Teachers speaking out about parents' long working hours

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Here.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27027677

Interesting. I think it is good that this is being raised as an issue.

I am not anti working parents at all, but surely a society that thinks it is ok for children to be at school from 8am to 6pm needs to look at itself.

Hopefully it is still a small minority of children who spend five days a week at school for these hours, but it is good that teachers are speaking out before it becomes seen as an acceptable norm.

Several of the family homes in my road (very close to a university, most of the homeowners are current or retired academics who work/worked at that university and are raising/raised their families there - minimum 3 beds, most 4 5 or 6 bed houses (the terraced houses on one side of the road all have minimum 5 bedrooms some as many as 8, the semis and detached ones on the other side have mainly 3, 4 or 5 beds)) have been bought in recent years by parents of young people starting out at the university and converted into student houses for their own kids plus a few friends to live in. That has massively raised the price of property in this and the surrounding roads (same scenario) such that youngish families now have no hope of living here, not least because the salary multiples needed for a mortgage now far outstrip not just the local average but also the average academic salary. The people buying the properties, converting them (causing significant disruption to the residents, also) and then selling them on after 3 years (which often happens) are not part of the community at all. It's not good. I don't think it has anything to do with working parents though (or not much) but more to do with price differentials between the south east or, indeed, other countries (many of the houses are now owned by parents of overseas students) and where we are.

Yup I know people bringing up families in 2 bed flats. It's not that unusual.

However I always assumed I'd have what you'd call a "family home". Larger 3 or 4 bed and have been really disappointed to be living in much smaller accommodation than I grew up in.

Herc, but where would the students live without those houses, whether bought by parents or by "professional" landlords?

LBP makes a very good point that is rarely mentioned - the expectation now seems to be that single people should be able to afford their own place. That has never been possible, other than maybe in TV/film world, people have lived with family friends - who's says the luxury of living on your own, or of families where two parents each separately have their own home big enough to accommodate all their DC won should be a basic human right... Breakdown of families has increased pressure on accommodation.

Um, Grennie, that would mean a lot of properties just sat empty instead of being lived in. Plus would you really want people just renting from one or two large corporations or something? That could fix prices?

Grennie - how would that work? We have a flat we let out, and we decide whom to let it to. If it were empty (hasn't been so far), we would be paying full council tax on it anyway - how more punitive should it be? People we have let to are the types who need flexibility - if they had to go to some state behemoth that moved as slowly and laboriously as most public sector organisations they would not have the ability to move for jobs and keep the economy going.

Doctrine we have an oversupply of purpose built student accommodation in the city. A significant oversupply. They are still building more though. Each new place they throw up is more luxurious than the last, too.

Thanks, Herc.

Additionally, Grennie, non-primary homes are subject to CGT - they are an asset not a residence.

TBH most 'amateur' landlords have them professionally managed these days, because the complexity of legal compliance is such a headache. Or they belong to one of the landlord associations, so the rent deposits can be dealt with properly. Saying it should be effectively nationalised and handed over to Crapita or Serco or whatever is a bizarre notion. I guarantee you I do a better, more professional job as a landlord than either of those two ever would. Well kept, beautifully decorated house with all the trimmings, and yes, I have let to students too (albeit mature ones).

Herc I wasn't so much thinking of the bedrooms as the flat itself and area.

The flat had no space for buggies/toys etc. No shared garden. No park within miles. No other families in the block, I'd say. Room for one bike in the bike rack andf a prohibition of anything being left in the communal hallways.

What it had going for it was being spitting distance to the train station and a smaller spitting distance to lots of nice bars and restaurants.

It really was made for a young working couple.

If the flat had a second bedroom surely thats where you would put toys and buggies etc?

jas both bedrooms were pretty small TBH. Room for a bed, a wardrobe and that was pretty much it!