If I could I'd scream in the PM's face....

[mamafridi]

ARE YOU TRYING TO SEND ME OUT ONTO THE STREETS?!!!!

I have had ENOUGH!

I sold up and moved to the UK (London) to be near family. I am in my early forties and me, my husband and DD are stuck in a small flat paying an outrageously high rent while my husband commutes into central London (another horrific expense) to a job that barely pays the rent so all house bills, council tax, food, etc are deducted from our savings (precious money from the sale of our home). We have no chance of getting a big enough mortgage to help us buy a place big enough to live in and if I work full time too we would have to pay the stratospheric fees for nursery.

I can't believe that anyone in government, especially Cameron, Clegg, Osborne, can continue to make things so hard for so many struggling, hardworking, people like us and then on top of that say that it is actually helping Britain's economy and getting it out of the financial mess it's apparently in.

Are you suffering similar difficulties? What are they? Is there anything we can do to make life easier? Is there a solution or do we simply resign ourselves to life on the streets sometime in the near future.

Am I being unreasonable? Please tell me that I'm not...

I don't think it's acceptable HolyFool but it is a fact of life and looks like the biggest reason why this OP is finding it so tough. I think it's terrible its so expensive to live in London but in this case, they don't have to.

I also suspect the fact they've been out of the UK and have substantial savings means they won't qualify for social housing which I think is a really important part of the London 'mix'.

What do you want the PM to do, increase taxes on the rest of us so the Government can bail you out of your poor planning decisions. You have made a series of poor decisions none of which could be blamed on the Government and so you will have to find a way to rectify the situation.

Wilson it is basically impossible to get a council house in London whatever your pay packet. I was unemployed, signed off with health problems, on the verge of being made homeless and I still didn't qualify.

Do the people who are asking why they moved to a more expensive area realise that there are far less jobs in other parts of the country? South East England is more expensive, but you're more likely to find a job.

What do you expect people to do? Buy or rent a dirt cheap house were they're lucky if they can find a minimum wage temping job?

Sorry, but this is down to you, not the PM - or anyone else.
That's the harsh truth.

Okay you have clearly posted in an angry and outraged mood it is oversimplifying matters to blame the government though. What do you want from MN? We can agree that it is awful that you are struggling, agree you are not alone, join in a "Against this sort of thing" vague campaign which will acheive what exactly?

Most are offering alternatives to try to resolve your immediate issues and questioning your dramatic claim about being made homeless. If you are then it would appear to be intentional, longer journeys to visit scattered family is the norm these days. It takes 5-6 hours and four trains to get to mine! Dh commutes 3 hours a day to work in London, your dilemma is a common one.

People being excluded from cities by high rents and lack of social/affordable housing is due to decisions made decades ago to create a home owning democracy and then with people using their house as savings and equity, while buying a rental property for additional income. So the prospect of dropping house prices causes consternation amongst the home owning londoners even while they recognise that it may mean little (35 yo!) Jonny may finally be able to buy his own place!

It isn't the PM's fault, but something really should be done about the cost of housing and all the buy to let landlords.

Lower-income working people have every right to live in London too. I lived there for years, and my family are all East End working class. There appears to be a kind of "social cleansing" taking place, which will lead to London becoming a shell of its former self in terms of social mix and vibrancy.

Certainly, this is a problem that has been building up for decades, so you can't just lay it at the feet of the current government. However, the fact that it has now become so critical and that they're not even acknowledging it as a problem speaks volumes.

But would anyone really expect this government to give a shit that poorer people are being forced to live London? They don't like poor people ffs, why would they want to see them around?

Live = leave

If there were no lower income working people in London they would have no warehouses workers, the food wouldn't get to the shops and there would be no refuse collection. What about cleaners and admin assistant jobs?

These are all low paid, low status and thankless jobs, but society needs people to do them.

"Not sure who's meant to empty the bins/scrub the toilets for these people "

Whoever will do it for the pay offered, which if there were ever a shortage of such people, would have to increase until someone was willing to do it.

Housing subsidies is the kind of economic thinking that made the Soviet Union the success it is today.

I don't get why people feel they have the right to live where they want, I would rather live in a different area to where I currently live but I can't afford to so I can't.

It does get easier. I think the pre school years are financially tough. Either you aren't working or you are but then paying a great deal in childcare. My two are at school now so childcare bills are alot less. We live in zone 4 (or it maybe 5 not sure) and DH travels into town. My job is local so relatively small costs. Throughout the pre school years we made ends meet. I didn't work for a few years, then worked part time. We only paid the interest on our mortgage for 3 years. We now overpay to make up for that time though but we did what we had to. We weren't eligible for anything but had a ;arge mortgage. Are you claiming everything you are eligible for? There is a site called entitledto which is good. Although you have savings say you may not qualify.

