to think you have to be either rich or poor to live in London?

[manicinsomniac]

After another fantastic day in London yesterday I'm in one of regular 'boo hoo hoo, I want to live in London and I'll never be able to' moods.

Please tell me it's possible. Is there anybody in the middle income bracket living there?? (I know logically there must be!) Please tell me how you do it!!

I'm a single parent of 3 children and earn too much to get HB or WTC. There's no way I could pay more than 800 in rent and I'd need a 3 bed house in order not to be squashing my children in for my own selfish reasons (I'd put us all in a 1 bed to be in London if they weren't actual real people!! )

Ugh, it sounds even worse written down - it's not going to happen is it :(

Maybe if I save for a deposit to buy a London house instead of a reasonably priced one then I can eventually become a cool child-free Granny living it up in the capital!

I'm mainly just on a bit of a lighthearted but totally jealous of all you Londoners rant but, on a serious note - is there a danger of our capital city becoming completely out of reach to the majority? Has it happened already?

Most people I know who live there are either very wealthy or single people in houseshares

[NigellasDealer]

sorry but it is not a 'nice area'

[TucsonGirl]

But it lists both the weekly and monthly rates. I am sure it is wrong as that would be ridiculously cheap for a 3 bed flat like that round here, let alone in London.

[SockQueen]

DH and I are on a fairly good income, but we're moving out in order to be able to afford a bigger place and better standard of living. If we scrimped and saved we might be able to afford a flat or tiny house somewhere not-too-awful or niceish but a long way from any tube/train connections. Fortunately my job can be done almost anywhere for nearly the same money, and he has an interview next week for a really good post in nearly the same field as he currently works in.

I grew up in a fairly rural place and would want any children we may have to do the same. We have been in London 5 years and it's been a great experience but for me the cost/lifestyle considerations are bigger than the advantages of being here.

[GotMyGoat]

Sometimes, to cheer me up I look at the massive mansions I could afford somewhere like Redruth or outer Hull.

It must be amazing to be a home owner in London and then move out with all that amazing equity!

[FidelineandFumblin]

Look at the deposit being requested Tuscon -it doesn't tally with the rent. I suspect they have missed a '1' off the beginning of the monthly rent.

[NigellasDealer]

but the weekly and the monthly rents do tally....odd
wouldnt want to live there anyway tbh, not with teenagers.

[FidelineandFumblin]

but the weekly and the monthly rents do tally....odd

I think the listing software does that automatically.

[Melty]

Nope. It's def a mistake. The deposit asked for is £3300, which is normally about 6 weeks rent. And its not that nice an area to live in, certainly not for families with small kids.

My rent is 750 per month for a 1 bed. but it was subsidised as a key worker flat.

I'm about to change jobs so I have to leave the flat, and I am looking at not getting much change out of a grand for a 1 bed, in a nice ish area. I wanted to change jobs for a long time, but as I would very likely have to move out of current working area, and hence lose the flat, I had to try for a job with a significant increase in salary. But I won't be any better off as it will all go on rent.

[beccajoh]

I don't understand how that Rotherhithe flat can be that cheap - definitely a typo. You pay that much for a room in a shared house in Tottenham. You defo wouldn't want to live there unless you had to.

I loved London when I was pre-kids. I do still love it (live about two miles from the GLA as the crow flies now) but I wouldn't want to live there with my kids, mainly because the place I want to live with small children is very different to where I was happy to live as a DINKY.

We left with a decent wedge of equity, though, which made things easier! DH bought before prices went super crazy, and when he sold we had three asking price offers in two days. Bonkers.

[NigellasDealer]

they cannot afford them now iseenyou they are often subsidised or paid by HB. or as you say people share.

[TitusFlavius]

Housing benefit, Iseenyou - which is why I get so cross at much of the debate around welfare payments. Not only are most of the people getting welfare benefits in work, most of that money isn't going to them at all, but to greedy landlords.

[Pipbin]

Sell the children. Then you can afford to buy and not worry about schools.
Problem solved.

[BunsnRosess]

I get HB but didn't tell my landlords. But DH works. It is very hard to rent even if you think you can afford it, though luckily we got a nice agent. You have to earn 3 x the annual rent. Which is a lot. So we managed to blag it and get a flat and then claim housing benfeit after. We'll be screwed if we have to move unless we find a decent agent who wouldn't ask for this ridiculous amount. Although in the past we've had guarantors.

[TitusFlavius]

My god, Iseenyou, yes, private landlords do take tenants with HB, and make an absolute mint from it, in a way that I personally think is often very corrupt.

If you go through an agency, many of those don't take HB tenants, so maybe that's where the confusion comes from, but plenty of council provision is provided through private landlords.

[NigellasDealer]

www.dssmove.co.uk/

or you just dont tell them I suppose

[ManWithNoName]

Its always been the same in London.

I lived in Pimlico in a garden square and used to earn a lot of money. and my sister lived on benefits in South London.

Me and DW always said we would either live in the centre of London of not live there at all if we could not afford it. Our old flat that we used to rent just sold for £3.5 million.

My sister still lives there on benefits. We moved hundreds of miles away and just bought a house.

[FraidyCat]

I suspect they have missed a '1' off the beginning of the monthly rent.

I was going to right that I agree with you, as I though £550 a week was a bit to high for that area. (It's near me, so somewhat familiar.) I then searched Rightmove for 3-bedroom properties within a quarter mile of that, the median rent is about £580 a week. So think it is another case of weekly rent posted as monthly.

[FraidyCat]

write not right!

[writtenguarantee]

Is it that more people are sharing less space, so clubbing together to pay the rent? Though rules on overcrowding should prevent that beyond a certain point - so unless there was a lot of under occupation in rented property previously, that would not be the explanation. Or are people spending a much higher proportion of their income on rent than, say, in the 1990s or 2000s? Either way rents cannot continue indefinitely to rise faster than average wages can they - because people simply will not be able to afford to pay them?

a lot places now rent without living room because the landlord has turned that into an extra bedroom. yeah, i think people are just getting less space for more money.

[FidelineandFumblin]

within a quarter mile of that, the median rent is about £580 a week.

Blimey, it gets worse and worse. Makes sense though as the 3300 deposit is then 6 weeks rent.

[QuintessentiallyQS]

I think many of the people in London living in big expensive houses in well established "posh" neighbourhoods have inherited the family home. They may not have mahoosive salaries, but have not got mortgages either. I dont think it is rare to find second or third generation in a large house. Many of the nice houses are also council homes. As a newcomer to the city, you are not immediately going to be on top of the council list.

[NearTheWindymill]

I agree Quint. I know some. Not as straight forward as that because house swaps tend to be involved.