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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be irritated by the Londoner exodus to my town?

999 replies

thesecondnamegame · 13/06/2021 17:04

I've been priced out of my Greater Manchester town by the London diaspora. Anybody who knows the area will know which town I mean. My tatty council town centre terrace is worth 300k. A load of Londoners came up after the BBC moved to Manchester. Half the kids in my kid's school's parents are from London and they love to make sure you know that. House prices have become ridiculous and are in a different world to the rest of Greater Manchester. It's ridiculous as it used to be a very unremarkable market town (albiet with not much to it) and now it's gone all 'naice' and I'm having to move 10 miles away because it's reaching the surrounding towns and I simply cannot afford to live here and I want to buy a property. It annoys me, I keep imagining somebody who had a London salary and bought a house in London, sold it, and came up here and bought a house 3 times bigger for the same price as their smaller London home. It just seems like they cheated. There are no school places either, because a lot of the Londoner's chose this particular town for the schools. The catchments are bloody tiny, I know somebody who lives in a village about 4 miles away. The schools in this town are the closest schools. No school would take her child and she ended up having to home educate for months.

All my relatives who bought properties or private rented have had to leave, even those who went to uni and got great jobs.

OP posts:
Tealightsandd · 13/06/2021 21:19

@RickiTarr

You keep shifting your argument OP, and you’re not actually taking on board any of the information you’ve been given that you were apparently unaware of.
That's because she actually just wanted to slag off Londoners.
Blueeyedgirl21 · 13/06/2021 21:20

The thing is this is not about people who are priced out of London - that in itself is a huge issue

This is about those who own in London due to their existing privilege then realize they can have this ‘lifestyle’ elsewhere - by selling their house in London at massively over inflated price and buying somewhere cheaper and pocketing the profits

They are the ones making the situation what it is by contributing to the London house pricing ridiculousness by selling their houses for the desired profit

Then they brag about how much they’ve made by buying up normally affordable housing stock in other places

Also it’s interesting that London is always hailed as being so diverse but these ‘London people’ are overwhelmingly white, middle class and privately educated.

Sparrowsong · 13/06/2021 21:20

This born and bred Londoner is starting to think about moving to OP’s neighbourhood! I quite fancy a big house!

My maternal grandmother was a Manchester lass, though, and my mum a midlander. Guess what, they MOVED.

Biscuit
Confusedandshaken · 13/06/2021 21:21

Being born and raised somewhere doesn’t entitle you to live there forever. Nor does it mean you can afford to live there forever. For my children being born in London doesn’t mean they can now afford to live here. My DS was born in London, went to uni in York and eventually settled down in Nottingham because that’s where he found a job. Was he meant to turn down good work and the chance to buy a home because his grandparents settled in London when they migrated to the U.K. 60+ years ago?

TheHateIsNotGood · 13/06/2021 21:22

There was a time when Reigate was a little Surrey Market Town then the M25 was put in and for at least 20 years, it's been unaffordable for the majority of people that grew up there, same with the SW.

Most 'Affordable' Housing isn't affordable to many as "Affordable" means 80% of Market Rent or Price, so the new-build prices are jacked up to cover this and the salaries of the 'middle management' that 'help' potential buyers/renters access to these 'misnamed' homes.

I'm really not sure what the solution is other than building Developments/Estates that are purely 'Social Housing' and not for profit.

So many people of varied circumstances need these homes I don't think it would lead to a form of 'ghetto' - as most Council Estates I've lived in were bloody good places to live.

Blueeyedgirl21 · 13/06/2021 21:22

And don’t get me wrong the same happens the other way round too. I know people who move to London for work and bray about the culture, the diversity, how great it is, but then school admission comes along and suddenly London is not so great anymore or they are paying for a prep school so their kids don’t have to mix with kids who are different to them. It’s horrible

awaketoosoon · 13/06/2021 21:22

@Kissthepastrychef but are they moving from London or are they Londoners? The people you describe aren't the locals I know.

RickiTarr · 13/06/2021 21:22

That's because she actually just wanted to slag off Londoners.

Oh. Yeah. You’re right. Silly me. Grin

StayCalm99 · 13/06/2021 21:24

I wonder how many Londoners would have to buy a house at a bit more than the house was really worth in an area to really affect the house prices though. There'd have to be some influx.

awaketoosoon · 13/06/2021 21:25

@Blueeyedgirl21 totally diversity is good when it means an excellent deli or authentic restaurant. Bad diversity is going to the local secondary.

amicissimma · 13/06/2021 21:25

I was born and raised in a nondescript area of London. When I reached adulthood the area had become more popular and incomers who could afford more than I could had pushed prices beyond me, so I moved away. After years of working and saving and combining salaries with DH we managed to afford a cheaper area of London.

