To wonder if it’s normal to have nothing left after twelve days into the month

[Daisy9010]

This is the position I find myself in every month.

It drives me mad.

Is anyone the same?

apologies for getting it backwards.

either sell flat or move job. you cannot afford to be a landlord?

I have just finished doing the same, renting in London Monday to Friday and then travelling back for the weekends as I dislike London (but loved the job). Depending what sector you are in and where your flat is, the job market is definitely more bouyant than it has been for jobs around £30k; especially as companies and government are selling off lots of their central London assets and relocating. Luckily I have found a job back home that pays more, but if you are always struggling then if you take out the extra rent and travelling etc, would not actually be worse off in a job several grand less?

I think I would have to consider:

• are you getting into debt?

-can you move totally elsewhere? -can you commute?

-how much is Monday to Friday rent plus commute?
-what is the gross cost of that?
-could you do a Different job outside London that was paid adequately?

Digressing slightly but this fascinates me. There is data on this kind of thing from sources like the ONS,IFS, Joseph Rowntree Foundation etc etc.

When it comes to wealth distribution and how much money people have,i was amazed to discover just how little people do have !

So many people are living what looks like a fairly prosperous existence i,e they have the nice house,cars, holidays etc but beyond the picket fence, many are actually leading a virtual hand to mouth existence with too much month left after the end of the pay packet and far too much of it leveraged on debt.

I was also amazed to learn that i was in the top 3/4 of wealthy people in the UK with regard to all wealth excluding housing.

Couldnt believe it.. and yet i dont feel like it.

See here

www.ifs.org.uk/publications/8239

There's nothing stopping you selling, you simply sell your half. The other person then either has to buy it, get someone else to own half or sell the whole thing. There won't be any clauses saying you can't sell yet you seem set against it.

You would put your stuff in a flat in London that you rent instead, full time, not just rent Monday-Friday.

You might need to get a loan to get the work done to get your flat rentable.

You try to force the other owners hand - tell them you can't afford the mortgage and rent in London anymore so will have to default on the mortgage next month, they will be liable for the whole mortgage, or would they like to explore selling it/getting a larger mortgage to buy out your share. Or would they consider doing the work to get the flat rentable and you'll turn it into a rental.

You can't carry on as you are, so you have to explore other options, even if they are tricky. £30k is no where near high enough wage to run a 2 household lifestyle, particularly if one is in London.

I was also amazed to learn that i was in the top 3/4 of wealthy people in the UK with regard to all wealth excluding housing.

couldnt believe it.. and yet i dont feel like it.

It’s always interesting to look at where you fit nationally re wealth, apparently if you earn over £70k in the household you’re in the top 5% of UK earners.

That’s us, but we sure as hell don’t feel wealthy. We live in a small rented flat, drive basic cheap cars, don’t go on holiday abroad.

I suppose being wealthy is different to earning a lot. You could earn £100k between you but spend most of it on consumables like holidays and clothes and meals out that have no real value. Whereas someone on much less could be savvy and save much of their income, not spend much on fripperies, invest, and over time be far wealthier than the household on a higher income.

OP - the average wage for London is closer to £34k at the moment. So it's not a lot. It's certainly not enough to run 2 households.

You say you need the other flat because you're not paying rent in London on the weekend, but you need to look if paying rent in London full time (possibly a flat share if you only need space for youself) would be cheaper long term.

Renting out your other flat might be your best option. Or selling it. You can't carry on like this.

You don't earn enough to have a 2 home lifestyle.

Haven't read the full thread ao apologies if already ruled out but if you're looking for a job closer to home, could you take on a bar job or similar in london for a second income to tide you over until you find something? I appreciate this is tiring as I've done it myself whilst waiting to be paid for a new job but the extra few hundred quid per month really eased things for me.

During the week, I mean.

Where (roughly) is your home? Can you not commute?

Does the other person who owns your home live in it?

Even if they do, you could force a sale.

If you only earn £30k, surely you would be better off getting a job closer to home and then you wouldn't have to rent

That’s not a high salary for London at all, doesn’t even hit the average. Hope you can find a new job with better pay but appreciate that’s easier said than done.

Does it really cost more to commute Monday-Friday than it does to rent? Seems unlikely. If that’s true then I agree with others about trying to get someone to let your flat or get it on air bnb if you really can’t persuade the other person to sell.