FAMILY FORTUNES

Your surprisingly asset-rich friend may have a secret: parents who are giving them cash, from rent money to a deposit for a house. Ellie Muir examines a modern financial phenomenon

- Ellie Muir

Suzie Tullett hadn't anticipated having to help her children buy their first homes. But over the past five years, romcom author Tullett and her ex-police-officer husband have transferred tens of thousands of pounds to their two thirtysomething sons.

When their younger son was struggling to save for a house amid soaring rental costs, the Tulletts sold their Yorkshire family home to him for less than the market value. He was transferred the majority equity in the property, and left with only the solicitor's fees and a small mortgage to pay off. Their elder son was given £20,000 towards a first-time-buyer deposit.

The couple now live full-time in their second home in southern France. Tullett, 55, understands that they were fortunate to be in a position to help their sons, thanks to their dual home ownership and her husband's police pension, but it wasn't something they had saved up for.

"At the time, interest rates were peaking, the cost of living was getting higher, and we thought, 'We're gonna have to step in,'" she says. "We said we'd stay in the south of France, for our younger son and his family to be able to get a nice property in a nice area without being burdened with a hefty mortgage or having to save up 10 per cent for a deposit." While they could afford to help, she admits the decision has "limited" her and her husband's future finances.

This is the modern conundrum of the bank of mum and dad, when parental financial assistance is, realistically, the only means for a modern young person to get on the property ladder (unless they win an Omaze house, that is). Wealthy parents have always helped their children out, but in 2025 - a time when soaring rental costs make it near impossible to save for a deposit - parental assistance has never been so prevalent, and not just among those with aristocratic surnames or Eton on their curriculum vitae.