Page 3 | Living in a one bedroom flat for the next seven years

shestakingtheurine · 2023-08-20T20:05:22+00:00

I was incredibly lucky to be given large one bedroom council flat last year. Under the right to buy scheme I will be eligible to buy it for a 50% discount off market value after I have lived here for three years. I then have to live in it for another five years before I can sell it without paying money back to the council. I have just finished university this year so hopefully by this time I will be able to afford something bigger. The thing is I am 26 and me and my partner wanted to try for a baby next year but if we were successful the baby would be five before I could move somewhere bigger. I think I would be stupid to miss out on this opportunity but am I also mad to think I could have a family whilst living in a one bedroom flat for five years?

NewNameND · 21/08/2023 10:53

Deathbyfluffy · 21/08/2023 09:36

If you don’t want a profit, then buy somewhere privately at full price.
It’s mental that the right to buy discount payback period is only 5 years - it should be more like 15+ to discourage this kind of thing.

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Totally agree.

We’re going to ‘have to’ stay in our house at least 5 years to make it financially sensible. Staying 5years to make so much money off the system is bonkers. I will literally vote for any party that abolishes Right to Buy

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 21/08/2023 10:55

BLT24 · 21/08/2023 10:41

Don’t wait to have baby for the sake of a property.

If it’s a large one bed can you turn it into a two bed?

She's only 26, freshly graduated and about to embark on a professional career - why on earth wouldn't she wait?

OP - If having a child is being driven by your partner's age, does that mean he will be taking the career/earnings/pension hit? Will he be taking paternity leave, going part-time, doing nursery/school pickups etc?

BLT24 · 21/08/2023 10:59

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 21/08/2023 10:55

She's only 26, freshly graduated and about to embark on a professional career - why on earth wouldn't she wait?

OP - If having a child is being driven by your partner's age, does that mean he will be taking the career/earnings/pension hit? Will he be taking paternity leave, going part-time, doing nursery/school pickups etc?

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Because she’s currently fit and well enough to try to have a baby and you don’t know what is around the corner. Take it from someone who ‘waited’ until they were married and established in a career at the age of 30 who then got cancer and is now unable to have a baby.

ManchesterGirl2 · 21/08/2023 11:02

gelatogina · 21/08/2023 08:48

I just can’t understand how this is allowed to happen when there is such a shortage of council homes.

Me either, its madness.

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 21/08/2023 11:22

NewNameND · 21/08/2023 10:53

Totally agree.

We’re going to ‘have to’ stay in our house at least 5 years to make it financially sensible. Staying 5years to make so much money off the system is bonkers. I will literally vote for any party that abolishes Right to Buy

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100% agree. I don't think it's on any of the current manifestos though? Or is it?

2reefsin30knots · 21/08/2023 13:32

Have you looked at how much child care will cost against an entry level public sector salary?

Will you actually be able to save to buy the property once you have had the baby?

MarjorieStuartBaxter · 21/08/2023 13:34

sadaboutmycat · 20/08/2023 22:52

All I can read is "I'm going to take yet another social housing property away so I can make a profit"
I know lots of people do it and it's perfectly legal but it doesn't make it right, does it?

My thoughts exactly

Original poster

shestakingtheurine · 21/08/2023 13:43

I'm sure from September 2025 working parents will be entitled to 30 hours free childcare from 9 months old ?

OP posts:

ZeldaWillTellYourFortune · 21/08/2023 13:47

titchy · 20/08/2023 21:21

If you're only 26 having just graduated why are you planning a baby next year? Don't you want to start a career? Your biological clock isn't exactly ticking.

This. Why not wait and save money, get married, etc.? What's the rush?

nobodysdaughternow · 21/08/2023 13:51

Does your partner work and has he moved in with you?

SummerEnding · 21/08/2023 13:52

Helpfulperson123 · 20/08/2023 21:46

They can have this council house for 3 years. Save up a serious deposit (Say £15k) to buy it at 50% discount (£55k). £40k mortgage. Even if rates are still 6% in 3 years, that’s £700/month for 5 years until they can sell it for full value.

