To feel angry about this?

[PearlWasp]

My local area has just built new mid market rentals (one bedroom flats) the local news have released the criteria for people eligible to apply for them.
The flats will cost £545 per month and the criteria to apply is a connection to the local area and an income of £30,000 - £50,000 per year.

My 20 year old daughter has been looking for the opportunity to rent somewhere for over a year now and we were excited about this opportunity until we found out the criteria. She works in retail and doesn't make anywhere near £30,000 a year. It seems a bit insane to me that mid market will only accept people with such a high income to apply for their flats, but maybe I'm out of touch? Although £40,000 - £50,000 is definitely higher than average people earn in my local area!

£30k is an average wage though nationally so it tracks for a ‘mid market’ flat. She’s young, I don’t think anyone is expecting a 20 year old to earn £30k. Just not the property for her I spose. Can she house share? Rite of passage! Fun times.

If she doesn’t make anywhere near 30k, what does she make? £545 sounds good, but with bills etc on top would she even be able to afford it?

I was going to say the same as pp - DD20 earns about 28k , after tax and pension she takes home just under 2k, so with bills, food, phone, personal expenses, travel, clothes etc it would be very tight if your DD is earning much less than that.

It does seem a bit insane as that is extremely low rent. The town close to me is by no means an affluent area but for tenants to find rent at that price would be absolutely unheard of. Surely those flats should go to people on lower income not average income

Is she on minimum wage? If so, it will go up at age 21. Could she take on a second job to take her above the £30k? 48 hours per week as a 21 year old would be over £30k.

I’m guessing they are targeting young couples rather than singletons just out of college (who would normally house share or remain at home)?

I think £30k seems about right for that rent. She’s only 20, could she stay at home and build her savings, so r do a house share until she earns more?

They don’t want low income people, seems like they are trying to make sure a certain class of people move in

I'm not sure why you're angry it sounds incredibly cheap rent wise and 30k is an average wage. It seems unlikely she would be able to live independently if she can't afford less than £600 a month on rent plus bills.

It's a shame she doesn't meet the criteria but I don't think the criteria is in any way unreasonable.

If it’s ’mid market’ and she’s in a min wage job, these houses aren’t really being built for her demographic. Maybe they’ll (eventually) give somewhere for the decent (but not high) earners to go and there’ll be more low income/council properties available for the low earners. It’ll be a longer process but it (might) be worth it in the end.

Not many 20 year olds could ever afford to live on their own - I can imagine it’s the dream but just not realistic.

I think you’re focussing too much on the salary requirements and not enough about her age.

I guess the clue is in the name.... mid market rental.
For whatever reason, they are deliberately avoiding single person min-wage renters and targeting people earning just above the minimum wage and/or couples.
As people have said, earning as she does, could she even afford to rent one after all the other bills etc have been added?

I don't know why you're surprised really.

Most 20 year olds would be looking to rent a room in a shared house or if they had a bit more money, maybe a bedsit.

They don't tend to go from working in a fairly low paid job, to being able to afford a new, self-contained flat.

I'm in my mid-fifties and IME it's always been this way.

The median full time salary in the UK was £37,430 in April 2025 and will now be higher, so their target range is precisely aimed at the median for even single adults. She is very young still so will probably increase her earnings over the next few years. Few 20 year olds expect to be able to rent a flat alone these days. Why does she feel the need to do so and why is this your expectation?

Few 20 year olds expect to be able to rent a flat alone these days. Why does she feel the need to do so and why is this your expectation?

This is what I don't understand either.

I agree with everyone else, sorry. It does suck but a 20 year old earning minimum wage and being able to afford to rent their own flat is unrealistic. In my 20s I rented a room in a house. Had the time of my life! Has she looked into this?

That rent seems ridiculously low. For a new one bed depending on area. Shared rooms in houses are about £800 round my way in south east.

the other thing the developers haven’t considered is young people
may move in with the right salary but then wha happens if that couple has a kid? There’s no room to grow a family.

Then they’d have two earners, so as two average earners who are by then a little older and ready to start a family, at average median salaries full time would earn around £80k household income.

Usually they would plan in advance to have a child, save up a house deposit (easier if living in a discounted rent property like the OP describes given this very low rent designed to be affordable even for one median earner so leaving a couple with no children with a very comfortable disposable income, able to effectively save one whole salary per month) and then buy somewhere with space for a family. Or, they could rent somewhere with two bedrooms which should be affordable even if their earnings dropped by 25% because one parent went part time, particularly with having such cheap rent previously and time to save up first to help with childcare costs etc.

It is single people/ parents whom the system makes things very difficult for, not couples because a single adult is taxed more on the same household income despite having to meet very similar essential household costs. But in the case of the OP’s daughter, as a single 20 year-old she needs to focus on building a career and increasing her earnings and either live with a parent so she can save as much as possible, or live in a houseshare if she has to move away from parents for work or other reasons.

It’s very odd for the OP to expect a 20 year old to be able to rent a flat alone while still earning minimum wage when the rent has specifically been set based on affordability at median earnings, which she hasn’t yet achieved, like most 20 year olds! I really don’t understand what the OP is angry about.

I think this is about right, national min wage for full time is just under 25k a year if over 21, so 30k for mid tier sounds about right,

Also op the other thing to consider is by wanting people a little above min wage they factor in rent increases over say the next five years, if min wage doesn’t increase they can have people in there who can no longer afford, but if you’ve a buffer of say 2o percent like they propose, then rent increases, would be of no concern.

Yes. I house shared until I met dh at 29, then rented a one bed with him.

You should be able to move out and afford rent. Who wants to live with their parents in their 20s? I’m older and want to move in my parents so have no bills 😂

Surely at 20 it would be more realistic for her to share with a mate? Even 20 years ago, when things were more affordable, at that age it was not the norm to afford a flat on your own, I was in a good graduate job at 22 paid much more than minimum wage but still could not have afforded my own flat and nor could anyone else I knew, we all shared flats with a mate or two? And usually they were slightly gritty flats, we weren't living in nice new builds. Me and my flatmate lived on the slightly dodgier side of a big city centre area and the kitchen and living area were all one room not separate, no ensuite so we just shared the bathroom.

Yeah but you live with mates or a boyfriend? Living alone at 20 has never been the norm. You share digs with friends or if in a relationship, with your partner?

It’d very few 20 years old on min wage can afford to rent their own place.