Living in London on a low income/benefits

[panacheofveg]

Apologies for yet another London thread 😬. I absolutely love London, it would be my dream to live there, we visit as much as possible... but....financially I don't see how it would be possible. The other thread seems to be full of home owners who all live on the edge of one of the Royal parks, regularly visit the theatre, eat out often and enjoy what seems to be the lovely side of London.
Surely there must be a flip side? Last time I was there I got chatting to one of the housekeeping ladies and she has 3 teens, works in the hotel and her husband is a food delivery man. How on earth would a family like that survive? She also said she lives 10 minutes walking distance from Paddington Station, so not a cheap area either.
Does everyone get housing benefit? Is it easy to find a rental that accepts housing benefit? What is it like to live in a council estate with huge high rises? Are they generally safe? My understanding is that it takes years on waiting lists to get council/social housing, so what is the temporary accommodation like?
I'm assuming that those on low incomes aren't regularly visiting the theatre and eating in Borough Market, so is London living on a low income still so great?

[panacheofveg]

@THisbackwithavengeance does UC cover all of the rent though? Does anyone know what the maximum housing benefit is per month in zone 1-3?

[Greenfairydust]

''@Handsnotwands

I dunno. Once housing costs are accounted for London seems like it could be ok on a limited budget. Transport is super cheap, like really cheap. Supermarkets / utilities / clothes etc cost the same wherever you are. There’s a load of interesting but cheap places to eat. Council tax is considerably less in lots of boroughs. There’s loads of free stuff to do. Very different to being poor in, say the West Country where a bus to the next town is £9 and the only place to eat for miles around is a pub where it’s £18 for fish and chips

my sister in London pays much less for her kids activities than we do, I guess because there is more choice and competition. Our one gymnastics club is 15 miles away and twice the cost of hers.''


Hey?

I lived in London for 30 years.

There is nothing ''super cheap'' about the tube/trains in London. It has one of the most expensive transport system in the world...

Once you add up housing costs (private rents are extortionate), transport costs and council tax/bills, there is little left to spend if you are on a low income.

The fact that you can access some lovely free museums, parks and galleries does not mean that it is easy to live there on a low income.

[anexcellentwoman]

Some of the poshest areas of london have the most social housing. I think most of the area around Covent Garden is social housing.Many of them are pretty, low rise buildings.
A very famous London social housing 'estate' is the Brunswick Centre near Bloomsbury and Russell Square, it is grade 2 listed, full of shops and near the Museums
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Centre
I think many of the new housing units at Kings Cross are Housing Association. However, I think social housing tenants only had to live in one for five years before they had the right to buy it and many have now been sold individually for over a million each. so they pass into private hands. Ditto the Brunswick Centre.

[DelphiniumBlue]

Well it's all very fine if you are already in social housing. The chances of being allocated social housing now are very low, priority need only in all London boroughs and even then it's a wait of years, possibly in dreadful temporary accommodation.
Some of the social housing is in really terrible condition, think damp, mould, vermin etc.

[SquashPenguin]

I lived in London on £30k and it was pretty crap to be honest. Rent was insane- £1600 for a tiny 1 bed flat in z3. I lived in a few different houseshares, and it was fun for a bit, but you can’t live like that forever. £750pcm for just a room and that was the cheaper end of the scale.

[THisbackwithavengeance]

London is an excellent place to be poor. I disagree with those who say it's difficult.

If you're rich you can afford the £stupid rents and house prices. If you're poor you get to live in a zone 1-3 council flat and UC will cover the rent.

The people who suffer in London are the squeezed middles on average incomes who don't qualify for benefits or council accommodation and can't afford the ridiculous rents.

I personally know large families in London with only one working person on a low income (think takeaway assistant or chef in a cafe) who live in large and lovely HA flats in places like Angel Islington or Crouch Hill with their rents covered by UC. What's not to like?

[panacheofveg]

What are the council estates like in London? Are they safe?

[Beezknees]

A lot of low income families probably live in council housing there, the LHA will probably be high so they can get some housing benefit.

My friend lives there and is a teacher, he's single and child free. Lives in a house share.

I'd like to live in London in the future. I live in a council flat in the midlands so it's possible I could do a home swap at some point if anyone wanted to move out of London, but I'd have to look at areas carefully. I'll be downsizing when DS leaves home so that could open up possibilities for somebody wanting a bigger space.

[Handsnotwands]

I dunno. Once housing costs are accounted for London seems like it could be ok on a limited budget. Transport is super cheap, like really cheap. Supermarkets / utilities / clothes etc cost the same wherever you are. There’s a load of interesting but cheap places to eat. Council tax is considerably less in lots of boroughs. There’s loads of free stuff to do. Very different to being poor in, say the West Country where a bus to the next town is £9 and the only place to eat for miles around is a pub where it’s £18 for fish and chips

my sister in London pays much less for her kids activities than we do, I guess because there is more choice and competition. Our one gymnastics club is 15 miles away and twice the cost of hers.

[MrsDanversGlidesAgain]

@JorisBonson

Zone 5*

Zone 5 is practically rural on MN. The horror of it taking nearly an hour to get to the centre of things! 😫

[SpinningFloppa]

@sashagabadon

I agree with the pp that said there is tonnes of social housing in london. Not saying it is easy to get but there is a lot of it. Majority of roads even in posh areas like Notting Hill or Chelsea will have social housing. Many years ago I worked for a social housing landlord. It seemed to own half of Notting Hill! There were streets in Earl’s Court that were owned almost entirely by them.

Yep my ex has a 3 bed HA property in Notting Hill. I was really surprised but it was given to him after his mum died.

