How to get a £500k house free

[Judy1234]

www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23405477-details/Jobless+couple+with+12+children+are+give n+a+%C2%A3500%2C000+home/article.do

i've done min wage jobs, been exhausted doing 2 jobs (childcare during day, bar work in evening) to pay off my university debts, had to live on dodgy old veg at end of day from marketstalls.

but I then had qualifications, could get a better job and eventually just about be able to afford to have a family and buy a flat.

Nowadays, though, we see plenty of well-educated folks who work in call centres because degrees have become so common.

Still, it says a lot about sense of personal and social responsibility to have that many kids and willing make yourself unemployed so the state can pick up the entire tab.

fiofio, it's definitely "their fault" that they had so many kids.

I can't have any more kids, unless one of them can sleep in the oven/bath.

fio mine grow rather quickly

you could have more if you chose to gave up your house, job and lifestyle and put yourself in temporary accomodation and then produced lots of babies. But you don't want that choice.

that's true. I can only do my job in London, and I love doing it, it's very much part of who I am. having another child really isn't an option, dh is being made redundant next month

Not having a pop at you, we went through a phase last year of wanting another child - or dp did- and hecame to the conclusion that we could not afford it. But in reality you nearly alwayscan afford it you just need to make adjustments.

Am sorry to here about the redundancy, I ahve just escaped our round of redundancies but there are another two rounds and it is a horrible feeling.

Does your husband know what he wants to do next?

probably freelance and get a bit of work from his former employer hopefully. he'll be paid off with a lump sum but obviously we'll have to be careful and have had to delay any plans of moving (mortgage application will depend on current incomings)

probably fio. I wasn't 100% happy but tbh he was a bit bored after 10 years there and he knew they would get rid of him if he didn't take the redundancy package.

I feel quite wobbly about it all, and it's come hard on the heels of a bad year for me (death of my dad, and a lovely neighbour, trauma of dd2 not getting into dd1's school - now resolved thank god - and lots of other Life Stuff that I really could do without)

I'm also Very Old and pregnancy wouldn't necessarily happen either..

It is hard I have been assured my job is very safe so we are going ahead with our moving plans and enrolling dd at a private school but it does worry me what would happen if I lost my job as I would struggle to get another teaching post that pais as well.

we have one holiday a year (italy this summer) and maybe another week somewhere in UK. we don't use private schools. we have an average car that we don't use v much. when both our daughters were at nursery the cost was higher than our mortgage.

people have mentioned right to buy thinking that it means you can buy a council home for virtually nothing. well it used to be like that in the 80's but not anymore, I'm in a one bed council flat that has right to buy I would only get a maximum £16,000 off current market value which is £350,000. therefore right to buy is totally unaffordable to me and most people. they would have to get pretty well paid jobs to get a mortgage under right to buy considering their house is worth %500k

Er - folks! You are all having a rant about the so called facts in an article by the Evening Standard! FFS - is it known for getting it's facts correct - how do we know that none of these children are disabled? Do we really know the true factors involved - er - no. Not worth arguing about surely.

thanks fio, much appreciated. actually he's just emailed to say that his boss liked one of his suggestions for a project

They haven't been ['given' a 500k house though They can't sell it and go and live it up on the costas you know Not like some of them

Yes the issue of what we choose and what don't is always interesting. In theory any of us who are fertile could have 12 children and I would have liked more than 5 actually but the feeling of choice and what people regard as an acceptable standard of living differs hugely.

Hannahsaunt,

£44k is well above the national average income (even for two people).

For one person to take this much home after tax their income would have to be in excess of £60K as any earnings over £40K are taxed at 40%.

to all of those who say that people on benefits just shouldnt have any more children...what about unplanned pregnancy?

i mean,this woman had 3 sets of twins,how do we know she planned to have that many children?

i think its unfair to say that you shouldnt get benefits for a child concieved whilst on benefits.i know there are people who take the p**s,but not everybody is like that

contraception?

I think that people are assuming that they were planned because the woman said, 'I was born to have children, it's what I am here for'

A reasonable assumption.

i was reffering to the general comments about conceiving whilst on benefits.i know in this case the woman chose to have lots of children.there isnt a 100% effective method of contraception apart from abstinance,as far as i'm aware?