To answer your question YANBU to feel hard done by when you are struggling so much but YABU in a way as what else did you expect? This is an expensive place to live and that should have been factored in once you knew what you would be earning. Although I do think sometimes you won't know the full details until you are actually in the situation. Your child will qualify for 15 hours a week of childcare from 3. That was a real help for us to lower nursery bills. Can you/do you work?

molpa do you really think it's fair that only the rich can afford to live in London these days?

I am a teacher, my partner is a journalist, we have no children: we are barely able to afford living in London. Personally I think it's ludicrous that two people working full time in middle class jobs can't afford to live in our capital.

That sent before I had fininshed. Yes the current government is responsible for the changes in welfare but how does that relate to your situation? You say you want to scream in the PMs face so what exactly is it that he/his government have done that drectly changes your situation?

I think the truth is London is a very expensive place to live. Housing is ridiculously expensive which is why most people move and then commute in. I would love to live in zone 1/2 but couldn't afford it. Equally someone else would liek to live where I am but can't and so it goes on. You cut your cloth to suit and all that. Tis life.

I don't think its particularly unfair no, you have to live in a house that you can afford. If that means moving away from a particular area then so be it. It certainly isn't the Governments job to be intervening and presumably using welfare to allow people to do so.

molpa it is the government's fault in the first place for selling off all the council housing (and continuing to do so, despite shortages.)

The idea that selling council houses has caused an increase in housing prices is a myth that is often said but is frankly absolute nonsense. If you want to look for the reason why house prices are so high you should look at interest rates and the availability of credit in the period 1997-2007. None of which can be put at the door of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, George Osborne or any other member of the current Government.

I agree with bigmouthstrikesagain (I cannot do bold for some reason). This is a historical problem started by the idea that we should be able to own our own house. Council houses went up for sale and weren't replaced and house prices have rocketed. The only answer is a hige drop in the housing market which I cannot see happening across the whole UK as there are too many people with mortgages that would soon be in negative equity in a huge way. Having housing people can't afford or hige swathes of people in negative equity. Neither are the answer. Better would be for house prices to just sit tight for a decade to allow salaries time to catch up. As I said I am in zone 4/5 andthe house prices keep going up despite everything happening. We bought in 2005 and it's now worth 50% more than we paid for it despite all that's happened. Its crazy.

Also agree with molpa re: credit.It was scary to think how easy it was to get credit.

molpa I'm not talking about the current government, necessarily, althought they're the only ones who can change policy at the moment. And I'm not talking about house prices, I'm talking about renting: the likelihood of me ever being able to buy a house is about 0.00000000001%.

I am not claiming to have any knowledge of the workings of government, but if anyone knows the answer to the following questions and can tell me whether the government has any say in them I would be really grateful.

• why is it that someone living in a property worth thousands or millions more than the flat in the block I live in pay the same amount of council tax?

• Stamp duty is 1 percent if the property is 250K or under, but to find a flat with 2 bedrooms is very difficult in greater London but what could a person buy for that in another part of UK? Stamp duty rises to 3 percent if a property is over the 250K band which is what many two bed flats cost in outer london which makes it impossible to even think of affording a property at all.

• Commuters now are charged £10 a month more to be able to get to work, and that is where we live which is an hour's commute (over £2000 per annum) If we lived further out it would cost even more to get into London.

• London is where my family live, I came to be closer to them after spending years far away from them so why would I want to move 3 hours out of London?

• London needs people like me and my husband just as much as we need London for work, so why is it so damned difficult to live here?

I would love to move and live in London, but I can't, because I can't afford it. That's how it works, I'm afraid. What do you expect?!

mamafridi, it's not unreasonable to want to live near to where you work or to not spend £2K + per year on commuting.

London is expensive, but it's swings and roundabouts. We could have better jobs and earn more if we lived in London, but housing costs would be higher. On the other hand, you're lucky to find a min wage job in some parts of the country, but housing is very cheap.

Both are shitty situations really.

mamafridi
I've just found 34 2 bed flats within a mile of Northolt tube (Central line Zone 5) that are under £250K so there are options in outer London even if they are not your first choice.

No one has said you have to move 3 hours out of London, people were simply saying that if you can't afford to live where you are then you have to look at your options. Mainline train services are quick (if overcrowded) My parents lived less than 3hrs out of London and that was South Wales!