in wondering what this generation of enforced renters are going to do

[mustbetimeforacreamtea]

When they reach retirement and can't afford commercial rents on a pension? What happens then?

Bowler, I asked the same question about another figure upthread....

And yet only 2.7% of the country is built on. Sounds like 'plenty of space' to me. Do you really think that having 97.3% of the country being not built on is some kind of crisis?

Nomama do you think we are being ignored

you want to increase the population 5 times over?

No, I want to increase housing five times over, because as a population we are not adequately housed.

CRUIKSHANK - where are you getting that figure from?

No need to shout! It's from here:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096

and actually the figure I gave was wrong - it's only 2.27%.

Where will be grow food? Where will the jobs be for the 400 million people you are proposing to cram into these small islands? How are they going to get to work? What about all the polution, crime, disease etc caused by forcing people to live cheek by jowl in sardine like conditions? It'll be horrific.

Why would anyone want that for the future?

Ah ha! I found that one

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096

In England, "78.6% of urban areas is designated as natural rather than built". Since urban only covers a tenth of the country, this means that the proportion of England's landscape which is built on is…

… 2.27%.

painted you're not. Also, they're not going to put people in workhouses. That's just hysterical talk. The state pension might come at a later age because people are living longer. Fair enough.

Generation rent is going to be MASSIVE. They'll have to be looked after and provided for. It's going to take a lot of funding, but it's going to have to happen really.

And nomama, here is the article where got the figure from about the number of people affected by negative equity in the 1990s, which according to you was some kind of plague of biblical proportions:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-1862309

The Risk Outlook report stated: "According to the Bank of England, negative equity affected around 10.5 per cent of mortgaged households.

Thank you!

It's just shit. Unless you inherit; you're left floundering a bit while you try and negotiate saving a big enough deposit.

That isn't always true. I managed to save a deposit and get on the property ladder at a very young age as a single person. I didn't inherit any money, I saves it all myself. I had to pay board and lodgings to my mum whilst living at home but I pretty much saved every spare penny that I had. I bought a house that many other people would never have considered. It needed a lot of work and wasn't in the nicest area. I did the work little by little and made it into a nice home. I lived with dust and mess for almost a year as I could only afford to do one room at a time.
My cousin bought a nice new shiny flat as his first starter home. He also bought at quite a young age. He bought using a first time buyer scheme where he only had to put down 5% deposit and did a part buy thing where he 'owns' 75% of the flat and will buy the rest in stages when he can afford to do so.
Both my first property and my cousins property are properties that lots of other 1st time buyers would not have considered due to the area, the size, the amount of work required. But we both did it on our own and I have now moved into a better property.
Too many people want it all: a great social life and lots of holidays and a nice house in a nice area. Huge Sacrifices are often required to get on the property ladder rather than relying on an inheritance or windfall. I would be renting for the rest of my life if I had waited for an inheritance because neither of my parents have a penny to leave behind as they never bought property and spent every penny they had.

Where will the jobs be for the 400 million people you are proposing to cram into these small islands?

Err, I'm not planning on getting 400 million people in (and even if I was I'm not in #10 so you can rest easy) - I'm just saying that we need to build more houses for the population we have, and that we can, given that so much of the UK is not built on at all.

I don't see many people on this board trying to 'have it all'

I see a lot of people paying huge rents to shoddy landlords whilst trying to save.

Also; you had the option to lodge with your mum. Not everyone has that option.

I get page not found....

And I really don't think you are being fair there. I didn't say that, you did. I just said that I knew a lot of people who had lost their homes, and continued to discuss it with another as to why I may have had a different perspective to you.

I also explained that I wasn't talking about negative equity. I was referring to the massive rise in interest rates. THAT is what made it impossible for some to simply 'ride it out'. As I said, when interest got to just short of 18%, hiked from about 7% in about 2 years, some people simply could not afford to keep paying the mortgage (and you assertion that back then banks just wrote off the debt is not what I experienced either).

The money for a state pension will not be there. My partner bought a cheap flat in 2001 at 23 and then we sold that and used the equity as a deposit for our new place. I have no idea what we would have done otherwise.

My mother has transferred her house into myself and brothers names as she and my late father worked hard to buy a home for the family not to give the government. Since they both paid tax from age of 15 I think her care has been paid for many times over. My partners mothers house in in trust for him.

When my father became to ill to work after paying tax all his adult life the government gave him fuck all whereas the junkie down the street gets it all. Housing benefit, income support and disability. Therefore why the hell should they hand over anymore money should they need care?

It's a horrible situation and I'm glad I've just had luck in getting on the property ladder.

Also, a dooer upper takes money. All well and good if you've managed to save a deposit AND a building budget. Just saying because SO many people are plugging it as a solution and it's just not for everyone.

I don't know why it's not working, nomama, sorry - I must have fucked up with my copying and pasting. Here it is again:

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/mortgages/9954218/Negative-equity-2013-not-as-bad-as-1995.html

Just another thought -the 2.27% of the UK that is built on includes thousands of derelict properties. They are taking up urban space for no good reason, and I can't see why they aren't turned over to councils to either improve or demolish if necessary, and then build on again. Well, I guess I can see why that it's happening - in common with building council houses, it requires longer term planning. But the short-term approach is fucking us all up - even if you aren't a tenant, you are paying for the results of the thirty years of failed housing policy. Homelessness costs money. Temporary accommodation costs money. Tenants who work fulltime not being able to pay their private sector rent without a top-up costs money. We are all affected by this.

Isitmylibrarybook, I agree that land taken up by gardens isn't really available for building on as such (although a couple near me have just built two houses on the land in their garden so it certainly happens if only just on a small scale) but it does serve to illustrate that this panic of us running out of space is largely unfounded. We do have space. We just don't have politicians who will make it a priority to utilise that space and house us properly.

Also; you had the option to lodge with your mum. Not everyone has that option.

That is because I bought my first house at 19 having worked from the age of 16. Most people lodge with their mums until at least 19 years of age. I made the decision not to try and rent as I realised I would struggle to save if I took that option.

Doer uppers do take money but it can be controlled if you do a lot yourself and shop around. I bought a kitchen for well under £1000 and fitted most if it myself.

It worked that time

But we still seem to be talking slightly at cross purposes (not too cross I hope).

I'll have a read!

create jobs for unemployed building council houses

"create jobs for unemployed building council houses"

Because anyone can build a house can't they?

I had successfully resisted posting that...