To think that 60k is a lot of money to earn a year?!

[MinkSlink]

I think it is a lot of money to earn per year but it seems a lot of people on mumsnet don't think so, am I in the piss poor minority here or what?!

Sock

In the private rental sector, a landlord charging £1473.33 pcm would expect a gross salary of around £55k. So someone in middle management, an associate in a law firm, one rung below consultant for a doctor.

Housing benefit inflates private sector rents.

I consider anyone who has a mortgage, two nice cars, lovely decorated house and holidays as rich. Comfortable to some.... Rich in my eyes

kensington
do remember that the majority of HB claimants are IN WORK.

The benefits system is subsidising Landlords who bought houses on the cheap years ago and have ramped up their income to match the sale prices of houses, regardless of their actual costs.

regnamechange
quite true
I keep reminding my DCs that we are comparatively very well off, even if the area is pants. And neither of us declares an income of £60k

My son, in his first job earns £24K in London but can't afford to live there.

Presumably you mean he can't afford his own flat. Plenty of people earning far less than that afford to live in London in rented houseshares.

even if your post code was SW1A 1AA

the maximun rent hb would pay is 1473. a month if your actual requirements were for 3 rooms.

same postcode for..
1 room= 535. a month
2 rooms=1256. a month

for the record,that post code happens to be buckingham palace.

I think many people live in such a bubble they can't imagine possibly living on less than £20k for a family of 4 for example, in rented or council rented accommodation struggling to make ends meet and choosing between eating or heating.

I am lucky that is not my situation. I do not however earn anywhere near £60k.

I had a friend once who drove me absolutely crazy... she was going on about wanting to get a bin for the kitchen that cost less than £100 ... I suggested Tesco and she dismissed my idea as it wasnt to her standards.

Some people have a food budget of less than £100 a month. And she's talking about a fucking bin. Needless to say that and other issues ... we arent friends anymore.

East Molesey is in Surrey. It's not a suburb of London, it's a different bloody county.

Sock I'm not too keen on the benefit claimants living in Buckingham Palace either but that's one for another thread .

You still haven't persuaded me that £1473 isn't a staggeringly generous amount of money to have paid towards your living costs. Housing benefits create a false floor for rents in London and as a result, the rest of us have to find more money to pay our own rent, and subsidise those of others.

i didnt say thats what the ll would charge, i said thats the apsolute max hb would pay to a private ll.

the rents are inflated just as much for hb claiments as they are to none claiments.

it is a silly sum to be charged for rent however the sum gets paid.

fairy your attitude towards your friend seems childish to put it mildly. She can spend £300 on a bin! Who cares?! We should not be comparing like this. And you don't have to downplay if you are rich. Why should you?

Its ludicrous to suggest that house prices and rents have got out of hand from the bottom up.

Its all your mates on their city salaries and the mega rich foreigners buying second homes who have skewed London house prices so much further out of line, Kensington.

It's not the HB that's the problem. It's the landlords.

I don't for into any of your categories, but as I said above we have about £60k pa and it's plenty. Although we live in zone 5, so that probably would not meet with your standards.

What should the people on HB do? They could move further out to cheaper accommodation, and then they wouldn't be able to afford their commute.

"We should not be comparing like this."

What is this thread about then?

Kensington It really depends on what your expectations are. We used to live in Chelsea, then we decided that we wanted a house in a garden. We moved further out, not zone 1 to 3. I still think £60k is still a lot of money. Also, sounds like you and dh earn in the top 1% of households (if you earn a 6 figure sum). I don't understand your focus on the very small minority who milk the benefits system.

"All your mates on their city salaries".

Um, projecting much? I don't have any mates in the city. Or know any foreigners with second homes in Notting Hill.

But all I need to do to find two HB claimants living in an £800k house is look outside my window right this second.

The bin thing is kind of interesting. I've said things like that in the past. My reasoning would that £100 is a lot to spend on a bin, but just because I don't want to spend that doesn't mean I'm happy with something I don't want to look at (since I can choose and since there are nice things available at all prices). So the Tesco reply would be on the basis of aesthetics and nothing to do with it not costing enough for me.

I'd be really nonplussed by that sort of reaction to be honest.

But that's the whole point isn't it. Comparing like this.

How can someone argue £100 on a bin isn't a lot of money when some people don't have £100 a month or whatever for food.... its a ridiculous argument and exactly the same notion as this thread. Not childish at all.

Those who say that they are struggling because they pay high mortgage for a 4 bed in expensive area in london, surely the rent in your area should be very high too.
Which means you can rent out one room. Instant cash.

Families in a 2 bed flat or in a village cant do this.

Incidentally I don't care what people spend their money on. Even £300 bins. Its the principle.

Oh you actually revolt me Kensington.

I live in a terraced house. On one side I have a retired nursery nurse renting from a Housing Association as she has done for 30+ years.

On the other side I have a couple in their early 30s who drive a Jag.

What is wrong with that? You actually sound jealous of the people on housing benefit. How freaky is that?

minty, I have know. People to spend £200 on bags on salaries of £30k. I am on waaaay above 60k but would think twice about a bag costing £100 let alone 200. It depends on what your priority is. It's how you live. I have met very very rich people with holes in their clothes and ASDA value food. I have met very very poor people who spend their money at the pub or bars every Friday night.
That's why it's not good to compare.

those hb claiments living in the 800k house will still not be reciving any more than 1473 a month towards it (and thats the max amount so if they also work as 9 out of 10 hb claiments do they probally wont even get that much)

But fairylea your friend wanted one that cost less than that, so obviously she thought that was too much too (and she's right IMO).
I don't follow your logic.

People have what they have, and within that, they are allowed to discuss their choices. A bin is a necessity, it's not like she was complaining about the price of champagne this year. If we all constantly considered that most people have less than us then we would all - every one of us in this country - be consumed with abject horror and guilt at the plight of literally billions of people.

Not the same as not being aware, but give her a break, she just wanted a half-decent bin!

kensington
What would you do? Socially clense Central London so there are no more HB claimants? Where we live, a lot of the HA buy street properties because there is very little land for new build (LB of Westminster). The most basic 2 bed flat in our area would be £250K but average would start at £350-450K. So there are families that may be overcrowded but in two bed flats that cost the best part of half a million because that is what the HA properties are worth. There isn't somewhere cheaper to put the social housing tenants unless you want to chuck them out of Central London completely. For info, I think this would be a bad thing!