I since heard on the radio a guy complaining bitterly that he couldn't afford to stay in that same area although he had grown up there. I did the maths and realised that his family would have been among those who had moved in and priced me out years before!

Original poster
thesecondnamegame · 13/06/2021 21:25

What is the obsession on this thread with charming friendly locals? Tbh I do wish northern people wouldn't go on about how friendly we are supposed to be, it's odd and now I've got people all this thread going "Ah, so you guys aren't really that friendly." Confused Nobody seems to bother with their neighbours anywhere in the country now unfortunately, that is long gone. Maybe in villages but they aren't a specifically northern thing.

OP posts:
Blueeyedgirl21 · 13/06/2021 21:27

@awaketoosoon exactly, spot on. Everyone always says the same thing though - their particular child is just so very bright, very sensitive, blah blah blah, and it just ‘wouldn’t be the right fit’. Except it’s the same excuse every time. They love the local Caribbean takeaway, but they couldn’t bring themselves to send their kids to school with the kids from it.

Original poster
thesecondnamegame · 13/06/2021 21:27

@Blueeyedgirl21

Nail on the head!

OP posts:
awaketoosoon · 13/06/2021 21:28

Also it’s interesting that London is always hailed as being so diverse but these ‘London people’ are overwhelmingly white, middle class and privately educated.

That's not representative of London at all hence why I questioned.

awaketoosoon · 13/06/2021 21:28

@Blueeyedgirl21 but Tarquin loves sport!

TatianaBis · 13/06/2021 21:29

@thesecondnamegame

What is the obsession on this thread with charming friendly locals? Tbh I do wish northern people wouldn't go on about how friendly we are supposed to be, it's odd and now I've got people all this thread going "Ah, so you guys aren't really that friendly." Confused Nobody seems to bother with their neighbours anywhere in the country now unfortunately, that is long gone. Maybe in villages but they aren't a specifically northern thing.
The neighbours around me in London are lovely. Very friendly.
princessandthedragon · 13/06/2021 21:30

I live in a small market town in the south west and they have moved here in their droves following an article in the Guardian about the Town and its desirability as a location to live. Lockdown and home working has made it so much worse. They come here in their big Chelsea tractors, Hunter Wellies and posh accents. House prices have sky rocketed making it so much harder for first time buyers to get on the ladder. There’s also far fewer school places and all of a sudden people are complaining about not getting into their preferred school. I just wish they would all bugger off back to London to be honest. It will be so funny when their bosses decide it’s time to return to the office...

Cosmos123 · 13/06/2021 21:30

@AngeloMysterioso

Are Londoners not allowed to leave London then?
Most are not from London but moved there possibly in their 20s.

Now are either moving back home or to other parts of the country.

Are they not allowed to?

Londoners themselves have been priced out for years when new people arrive into the capital. Causing rents and property prices to spiral.
Yet you dont hear the same hysteria.

Why the double standards?

FaceyRomford · 13/06/2021 21:30

A lot of Londoners, like me, are in small towns because the alternative was the dole. I left London because my employers moved and if I wanted to keep my job I had to go with them. Couldn't get another job in London as all our competitors had moved out of London. Frankly, if I could afford to move back, I would.

SnoopyMcLoopy · 13/06/2021 21:33

We are all people trying to live our lives. I'm a northerner who has lived in London more than half my life. We live in a a west London mortgaged ex council flat which is fantastic but we could not move within our area or even anywhere within the north/south circular because the value of a council flat is lower than something else of the same size. As a northerner and a southerner I really don't like this "Londoner" thing. My kids have been born and brought up here and will probably never be able to buy here which is a shame.

awaketoosoon · 13/06/2021 21:33

This is about those who own in London due to their existing privilege then realize they can have this ‘lifestyle’ elsewhere - by selling their house in London at massively over inflated price and buying somewhere cheaper and pocketing the profits

I think it's tricky.
I have good equity & a big mortgage because where I was raised happened to become fashionable. However we will need more space soon & cannot afford it anywhere close because it's still not enough equity & we don't earn mega amounts. Because I like a city lifestyle I would prefer to move to another city as opposed to outer zones. So then I become the problem but what are my other options?

ThePlantsitter · 13/06/2021 21:34

Nobody seems to bother with their neighbours anywhere in the country now unfortunately

V good community on my London street, everyone helps each other out. I think it might just be your neighbourhood. Probably the very, very local one.

StayCalm99 · 13/06/2021 21:34

Can anybody name an area where they grew up and can afford a house as nice or nicer than the one they grew up in?

awaketoosoon · 13/06/2021 21:35

They come here in their big Chelsea tractors, Hunter Wellies and posh accents.

But why does this keep getting repeated. These people aren't representative of London, they are just privileged.