorts
We found our current home in 2014. It had an old, ramshackle outbuilding in the back that actually predated the house. We thought it would be a great place for our son, 15 at the time, to hang out with his friends in a safe environment and practise with his band.
