My professional salary only just covers my rent. How can this be?

[Rentmakesmepoor]

I am an occupational therapist in the NHS. I am a single parent. After tax, student loan and pension I take home roughly £1900.
I live in the South East of England. My rent is £1750 a month for a 3 bed, SMALL semi detached house with a courtyard garden

How is it that we have got to the point in this country that my salary literally just pays for my rent and nothing else??

I am permanently skint. I am not looking for solutions as I do nd claim everything I can (which is not alot).

But how can this be?

Of course I understand that.

Do you understand that the difference in lower rent would be completely wiped out by paying high childcare fees?

It’s actually worse than that as OP would probably end up far worse off if she moved.

I dont think the notion that one adult cant afford a 3 bed house isnt outrageous. A family typically involves 2 adults (even if they are separated) in putting a roof over the family's heads. How many kids have you and surely the father contributes too

We don’t know if it’s a nice area though - it’s just prices in the south east generally. My friend’s rent on her 3 bed (also in south east) has just gone up from 1700 to 2100 pcm. She doesn’t want to move as everything else comparable in the area is £2200-2400. Plus moving fees, the stress and upheaval and potentially lost deposit money.

It’s easy to say move but many people settled
in an area when it’s reasonably priced, their kids get settled in local schools, their jobs are local or they need to be close enough to commute to London- and then average rent rises by nearly £600pcm in the space of a few years. If they could have predicted the future they wouldn’t have settled in the south east but they couldn’t. So if you can’t display basic understanding of the difficulties that come with living in certain areas please keep your judgemental comments to yourself.

You have a portable job. Move.

You could get a mortgage and be paying £400 pcm.

No one needs a 3 bed semi.

Get a 2 bed flat and sleep in the living room if your DC need 2 bedrooms.

Maybe it's because you only have one income ?

Yes huge numbers of people commute. They spend hours in their car that they would rather spend elsewhere. But until a job comes up closer to their (more affordable) home, that is the reality.

The OP must have more money coming in than she stated because it is not possible to live on 250 pounds while paying utility bills. I would LOVE to move to the next village over and have the luxury of being able to walk to a local shop or school but I simply can't afford to and I have to cut my cloth and live in a bleak, soulless suburb and run two cars, have a daily school run, have no friends or family nearby because its where I can afford to live!

Also, and i hesitate to state this truth because i know it will annoy some people, but people are too quick to jump in and out of relationships and make babies with people thay dont know taht well or there are already niggling doubts.

Childcare costs will eventually decrease. Rent will only increase.

Where's the accountability of the father in all this?

A 3 bed semi where I live is around £600 a month

Exactly this !

That’s true, but if you don’t have the money in the here and now, you don’t have it.

Unless you think people like OP should get into debt to pay childcare costs rather than staying where they might have free childcare?

Unless OP gives us more info, we can’t really advise her properly.

Indeed. Key workers paid national rates may be relatively better off in the poorer areas where property is cheaper ( though still not a lot if they rent).

Your accounts don't make sense TBH

That means you are living on £150 a month after rent.

How are you doing that?
You will get child benefit.
UC?
Tax credits?
Any maintenance from your child's father (if not, why not?)

Move to a 3-bed home? You only need 2 beds.

Either your rent has gone up a lot since you took on the lease, or something else has gone wrong. Because few landlords would allow you to rent at that cost, knowing your annual income. It's a sure sign you will fall behind with rent.

In the short term you will need to look for another rental, and in the longer term climb the career ladder to a higher position .

You can't 'blame' other people for your choice to rent at that cost, choose the job you did, live where you do, and have a child as a single parent.

Some of those are life choices.

A few months ago there was a thread where more than one poster was surprised that anyone earned less than 35k in London....
It seemed like all the retail workers, manual workers, warehouse staff, station staff, bar staff, cleaners, delivery drivers, HCPs, some teachers and NHS workers, nursery workers etc etc were invisible! Obviously not all will live in London but then the flipside to living somewhere cheaper is high commuting costs. Its not as easy as saying well you live somewhere expensive. Thry are all pretty essential jobs in any areas

It’s been said already but it’s because your rent is astronomical.

I think on your salary in the SE people are either paying rent together, or have managed to buy with a much lower monthly mortgage payment. My mortgage hasn’t been above £500 pcm for about the last 10 years because I bought a house in my 20s and built up some equity. Or they have managed to get a flat in some kind of affordable housing association scheme etc.

If you think this isn’t an option, is there any way you could relocate to live somewhere cheaper or maybe try to find a cheaper smaller rental so you can save for a house deposit.

It's a long time since 1 income was enough to support a family.
Smaller house, cheaper area, better paying job. Thems the choices.

So over time as skilled professionals like the OP find that they can't afford to live in the Southeast on wages which don't cover their basic living expenses they will leave and move to other parts of the country which are more affordable - resulting in the Southeast losing masses of skilled people from the NHS and other professions which we desperately need, and society suffers as a whole. It's not right. If it costs more to live in the Southeast then people living here need to be paid an amount that reflects that, especially in public services, otherwise we will end up with a gaping hole in the workforce. The NHS is already on its knees in the Southeast with massive waiting times, we can't afford to keep losing people and especially not for this reason.

Rents are ridiculous.
A 3 bed semi in my part of West Yorkshire is £1100.
Most jobs here are NMW!
It's shocking

That annual after tax and loans is around £31Kpa.
That's around the median salary for the UK.

Are you on the bottom of the pay scale?

How old are you?

I don't think you are being totally honest with your income.

How are you living on £150 a month? For everything!

It's not possible.

We definitely need more info from OP

How many children, their ages and sex.

UC? Child maintenance?

Who provides childcare? Is there a cost?

Do the children have a good relationship with their father and does he live locally?

People saying OP needs to move to a “less nice area” are possibly not from SE. A small, modern, boxy 3 bed semi would cost £2300 a month where I live (which is a naice area) so OP probably doesn’t have that many options if she needs to stay local so the children see their dad.

He's dead.
I said I claim all I can hence of course I live on more than £150 a month.

Moved here when we had 2 salaries and it was £850 a month.

I have pondered moving and posted about it but was destroyed but the usual people like you for considering upping my kids away from their schools and grandparents and people disbelieving my situation. I do not understand this recent pattern on mumsnet to instantly disbelieve and discredit

This is my situation whether you believe it or not