Demand for granny annexes surges at Flintshire firm

A surge in demand for granny annexes is driving growth at a garden rooms business.

Bosses at Rubicon Garden Rooms in Flintshire say the demand has been sparked by a variety of key factors.

Those include the rise in the cost of living, the impact of the Covid pandemic forcing families apart and difficulties in securing a place in an affordable care home.

They say those factors have made the option of living in their children’s backyard increasingly appealing for many older people.

The company, based at on the Cheshire/North Wales border at Penyffordd near Chester, was founded by John Lyon, a former aircraft engineer.

He said interest in granny annexes had grown rapidly particularly in the wake of the Covid pandemic after the crisis kept families apart.

John, who lives in Chester, said: “That started the trend for granny annexes, that started families thinking about what other options are there out there.

“And one option is the elderly person selling their home for say about £300,000, buy a granny annexe which is perfectly comfortable in the garden of your son or daughter’s house for £60,000 and put the rest of the money in the bank or give it away as part of your inheritance.

“All the pointers are going in the right direction for this, it’s a big market.

“However, it’s important to say granny annexes can be complex, and the planning rules are complex, so you do need specialist support.

“We do all the planning applications for customers for example, all the building regulations, and everything that goes with that, it’s a specialised area.”

Figures show granny annexes are increasingly popular, with research from the Valuation Office Agency showing there are now around 60,000 of them in England and Wales.

Rubicon Garden Rooms customer Gwyneth Robinson, 84, has joined the granny annexe revolution and is among thousands of people in the UK who have sold their house to move closer to their loved ones.

The Stockport pensioner was struggling to live in her home because of spine problems and said she had found the “perfect” answer – by moving to her daughter’s back garden.

After selling her three-bedroom, two-storey home, Gwyneth moved a mile down the road to be close to her daughter, Carol-anne.

According to Gwyneth, who was a carer for disabled people for more than 40 years, the decision was prompted by her health issues.

She’s suffered from a spine problem in recent years, making it difficult for her to get upstairs in her former home.

Gwyneth said: “I was living in a three-bedroomed detached house and that was much more than I needed.

“It had a lovely garden too, but I thought I can’t manage this garden anymore and I can’t manage the house.

“The granny annexe is just absolutely lovely, I feel so lucky, this is just perfect.”

Daughter Carol-anne, a carer for dementia patients, said the granny annexe, which has one bedroom, a living room, a bathroom and a kitchen, offered great value for money compared to the cost of living in a care home.

She said: “Price-wise it was about the equivalent of living a year in a care home, maybe even cheaper.

“Living in a care home costs about £6,000 a month these days on average, that’s what they are around here.

“We looked at mum buying another place, but South Manchester is an expensive area, so even for a small flat, you’re talking £250,000.

“I really think granny annexes are the way forward for people if they have the room in their garden.

“It’s a quicker and cheaper process than putting an extension on your house.

“For the financial aspect, it’s fantastic.

“And the build quality is so good, it’s a real home, in the winter it’s lovely and warm.

“And for the social aspect, it’s brilliant.”

Carers’ rights campaigner and investigative journalist Tom Magner agreed granny annexes were a good solution in many cases and avoided the cost of running two homes.

He said: “If you’re an unpaid carer, the simple fact of having your mother, father or grandparent in a separate room in the garden mentally helps you because you can give that care without everyone living on top of each other in one home.

“Having separate accommodation lifts the stress of an unpaid carer being with that elderly relative too much, being together 24/7.

“That separation really does help mentally if you’re an unpaid carer.

“You can keep an eye on them just by popping in and having a cup of tea with them, you can build it into your normal life, without the care responsibility becoming overwhelming.

“If you’re in your house, with your relative in a garden room, at least you know that as far as you can you’re looking after them, but not in an onerous way.

“And it means they have got their independence which is absolutely vital to many older people.”

John Lyon added: “There is the increase in the cost of living which we are all facing.

“Then you have got social services being pushed to the limit trying to accommodate people, and a lot of care homes are closing down, plus we’ve heard nightmare stories from some care homes about the care standards.

“The other thing that has come into play recently is issues around older people selling their house and buying an apartment in a managed property environment.

“But what people didn’t realise is when the old person dies and the family inherits the flat, the fees still have to be paid until the flat is sold.

“And the trouble is now the Government has doubled the rates on empty properties and that applies immediately to any of those flats.

“So what you’ve got now is families having the ongoing liabilities of maintenance costs and fees along with the double council tax.”