The woman who lives in a shed: How London landlords are cashing in.

[Ryoko]

Article from the Guardian HERE

I'd just like to say it's all very well and good the councils moaning but what they are going to do other then put people out on the streets?, these people would be homeless or stuck in bedsits and B&Bs for years on end while languishing on the council housing lists.

My former flat was a studio one in a converted Victorian house, 22 flats some with there own shower/toilet others shared one on the ground floor, bed bugs, mice and carpet beetles, faulty fire alarm system that the fire brigade threatened legal action over several times and no lock on the main door, next door to me lived a family of 4 who washed their baby bottles in the communal washing machine, a man died after falling thru the banisters on the 2nd floor when drunk. Yet the council thought the place was fine, they inspected it several times, by the time I moved out about a quarter of the residents where put there by Ealing council while they wanted for a council place.

We need change, I see "Luxury apartments" springing up everywhere, yet years down the line these places still have the sales suite open, I see so called affordable housing being built that isn't affordable for those earning less then 30k a year (the national average is 24k) and even if they could afford them they are unsuitable for a family with young children as they have open plan kitchen and living room areas (what idiots design these things?). We need real affordable homes and a massive increase in council and HA places, we need to shake off the obsession with dolls house style homes and embrace the fact we are a massive city and the only way we can build is up with more high rise buildings.

How does everyone manage to afford living in London???? No way would I be paying out those prices just to live in a city. I'd be relocating up North (where the air is clear).

Yes - average 2 bedroom flat is £300,000

I don't know how people can afford to buy or rent. Where is this money coming from?

DH and I were looking at new builds near us yesterday, a 5 bed townhouse (although 5th bed was tiny - more like a study), was selling for £289,950. Never will anybody pay that said I......

Those photos from The Sun article are shocking. How can the council let people get awa y with it? They can't be garages, there's no vehicle access. No one builds a shed like that.

Buttonnosedsausage you can buy a two bed flat near where I live for around £50k. Maybe less depending on the area...

in our area (EC london) you can get a 2 bed ex-council in a highrise for 150.00.
in a private estate in the same road it's just under 300.000...insane

"Not sure why people feel they need to stay in London - does it not make more sense to move out of the city - head North?"

lovechoc, London would collapse if everyone did this. Something needs to be done.

are there jobs in the north?
I mean a million or so extra jobs?

Mousy, I can answer that. No.
I have been unable to find a job since we moved here eight months ago, and DH has been unsucessful despite being happy to commute 50 miles each way.
We are now resigned to moving away and renting our house out.

"Buttonnosedsausage Sun 13-May-12 18:41:17

I often wonder the same thing Tequila. I think most own their property in these parts"

You walk down any street of houses except in the most posh of areas and you will see that most houses have multiple door bells they are not owned as one if they are owned by the occupants at all.

We stay in London because we have too it's all very well telling us it's cheaper up north but if their are no jobs to go to then what?, catch 22 we get charged so much here we can't save for moving home, if we quit our jobs without another lined up we can't sign on for benefits for 3 months. most workers would have to dive out blindly and hope to find a job before their savings run out (if they have any) and most are not willing to do that especially with the media telling us endless that there is no work.

It's possible to relocate, look for jobs up North and get out of the hell hole. It sounds horrific! No way would I be able to live like that...have just realised after this thread how good we have it in the North.

There are jobs to be had, but it depends on how fussy you are. Granted, there's not as many as people would like, but there is work out there if you look hard enough. If there's a will, there's a way.....

It's a very daunting prospect for those on NMW and have no savings, I think the only people who truly have a will are those in skilled work and they ain't the ones renting sheds.

My aunt owns a studio flat in Belsize Park (very fancy area) she paid 18k for it many, many years ago, spotted an advert in an estate agents last week for a similar place in that area £650 a week, A WEEK!.

That's shocking ryoko. Can't believe folk are daft enough to pay that each week...

lovechoc - its not daft, lots of salaries support it, particularly if you are young with no dependents.

"It's possible to relocate, look for jobs up North and get out of the hell hole. It sounds horrific! No way would I be able to live like that...have just realised after this thread how good we have it in the North.

There are jobs to be had, but it depends on how fussy you are. Granted, there's not as many as people would like, but there is work out there if you look hard enough. If there's a will, there's a way....."

It is certainly possible for individuals to relocate lovechoc, but that still leaves masses of people working in London whose wages barely cover the rent. Without those people, London would collapse.

What would happen if everyone in London followed your advice and relocated?

But not everyone would relocate though, that's the thing, especially if they're happy with the status quo as someone else has pointed out "lots of salaries support it".

These sheds with beds are a deathtrap.

www.ealinggazette.co.uk/ealing-news/local-ealing-news/2011/01/14/man-dies-after-blaze-starts-in-garage-bedsit-64767-27986567/

I know it is a nightmare looking for cheap accommodation in London but their has to be a better alternative.

lovechoc, you are missing the point- there are so many people who have to be in London and cannot afford the rents that they are living in sheds.

The answer cannot be to tell them to relocate- who would do their jobs and keep London going?

There has to be another solution.

I think the most shocking thing is that the quantity of illegal housing has got to such a vast level before being dealt with. Especially when there are parts of the country where there are houses standing empty. I don't think capping rents would help the problem either as most of the rents are cash in hand. I do think that tighter immigration rules and checks would help as there does appear to be widespread abuse of the student visa system, people claiming to be students whilst coming to work and then being trapped in awful conditions often as bad as those they came here to get away from by landlords taking advantage of their illegal status.

I am also shocked at the price of rents in London a house for my family would be more than our monthly income. We have a 2/3 bed house in a nice area in the south and only pay around £400 per month for our mortgage.

Tents instead of sheds?

Housing should not be a business, it is a basic human right. There is a chronic lack of housing in the South East not just London.

On the basis of one posters train of thought, if I was to move up North who would do my job?

And are you also saying that only the privileged and high paid be allowed to live in London/South East?

Sonatensatz you seem to misunderstand most of the immigrants/migrants choose to live in there tens in shared places or in the cheapest places they can find so they can send as much money back home as possible where it goes a lot further then it ever would here, moneygrams are a massive business costing the country god knows how much, the majority of people who come to this country have no intention of staying here for more then 12 months max, we area nation built by Polish workers, look at the Olympic Park a shining beacon for Britain built by migrant workmen living in crappy places, says it all really (well that and the largest McDonalds in the world).

A lot of the illegal ones tend to get themselves stuck tho as they destroy their papers when they enter the country to make it hard to prove who they are and deport them, so they end up on their arses on the street if they can't find work unable to go home.

I would still like to know how you can move up north if you work in London on a minimum wage job and have no savings?, no job lined up to go to, no money for a deposit or removal van, no benefits for 3 months if you quit your job. Don't think you'd be able to go to a payday lender if you got no income not that you'd want to anyway.