Sell the house? Never!

Clearing the field is out of the question for you, you want to grow old in your own four walls. Find out how you can bring life back into your home here...

Children and teenagers in the house bring unrest and hustle and bustle, they fill the house with noise and music. Sometimes perhaps too much, but at the latest when the offspring have moved out, you wish for a bit of everything back, because the big house only brings emptiness and silence. Moving out of the house is not an option for you, you are physically fit and want to grow old within your own four walls. What possibilities are there to bring life back into the place?

A house with a living space of 150 square metres or more is often too big for 1 to 2 people. Some rooms are used little or not at all, but still have to be heated and maintained, which costs money, energy and time. One way to sensibly reduce the living space is to partition off a separate flat. This can be an entire floor or just a room with a bathroom and kitchenette. It is important that each flat has a bathroom and a kitchen or kitchenette and its own access. In addition to a separate water and electricity meter, it is also advisable to keep and bill the heating costs separately, even if it is not mandatory. This keeps everyone on the safe side and prevents disagreements between tenant and landlord.
The apportionment of other operating costs should be stipulated in the contract, as should the tenant's possible participation in house and garden maintenance. Houses that have 2 full floors can often be divided into 2 flats on one floor each with only a few conversion measures. The flats are accessible via the staircase and secured with a lockable front door. In some cases it is not possible to separate the staircase from the ground floor flat, in which case an external staircase can provide access to the upper floor flat.
If the floor plan is suitable, a granny flat can be created in family houses and bungalows. One or more rooms with cooking facilities and bathroom are separated and form a self-contained living unit within the dwelling house, subordinate to the main dwelling. It must have its own lockable access so that it can be used independently of the main house.

Not every house can be easily converted into 2 independent flats, so permanently renting out a flat is often not an option. However, especially in larger cities, there are various alternatives for renting out living space. For example, individual rooms can be made available to students, interns or young professionals during their probationary period. If the house has 2 bathrooms, one can be left to the tenants. The rooms are equipped with, for example, a small fridge and a coffee maker and are rented out without the use of a kitchen.

The tenancy is limited to several weeks, maybe even months, and is aimed at people who are either only in town for a short time or who want to find a suitable flat without pressure. Through cooperation with local companies and universities, trainees, young professionals and students can be placed, whom you can trust as a landlord. Some organisations have specialised in precisely this market niche, offering accommodation and inviting people on their internet portals. These can be friends, acquaintances or people with the same interests, for example; a network is established and constantly expanded through new contacts and friends of friends. Not only do you have the possibility to offer accommodation, but you can also use the accommodation of your network. This way you can offer a roof over your head to travellers who want to explore your city, and explore Germany and the world yourself.

If you want to keep meeting new people and don't mind the extra effort, renting a room with or without breakfast is a good alternative for you. One or more rooms equipped with bed linen and towels are rented out for a few nights, and you can prepare breakfast for your guests as desired. This offer is particularly attractive in large cities or holiday regions. The internet platform Airbnb works similarly, where you can offer free living space and book unique accommodation worldwide, but without breakfast. Your listing must have a certain basic equipment, which includes, for example, bed linen, working locks and basic bathroom facilities. Airbnb verifies personal profiles and listings to ensure trust and safety.

Those who are dependent on help in the house or garden will appreciate the "living against help" model. In these shared flats with rent reduction, mainly students take on household or garden tasks and, depending on the extent of the work, pay less or no rent or are even paid extra. As a rule of thumb for this concept, one hour of work is done per square metre of occupied living space per month. For a 15 square metre room, this means 15 hours of work per month. Typical work includes mowing the lawn, shopping or cooking; nursing and medical work are excluded. Many student unions mediate in this model and advise both parties to the contract.

If you are dependent on nursing and medical services but do not want to move out of your home, 24-hour caregivers are a good alternative. Trained professionals, mostly from Eastern Europe, live in the house for a certain period of time and take over basic care as well as household chores. Various agencies take care of the communication with the caring relatives in Germany and send the specialist. When selecting the organisation, it is important to pay attention to its seriousness and compliance with the legal basis. 24-hour care workers also have fixed working, rest and stand-by times. The costs for a seconded full-time caregiver are between 2,000 and 5,000 euros per month, depending on the care and support required.

The departure of adult children often leaves a spatial void in the house, but there are various ways to fill the place with life again. The creation of a second or granny flat in the house is suitable for long-term rental, individual rooms can be rented out in the medium term to students, interns or young professionals. Those who are not afraid of frequent changes of guests can offer rooms by the night with breakfast or via platforms such as Airbnb.
In the "living in exchange for help" model, which is particularly popular with students, the rental costs are compensated with light work in the garden or household. For people in need of care, a 24-hour caregiver is a good alternative; the professional, usually from Eastern Europe, is sent via a placement agency and lives in the house for a certain period of time.