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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not understand why we need so many new homes

265 replies

Pebbledash7 · 04/06/2017 20:52

Just as in the title really. I keep hearing about us building all these new houses but where are all the people currently living? There are tonnes of houses for sale in the property pages of our local paper.

I really dont understand why we can't make better use of what we have?

OP posts:
Wheelycote · 12/09/2017 20:03

We're all living longer, population boom and an increase in people owning more than one property....usually to rent. Interest rates are low so people tend to invest there money in properties to rent out as it'll earn them a better return.

The competition for cheap houses in this area is dire...unscrupulous landlords buying up too much.

I git my house cheap because it had been rented out for years and the landlord had let it run into the ground. Some landlords leech a property dry and discard it. Boils my blood😡😡😡

CazY777 · 12/09/2017 20:06

There is something strange going on with house building in the country. The south east needs more affordable housing to be built but for some reason (I suspect vociferous, influencial nimby's but I could be wrong) it's not. In the north east loads of new houses are being built but they're far less affordable than the existing housing stock, a lot of which is being left empty when elderly people die or go into nursing homes or people move out and leave them empty. And planning guidance is currently in favour of granting permission for new houses so things go ahead unless there are very good reasons for it not to happen.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 12/09/2017 20:11

The OP started the thread in June which is why they are not responding.

Jessicabrassica · 12/09/2017 20:13

It's also worth remembering that your nice, small village school probably won't last much longer. The government shares your view that people shouldn't have things unless they pay for them and that includes nice rural primary schools. Of course, with more kids coming into the village it might survive a little longer.

Silly35 · 12/09/2017 20:19

OP how much has your house value increased since you bought it?
I'm sure it is a substantial amount greater than young people's wages have increased in the same time span...

There simply isn't enough housing for the number of people in this country and this puts up house prices. 'We' are building lots of new developments to combat this, to provide more homes and thus hopefully lower house prices for the younger generation...

usernameavailable · 12/09/2017 20:32

Sorry OP, I am going to but in! I feel you are very judgmental. For instance, 6 years ago I was living in a fully paid for home due to ExPs inheritance. Workkng my arse off to pay bills and add to savings. My ExP got extremely ill. The illness took toll on our relationship. We split up after 10 years of a lovely life with our DD. I walked away with nothing. Legally that house was half mine. Morally I could not take it due to it being paid for using his inheritance. He is battling a life threatening disease. If I took half, a poorly man would have nothing!
I am now in a council home, with no savings. Yes i used to be set up with a beautiful home and money in my bank! Things change! Life is far from black and white! We need new houses for the reasons posted above by others. But please do not turn this into 'u should have tried harder to become stable before having children' posts.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 12/09/2017 20:49

The original post is from JUNE

The OP is long gone.

usernameavailable · 12/09/2017 21:03

@ChazsBrilliantAttitude
Thanks! I didn't even notice 😂

milliemolliemou · 12/09/2017 21:04

The worse thing Thatcher did was to allow people to buy council houses. She clearly got furious because (a) there were people earning good money who could have bought their own but chose to sit in them blocking them from needier people but (b) she knew house owners tended to go Tory. Result: some happiness from people who could buy their council house cheaply and a lot of happiness from those who resold at huge value, and a lot of unhappiness from those who had to go into private rental. Demand on private rental kept going so the price went up, councils limited rebuilding council stock and did it badly.

The OP is right in one sense. We could make better use of what we have and stop our housing stock being bought up by foreign investors who sit on it - mostly in major cities and new-build. Many small towns are reusing dead shops for small houses and flats but that also means we've lost the jobs that went with those shops

I don't think the OP needs to worry too much. The housing development near her will be too expensive for most young incomers in her naice village. Most developers plan 3-5 bed nasty modern homes with a couple of allegedly affordable places thrown in - the number of which they promise to get planning permission from the authority and then argue down. So the incomers will be in her price bracket and have naice children to go to her school. .

What the OP might do is campaign for truly affordable housing which sits well visually with the village and the sort of infrastructure which allows people of all ages to find a home and jobs in the village so it becomes a thriving community. Not just a dormitory village for The Very Naice.

AuldHeathen · 12/09/2017 21:58

OP, you sound really thick. Have you considered the following-
Where will the people who staff the naice local school live with their families? Not just the head and class teachers, also the cleaner/s, caretaker, classroom assistants, etc.

If, Yoda forbid, your house goes on fire or the cat stuck up a tree, firefighters will come - they need homes

What if you or someone gets sick, or has a baby? They will need care from people who work in the NHS.

Many of those people work very hard, often when people in other jobs are sleeping or having fun. These workers need a place to live too. And public sector jobs are notoriously badly paid, though l dislike generalisations as there are also exceptions. But generally workers in essential but low paid jobs have trouble buying property and paying higher rents. Maybe some of them will move into that field near you, OP.

Another point: parents who work shifts often have trouble if both parents do paid work. Nurseries don't often o overnights and weekends, or even evenings. But surely you can't suggest nurses, midwives, teachers, police officers, fire fighters, should stay childless just so they can service people like you and your friends.

SunnyCoco · 13/09/2017 14:31

So now I know why we have a Tory government
People actually think like this
People actually vote for this

Madeyemoodysmum · 13/09/2017 15:28

Why should you care about the village school if you don't have kids. 😂

Madeyemoodysmum · 13/09/2017 15:33

Oops zombie.

devilmaycarry · 13/09/2017 16:47

This may be a stupid question, but why do lenders make it so hard to get a mortgage if your credit history is not perfect or for some if they have a limited or no deposit?

Partly because they've been told to, following the crash of 2008. The government would like to keep just enough mortgage money available to keep house prices always rising (that's a vital tenet of all recent UK governments - house prices must never ever ever be allowed to fall), but not so much that prices run away madly or people end up in repossession crises if there's a recession.

Very high immigration and this prices-must-never-fall stuff have made things very hard for people who don't yet own houses. I am lucky/glad to have been born when I was.

OhtoblazeswithElvira · 13/09/2017 18:36

devil we got our mortgage at the height of the recession and the bank offered us more than twice what we wanted to borrow. As soon as we paid the first year off we started getting letters offering us loans taken against the house - starting at £25,000 Shock I don't think that's responsible lending. The bubble is alive and well.

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