Kids aren’t us – the child-free property investment
It dates back to the 17th century, is situated in 25 rolling acres of parkland and was designed by a student of Sir Christopher Wren. Divided into plush apartments, it’s ready for well-to-do professionals or property investors. So what’s the catch with Swallowfield Park, a mansion near Reading in Berkshire, UK?
Well if you or most of your potential tenants or buyers have children, you are meant to forget it. According to the Times, residents of the Park should be 21 or over. Of course, this isn’t legally enforceable, so if anyone goes on to have children having already moved in, it’s tough tantrums.
Property for sale – pensioners only
This is distantly related to a scheme announced in Manchester last month. There the city council has been given government cash to develop a tower block into 92 apartments for elderly people. Purchasers here must be over 50 years of age.
Are we entering a sudden trend of dictatorial developers? Over 21s only? Nobody younger than 50? Surely this is just limiting your market in the most self-inflicted manner, akin to buying a night club and extending its seniors night to seven days a week.
Silence is golden - Usually
I can see the thinking behind banning very young children – if you are after a peaceful, quiet country home the last thing you want is chocolate-faced little scamps rampaging around the hallways scribbling on the listed brickwork with their crayons. But at what point are people deemed to be grown up enough not to cause mess and mayhem? There are some 21-year-olds I know which are more poorly behaved than they were at five.
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