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Original poster

latest gov't advice re: renting

31 replies

RaisedByWolves · 13/11/2015 12:32

Re the above: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/464910/HowwtoRenttOctober20155_FINAL.pdf

In addition to carrying the usual blindingly obvious, patronising and generally useless messages the Home Office specialises in inflicting on the great unwashed with sadistic vigour (sorry but not a fan) the latest booklet titled "How to Rent" contains the following priceless paragraph:

"Think about how much rent you can afford to pay: 35% of your take-home pay is the most that many people can afford, but this depends on what your other outgoings are (for example, whether you have children)."

I've just done my calculations and in the area of London I live in (outer peripheries) rent is a diabolical 66.66% of my take home pay. I rent the smallest cheapest space I was able to find - so at the bottom of this market. HmmLooking at ratio of average pay in London to average rental prices it becomes obvious that a lot of other people are in the same boat.

Great pamphlet, I feel suitably advised! I shall obviously adjust myself to my income levels and seek to rent where I can reach that mythical 35%!

Is it unreasonable of me to want to shadow what Victoria Coren recently said, and recommend that all of us over 35% tenants simply leave London and refuse to any longer support an economy that permits the industrial scale exploitation of cash cow tenants?

OP posts:
Babyroobs · 13/11/2015 15:47

Are you entitled to any tax credits and Housing benefit on top of your take home pay?

NicoleWatterson · 13/11/2015 16:03

Mines 66% too! We are now priced out the area so screwed if our landlord wants us out.
35% would be a dream!!!

They are so fucking clueless I actually want to shake some sense into them

NicoleWatterson · 13/11/2015 16:04

We aren't entitled to any tax credits or top ups (just child benefit).

Spidertracker · 13/11/2015 16:10

Our housing costs are 30% of our joint earned income (not including tax credits and child benefit) we are on less than £25,000 between us.
I think it must be very possible to rent at less than 35% income in a lot of the country.

Babyroobs · 13/11/2015 16:28

Gosh that is tough then. Our mortgage is about 20% of out joint income. I don't know how people cope with such high rents, I feel for you. I also think it is ludicrous that that tax credit rates and threshold are the same nationwide, and don't reflect extortionate rental costs in some aeas of the country. Not everyone that gets tax creidts gets help from Housing benefit too.

Naoko · 13/11/2015 16:37

Hahahaha they're having a laugh. We're on 40%, in North Wales of all places. And that's only because DP was promoted, it was more like 55% when we moved in here. In this town that's the bottom of the market for a two bed. You can get cheaper and indeed bigger places but they'll all be in incredibly rural areas with no public transport, and we don't have a car, so any money saved would go straight back into having to run one. When we moved in here neither of us had a license so it wouldn't even have been possible.

HeadDreamer · 13/11/2015 16:48

I know they are having a laugh. Rent is so much higher than the equivalent mortgage. I'm sure the person who wrote this is a home owner. I know you can afford less in mortgage payments than rent because of the maintenance issue. But still. The rent is ridiculous whenever I look at the real estate agents windows. In my area, you pay £1200-£1300 for a tiny 3 bed family house. While at the same time, I'm paying £700 for a 4 bed. I can imagine the gap in london between those who bought their first house a while back, and those who are still renting must be so high.

Beebar · 13/11/2015 16:51

I really wonder sometimes, who comes up with these figures!? They can't be too educated.

NicoleWatterson · 13/11/2015 19:29

I've said it before and I'll say it again.
How are they going to house generation rent when we are elderly / too frail to work? We can't afford to save enough on our pensions to pay rent.

caroldecker · 13/11/2015 20:43

Why not leave London? 50 million people in this country manage to live outside London and yes, if you all left, prices would come down and wages would go up.

NicoleWatterson · 13/11/2015 21:14

Because my husbands self employed, employes 10 people and so it's not quite so simple as to pack up, make them redundant and start up again. It's taken 15 years to build it up.
Also we aren't London but in the past 5 years we've become commuter as its pushed us out.

MissWimpyDimple · 13/11/2015 21:19

Ridiculous pamphlet that has to be sent out to all tenants.

