Half on my monthly income goes just on rent. Unsustainable?

[UnsustainableMum]

Single mum. We live in the south east. 3 bed as two children of different sexes. Half of my monthly income now goes on rent at £1600 per month. The rents just keep rising along with every thing else. Surely rents can’t rise anymore?!

That rent is high, however if you’ve got £1600 left for bills and food then I’d say you’re probably managing ok?
Depends what your other outgoings are - credit cards? Car finance etc?

It's awful but it's sadly not unusual now. People would always tell people to 'move north where it's cheaper' but it's expensive everywhere. In my.northern city, the absolute worst places to live - on the outskirts, poor transport, and very low paid jobs - the cheapest 2 bed house is £900, most are 1k upwards. The jobs here are minimum wage and the local housing is set at £572 a month for that size property which means that people on low incomes who rely on benefits topping up their wages have to pay a significant shortfall.

I really wish a government would do the right thing and reintroduce rent controls

Eventually when you are the breadline UC would kick in.

If you really wanted to reduce rent you would need a 2 bed and either share with your DD or sleep in the lounge.

It's absolutely awful isnt it? Feels like we work just to survive these days

@RandomMess unless the OP is somewhere that the LHA reflects the local rents, UC doesn't kick in, that's the problem. The UC in the area I mentioned assumes that £572 a month is a reasonable rent to pay on a 2 bed, and uses that figure for to calculate what someone is entitled to, ignoring the fact that the rent is likely almost double that. It means that people are then paying the difference with the bit of their income that is meant to be left for food and utilities, which isn't exactly generous (or reflective of the cost of living) either.

@HibernatingtilspringI mentioned breadline as in if wages stagnate and rent continues to rapidly rise then eventually rent caps will be forced to rise.

At this point people are surviving on so little they are working just to have a basic roof and basic food nothing else.

The rent caps in the SE are currently notably hire than the north though despite the gap in rental prices narrowing.

Its bad every for so many people.

I was made redundant and I’m claiming uc atm (got a second interview for a job next week ) but right now my rent is £750 a month for a 1 bed flat and uc pay me 895 a month - £495 towards my rent . So after my rent I have £145 a month to live on !! I can barely afford to live , if it wasn’t for my parents helping me I would be screwed.

rents are awful everywhere and they are just going to go up and up . When me and my ex moved in here the rent was £425 in 7 years it’s gone up £325 it’s almost doubled !! Shocking .

But then if the council cap it the landlords will just sell up and no one will have anywhere to live so we can’t win !

I think imposing on DDs space would be awful. And to sleep on the couch, I already have a bad back. I’d probably end up unable to work!!

I already get a bit of universal credit help.

Honestly I feel like I am constantly juggling my last pound every month. By the time you pay council tax, gas/electric, car repairs, water, broadband, fuel, food, kids expenses it doesn’t seem to go far. We literally never eat out. Haven’t been on holiday in years.

Absolutely your life would be unsustainable on that universal credit without help. I really hope you find a new job soon.

I should add I know I don’t even have it as bad as many. I can pay for everything essential JUST.

How old are your children?

Ah OP it’s hard.
We were on UC a few years ago and it was miserable and now both kids are at school and things have improved but I remember having nothing and it feeling impossible.

But it has made us really good with money which is maybe why to me it sounds like you should be able to have some luxuries like a takeaway still.

Could you list your outgoings on here so someone could help work out where you might be able to cut back a bit?

Also we did a sun holiday deal a couple of years ago - £200 for Mon-fri in the Easter hols in a caravan and the kids loved it. If you could save £20 a month you could save for something like that.

Rent being 50 percent of your income is, unfortunately, normal now. My rent is 53 percent of my income. I’m in a profession that requires a postgrad, I mention that to make it clear that I’m not on minimum wage. My friend’s rent is 78 percent of her income, again I’m a professional job. It’s just the way it is. Oh and that’s in the north. Both properties are basic flats, nothing fancy.

Everytime I get a promotion or change jobs for better pay, the landlord increases the rent by a silly amount.