[sashagabadon]

Yes very secure. Mostly assured tenancies which are basically life time tenancies and you even get succession rights ( one succession) so could pass on to your children ( assuming they live with you which is highly likely in london)

[panacheofveg]

@sashagabadon I suppose the 'problem' is that understandably no one wants to leave their SH properties, and if no new stock is bought then those properties are no use to the younger generation. Do SH properties have lifetime tenancies? Or are there restrictions?

[sashagabadon]

I agree with the pp that said there is tonnes of social housing in london. Not saying it is easy to get but there is a lot of it. Majority of roads even in posh areas like Notting Hill or Chelsea will have social housing. Many years ago I worked for a social housing landlord. It seemed to own half of Notting Hill! There were streets in Earl’s Court that were owned almost entirely by them.

[LennyThePenny]

There are still places for sale around me in the 3 -400 bracket (zone 3) but people don't want to live above a shop or beside the tube building in the less pretty parts.

[kitsuneghost]

@3WildOnes

We have a household income between 50-150k and live a lovely life in London.

Do you rent or gave you bought?
If bought have you had your house a while? What are your mortgage payments?

I only ask because we are looking and even at 50% deposit we are looking at 2.5k a month.

[BluebellBlueballs]

@Aixellency

London is a horrible place to be poor. Huge, and you’ll spend half your life underground, or either squashed on a bus that takes a hundred years to get anywhere, or squashed under the wheels of a lorry on your always about to be stolen bike. The money it costs to get through every day will make you feel physically ill. And then you’ll have extreme wealth shoved in your face every single minute of the day.

Honestly, don’t do it. If you must live in a capital city on an extremely limited budget - choose Edinburgh. You can walk everywhere, everything feels less stressful, Hyde Park can’t hold a candle to Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat. It always feels as if a greater proportion of available fun is free or almost free.

Or find a way to escape England. The inequality here is beyond shameful and makes for a very poor quality of life for the majority.

Going back a few years now, but my first job after graduation was in Edinburgh, not great pay as I was training but still had a great time and don't remember suffering too much from being unable to afford stuff. Its a beautiful city.

[JorisBonson]

Zone 5*

[JorisBonson]

@panacheofveg

Thanks for all of the replies. It seems London is only a great place to live if you have money 🥺

London is massive. I lived centrally in my 20s on a low salary but made it work through flat shares. Now I live in zone, with a mortgage, and can still get easily to the eating / drinking / cultural stuff I want to go to.

Finding this thread strange given that London is more that central.

[panacheofveg]

Thanks for all of the replies. It seems London is only a great place to live if you have money 🥺

[Tangerinecream]

I lived in London as a single mum on benefits in the 2000s. I'm disabled so got extra money which helped, and my DD was also eventually diagnosed with SN so I also got extra benefits for her. We were prioritised for a council flat as I had social workers involved, so waited about 7 months before getting one, about 7 mins walk to a zone 1 station, so travel costs were minimal. It was a 2 bed flat for me and my DD, so it wasnt big but not overcrowded. Bills were low due to being in a flat, and got 50% off water bills due to disability.

We ended up going to the theatre quite a bit as there was a scheme where disadvaged families could get tickets for free or heavily discounted. Went to the galleries and museums a lot, and made the most of free admission for carers in certain venues including cinema and theme parks. Cheap swimming and other leisure centre activities as they did a cheaper rate for people on benefits. Used to eat out using Tesco vouchers. I'd shop around a lot for groceries and batch cook as I had that free time during school hours.

Would be a lot harder without the help from social housing, being busy working long hours and none of the discounted rates. Plus the benefits system is harder now (am still getting disability benefits but not reliant on means-tested benefits now). Not sure I'd advise anyone to move here, if on a low income.

[Inject]

London is very hard for poor people. Don't move. Move to a nearby county to take advantage of what London has to offer in terms of arts and culture. Milton Keynes / Luton / Buckinghamshire. Although, you need to research these areas well too. There are horrible areas and schools in London. It costs a lot to live a safe and normal life to say what it does in the Midlands or further up north. Also, the poorer areas have a lot of pollution. Even Greater London has the same issues. We are renting in St. Albans at the moment. Looking to move to the Surrey area. This is as near to London I am prepared to live unless I was a multi millionaire. It is more multicultural which is good for me anyway and it has more to offer in terms of private schools. I was asking my husband how do low wage people survive London, he said the cleaners, cooks, admin staff at his workplace tend to live in Greater London, South London, Kent. No idea what life is like for them on a day to day basis. The travel costs - I can't imagine much is left over at the end of the month. A distance cousin was paying £4k a month in rent to live in the borough of Chelsea to live in a nice area and be by what she believed people like herself, luckily she came to her senses and moved to Guildford. Stupid rent to live in London. If you can't afford it don't do it.

[octoberafternoons]

The people I know here who seem to be doing OK even on average incomes and live in lovely areas are slightly older and bought their homes 20-30 years ago when it was still possible to buy somewhere nice at a reasonable price. The rest of us live on the outskirts and spend an hour or more commuting to work and everywhere else really. I was able to buy because one of my parents died when I was young and left me money but I'm now stuck living in my current home in zone 4 - I couldn't even afford a 1 bed flat more centrally. I've considered leaving London but currently I have more opportunities here career-wise.

[MrsWombat]

Forgot to say, we work locally, and walk/quick drive in.

[BlackBarbies]

@Florissant

The law related to advertising, not renting.

Did I say the law related to renting? No. You said you didn’t know what law the OP was speaking about so all I did was tell you. There’s clearly a misunderstanding on the law on OP’s part but you don’t need to have attitude when responding. My God I should have just kept my mouth shut