If you pay out 50% around here you are a very lucky bugger.

caroldecker · 13/11/2015 21:52

Nicole Does he pay enough for his employees to live in London?

ecuse · 13/11/2015 22:21

Er - CarolDecker - because about 1 in 5 of the UK's jobs are in London, maybe?

caroldecker · 13/11/2015 23:13

And if people moved out, the jobs would move or pay more. Very few have to be in London.

NicoleWatterson · 14/11/2015 07:56

The trained & qualified ones earn about the same as him the apprentices are on about double the usual apprentice wage.
None of them earn enough to hit the magical 35% to rent in commutable distance of work let alone London.

Husbanddoestheironing · 14/11/2015 08:04

What a stupid thing to put in a leaflet. If only it was that simple. No doubt all the wealthy homeowners in expensive cities (and I don't mean the ones who are struggling to afford it- I sympathise with them just as much as the renters) will be aghast when they find eventually they can't find bus drivers, nurses, firefighters, paramedics, waiting and shop staff, cleaners and many other more hidden essential roles, because no one can afford to work there. There was a news item about this starting to happen in Oxford recently.

senua · 14/11/2015 08:12

I also think it is ludicrous that that tax credit rates and threshold are the same nationwide, and don't reflect extortionate rental costs in some areas of the country.

No way!Angry
There shouldn't be a London Allowance - why should the rest of the country subsidise the London property bubble? It's bad enough that the SE is steadily stealing all our jobs, I'm not 'rewarding' them with extra funding too.

NicoleWatterson · 14/11/2015 08:13

So all the trades people who don't earn over 80k a year should move out of the south east?

Whose going to fix the heating?
Electrics
Build houses
Fix the cars, trains, buses
Mot the cars
Drive your taxi's and bus's
Chop down trees
Mow the grass

Whilst out of The south east there's a glut of trades people?

Besides as I said before, we aren't even London, we've just become London prices.
There's nowhere significantly cheaper within a 2 hour drive, so moving and commuting Wouldnt work.
We've parents getting older, also we are part of the community, helping out at scouts, helping with the elderly. Not to mention schools etc.
Moving is not as straight forward.

To hit this magic 35% we need to rent somewhere around the £550 mark a month.

Husbanddoestheironing · 14/11/2015 08:18

Yes even in many areas with lots of jobs around/ sensibly commutable in the north you'd be hard-pushed to get more than a 1 bed rent for that. Those jobs were exactly the kind of 'hidden' essentials that I meant- I guess in theory market forces should dictate that clients would just have to pay more, but of course again it's not that straightforward.

NicoleWatterson · 14/11/2015 08:33

Presumably if all the trades people did bugger off out of cities (as you say south east isn't exclusive on that one)
The few left like the nanny's, barbers, hair dressers etc could charge what the hell they liked and probably would hit the magic 80k.

expatinscotland · 14/11/2015 08:39

'And if people moved out, the jobs would move or pay more. Very few have to be in London.'

PMSL! Yes, problem solved. It's all your fault 'people'! If you just downed tools, meaning your fucking JOB that you use to pay bills, all these jobs would just magically follow you.

NicoleWatterson · 14/11/2015 08:56

Imagine the cost of living in cities of the only trades people were all 2 hours away.
It would be a nice town, 'trade town' we'd have perfectly maintained cars, beautiful lawns, manicures and pedicures, lovely new bathrooms and Windows. We'd have great healthcare with all the nurses, paramedics and dental nurses. Although obviously we'd all earn fuck all as there would be so many with the same skills

So when you decide your career at 14/15, do the ship you out then? Or do you start your training (and therefore start putting roots down and building your life) in the city and once qualified ship out to 'trade town'?

Husbanddoestheironing · 14/11/2015 09:22

Exactly! It's all so short-sighted. (Though imagine how good the schools and hospitals would be too Wink ) the flaw in the plan of course would be the 'escape to the country' types buying up the cheap, well-serviced housing. So it would have to be located somewhere really ugly that they didn't want to live/use as holiday homes....

NicoleWatterson · 14/11/2015 09:45

its ok 'trade town' would have most of the decorators and builders, we could turn that ugly town into something beautiful.

Just one question, where do the residents of ugly town afford to go?