@RandomMess I truly hope they do, but we've been thinking every year for the last few years that the caps on the LHA 'must' rise, but there's no signs of it happening yet. I was supporting a single parent recently whose rent went up from £650 to £950, in one go. He tried to challenge the increase and he didn't get anywhere because the new rent was "in line with market rents'. Many of the houses are in poor condition as well, Victorian redbricks that haven't been well maintained so they have damp issues and are expensive to heat.
At the same time people keep objecting to HMOs being proposed in their area, where do they think single people can afford to live? We don't really have many studio flats or one beds as that's not the housing stock round here, they only really have those in the modern developments in the city centre and they tend to start around £800 for a tiny one bed flat + service charge.

It’s just awful and no government wants to tackle the overall issues in the economy.

You constantly read on here no one wants to pay more tax.

Cold harsh reality is that we are going back to pre 50s where the working class were poor and lived in multi generational homes. Working in service for a bed and food and a couple of quid.

I’ve known that the drop in standard of living was fast approaching but it’s horrible seeing it happen

That is a high rent in monetary terms but you have a good income thankfully, but I don’t know what the answer is.

I know that when I became a single parent my mortgage was about 85% or more of my full time wage, so it’s better than that scenario. Yes I got through that - just - but it wasn’t easy. We are vulnerable to outside forces in a way that feels very frustrating.

It’s OK for DC to share, I did with my siblings and my DC have done with theirs in various combinations.

Rent - £1600
council tax - £200
gas and electricity - £200
water - £90
fuel - £250 (in a village)
food/ toiletries/ cleaning - £550
broadband - £25
car insurance - £63
I do not pay for a tc license but instead use Netflix. Or alternate to a different service.
mobile - £10 a month

That is literally the very basic essentials I am paying each month. There are also clubs, varying childcare expenses.

And obviously things break or clothes and shoes need buying for the kids. Car repairs, mot, etc. I use vinted and charity shops a lot. There’s also birthdays/Christmas to put a little bit aside for.

To some I guess my supermarket shop may be high?! But I do prioritise good food (only life luxury these days) also DS has special dietary requirements. And there is also washing detergent and all the other household stuff. I stopped buying most cleaning products and now use Castile soap for virtually everything. Everything’s just got so expensive!

The government have just introduced the renters right bill so as a result rents will rise even more.

They have screwed the markets, landlords are selling in droves and the ones that do have property are putting up rents while they still can without disputes and court cases.

In giving tenants more rights than landlords they have managed to equally screw them over.

How old are dc ? Under 10 they can share. Is a 2 bed a lot cheaper? You can also find clever ways to divide a bedroom
https://share.google/images/X8prECkKITMvN6UVa

Once our rent is paid plus council tax (privately rented) I have £550 left from my wages. It comes out my account so I can work it out pretty accurately.
I am now remarried so fortunate in that I have a husband (on similar pay to me) and I have three kids - we share a 5 yo, 15 yo from previous marriage with us some of the time, and 18 yo now at uni.
The only other income we receive is CB so it's definitely not easy when you have no choice but to pay a private rent.
Been renting now for a decade.

@UnsustainableMum Didn't you say you get some UC? £250 fuel a month seems steep? We also live in a village and I travel with work and spend about £30/£35 pw. And also your car insurance seems like quite a bit? Do you have a snazzy car?!

No snazzy car at all a boring family car that I have from the separation. No car loan either. But the car insurance shot up last year.

Lots of driving to schools, work, clubs. Basically have to drive everywhere. Even to utilise the free childcare I have in the holidays is an hour each way 🙁

I think that is just South East rents. If you were in Midlands you'd pay on region of £1200 pcm for 3 bedroom house. In North East you'd only pay in region of £900 for a 3 bedroom house and maybe even less. I'd move if at all possible.

Should add the children’s dad isn’t really involved in their lives. He moved away and only shows up for the odd month here and there. So I’m very much responsible for all the childcare arrangements.

@UnsustainableMum It definitely isn't easy - especially as single parent (I've been there). Do you get any UC? CMS from father?