To think DD isn’t earning enough to live alone in London?

[Sunnydaysp]

DD is 27 and earns £65k a year. She currently has a long commute in to London for work each day but following her recent divorce and sale of their home, she wants to move to London for a fresh start. She has no DC, so is looking at one bed flats which appear to be around £1,500-£2,000 a month in rent, not to mention all of the bills on top too. I appreciate that DD earns a very good wage for her age, however, I’m concerned that she will be stretching herself too far by attempting to live alone and paying an extortionate amount in rent rather than house sharing, which seems to be the norm for most young professionals. She seems to think she can easily afford it, but DD has never lived alone and doesn’t really seem to appreciate the cost of living, as ex husband always managed the household outgoings etc. AIBU in thinking that DD will be stretched in attempting to live alone on her salary in London with the rental amounts described?

OP that sounds about right for 'new' Stratford. Much cheaper in what many locals would call 'old' Stratford. Some cheaper places nearby. Anywhere else she likes the look of? Does she mind being slightly further out?

Of course she can afford it! I earnt 17k when I lived in London and had a tiny box room in a shared house. The rent used up nearly all of my take home pay and I often ran out of money for food before the next pay day. Someone on 67k can more than afford a flat to themselves with high rents and they won't be struggling to feed themselves either. Why should she have to live in a crappy house share?

YOu think the only point of working is owning property?

Not only but the main reason, yes.

How much enjoyment can anyone get from ‘socialising’ when the threat of homelessness is permanently on the horizon when renting??

As for potentially moving into a property with a DP, a woman’s going to be in a much better position when she owns her own property than the perilous situation so many young women find themselves in when they are unmarried mothers living in a partner’s house.

She’ll be fine.

There are families on that in London.

Gosh, it has to be said that there are families on less than half that in London. And for many communities, that’s normal.

Well we support a family of four on far less than that so yes, she can.

Let her work t out for herself what she can and can't do, it's called being an adult and given her age and wage I'd suggest she is pretty good at it!

She can totally afford to live on her own. It's not forever, rent contracts eventually end and she can move somewhere else in London if in the end she decides it's too much.

I am similar in age and earnings, and pay about £2,000pcm on rent and bills. I live a good and fairly luxurious life and have one baby (and bf).

@Verily1

Owning a property doesn't make you much less likely to be homeless. If you end up in negative equity you'll be in a much worse situation than you'd be in if you just rented and had some savings. It also makes you much less flexible. If you rent and your circumstances change you can more easily move to a cheaper place if you own and need to sell quickly you'll end up losing a lot of money.

I rent out a top floor flat in Hackney, newly refurbished Victorian Terrace house.
3 bed (one is very small) for £1945 pcm.
None of my tenants earn that kind of salary!
She’ll be able to afford a decent flat.

Why doesn’t she think of buying somewhere, if she has some £ after her divorce?

@Nanny0gg Just picking you up one one point you made about being 27.

The average age for getting married now is 29/30 and 30 for a first child.

Only one of my DCs friends had a child by 27 (and divorced not long afterwards) and many are still single in their early 30s.

With respect, having children before 27 is not the norm for people now if they have been to uni and are more or less starting work.

@ JinglingHellsBells

Agreed amoung university graduates (particularly those who earn higher incomes) it's very unusual to marry before the age of 30. It certainly happens - I did it myself and had a child by 27 - but I was very unusual amoung my cohort and my friends all started having babies 5-10 years after me.

She'll be fine.
I manage it.

Let her get on with it. Hopefully she can enjoy a fun life, free of an overbearing husband and make the most of London life (when lockdown is done).

She must be fairly bright. She will learn how to pay her bills. It's not hard.

Wouldn't suggest she try buying now anyway. Wait and see what happens.

Enjoy the freedom renting offers to end a contract and try living in a different neighborhood or city or country! Or with a friend or in a commune or whatever else she fancies trying.

Renting is no dead money, it buys the roof over your head. Honestly, using that logic then anything that doesn’t last forever is dead money. It’s only dead if you chose to view it that way and don’t value what it’s buying you.

I accept that 25/27 is no longer the 'norm' for having children, but people of that age are capable of being parents at that age. So, in my view, it's not 'young'.

But that's not what people are meaning in describing her as young. They're meaning that it's a good time for her to enjoy freedom, flexibility, and the best that an amazing global city has to offer. Nobody was insulting 27yo parents, in fact 27yo parents have nothing to do with this situation.

As I’m sure many people have pointed out, she can well afford to live in London - and nicely on that wage.

DH and I were on far less whilst in our foundation training years, living in zone 2 with kids. At a much younger age.

Cut the apron strings.

At 28 I’d totally had enough of flatmates. Let her live alone if that’s what she wants. I loved it when I did.

She's only 27 and it seems very young to be living on your own

😂😂😂

She is only 27 so she's before thinking about buying. She should live in a lovely flat in Central London and really enjoy her remaining 20s!

You can get loads of 1 bed flats for the £1200 mark.....

So I guess she is taking home about 3.5k per month, which if she can rent somewhere at least 1.5k is probably doable if bills top up to 2k x

@Scardot I was married and had a baby at 27 in London. It’s not young. My parents has little to do with my life decisions even before I turned 18. I’d find it very odd if my mum was polling others about whether I should live alone or in a flat share.

On the other hand it’s not old enough for her not to enjoy herself for a few/several years. Plus it’s hard to go from married home owner to flat share. Although it’s a nice way to meet people if she is new to the area. Either way it is her decision and she can change her mind if she wants. Life is all about learning from experiences. Let her live it her way regardless of earnings. Presumably she has a deposit saved from the house sale for future security.

If her heart is set in moving to London to rent, get her to look at Dolphin Square in Pimlico.

Westminster rates are cheap and the flats have security (also useful for accepting parcels), heating and water thrown in (own water supply). The gardens are lovely and there is a decent gym and swimming pool (membership reqd).

Overseas students used to have the grottier apartments and I can't imagine too many of them will be back any time soon.

Our bills were tiny when DH lived there:

Owning a property doesn't make you much less likely to be homeless.*

You couldn’t be more wrong! Renters have no rights. Landlords can evict you at any time for any reason. If you look at homeless stats almost all were renters not homeowners before becoming homeless.

If you end up in negative equity you'll be in a much worse situation than you'd be in if you just rented and had some savings.

No! Negative equity is only relevant if you want to move/sell. On a capital repayment mortgage NE will only ever be temporary. With a mortgage you are building up ‘savings’ in the form of equity. Cash savings are throwing money away as interest rates are well below inflation.

It also makes you much less flexible. If you rent and your circumstances change you can more easily move to a cheaper place if you own and need to sell quickly you'll end up losing a lot of money.

Also not true. If you are in financial difficulties it is much easier to get a payment holiday from a mortgage provider than from a landlord. Mortgages can be re-mortgaged without having to move.

As a renter if you don’t have a perfect payment history you won’t get a landlord reference to move to another rental therefore being at risk of homelessness.

If you do want to move you can sell your property at any time and it will probably only take 8 weeks. You can be tied into a tenancy for 12 months with no means of escape.

To be honest, by the time I was 27 I had definitely had enough of flat sharing in London and I think it would be even less of an attractive prospect as she is recently divorced.

She is earning a good salary, enough to pay that rent, and quite honestly she's a grown woman who is fully capable of making her own decisions. It would be different if she was 17.