So in 8 years they’ve got £110k (plus any appreciation years 3 to 8) equity to buy their next place, plus presumably some savings accrued in those 5 years. Pretty sweet position aged 34. From £15k deposit.

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I bought my house 15 years ago for 300k. It is now worth 600k. I maintain that buying a ‘normal’ house if you can afford it is more likely to yield a bigger financial gain.

Helpfulperson123 · 21/08/2023 13:59

SummerEnding · 21/08/2023 13:52

I bought my house 15 years ago for 300k. It is now worth 600k. I maintain that buying a ‘normal’ house if you can afford it is more likely to yield a bigger financial gain.

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Over a 15 year period yes.

Over a 15 year period like 2008 to 2023? Obviously it was the FREE MONEY decade and a half.

In the next 8 years, house prices will not rise anywhere close to what has been seen recently. Whereas the OP has the opportunity to turn £55k into £110k, whilst paying down a tiny mortgage and saving the rest.

Or do you think your house will be worth £1.2m in 2038? (I mean, with inflation as it’s going, maybe it will be).

Original poster

shestakingtheurine · 21/08/2023 16:33

Partner is currently sharing a house with his friend who lives alone but only friends name is on the mortgage. He does work and is self employed.

OP posts:

NewNameND · 21/08/2023 17:02

shestakingtheurine · 21/08/2023 16:33

Partner is currently sharing a house with his friend who lives alone but only friends name is on the mortgage. He does work and is self employed.

So he’s the friend’s lodger?

are you depending on your profits from the house to house the three of you?

It’s sh*t and shouldn’t happen but mothers (and carers) are still discriminated at work indirectly in many ways. I’ve experienced it first hand when I had caring duties as a graduate. And Those who lived cushy lives with their parents (not paying bills or doing chores or house maintenance or caring) were able to work extra hours and seen as ‘more dedicated and reliable’. Luckily I had worked my socks off for a year before everything turned crap at home so many people in the company knew me as a good dependable team member. If the work hit a lull and I had to move I would have been able to another department based on my reputation.

I work in consultancy and all the successful women who are mothers recommended getting established first.

you’ll get more pay when you go on maternity.
When you come back everyone will ‘know you’ and you won’t lose opportunities to people who covered your work during maternity.
if you choose to leave your job after maternity you will have built up your CV to go somewhere else without compromising on pay.

A friend in another industry said she wanted to make sure it would be very expensive for them to make her redundant. Another established herself, then took the paid maternity, and with her built up reputation was able to move to steady freelance work after which gave her more money and freedom to work around her home life.

if you’ve just graduated this could hurt a lot in the long term.

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 21/08/2023 17:11

NewNameND · 21/08/2023 17:02

So he’s the friend’s lodger?

are you depending on your profits from the house to house the three of you?

It’s sh*t and shouldn’t happen but mothers (and carers) are still discriminated at work indirectly in many ways. I’ve experienced it first hand when I had caring duties as a graduate. And Those who lived cushy lives with their parents (not paying bills or doing chores or house maintenance or caring) were able to work extra hours and seen as ‘more dedicated and reliable’. Luckily I had worked my socks off for a year before everything turned crap at home so many people in the company knew me as a good dependable team member. If the work hit a lull and I had to move I would have been able to another department based on my reputation.

I work in consultancy and all the successful women who are mothers recommended getting established first.

you’ll get more pay when you go on maternity.
When you come back everyone will ‘know you’ and you won’t lose opportunities to people who covered your work during maternity.
if you choose to leave your job after maternity you will have built up your CV to go somewhere else without compromising on pay.

A friend in another industry said she wanted to make sure it would be very expensive for them to make her redundant. Another established herself, then took the paid maternity, and with her built up reputation was able to move to steady freelance work after which gave her more money and freedom to work around her home life.

if you’ve just graduated this could hurt a lot in the long term.

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This is all true. Harsh, but it's the reality.

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 21/08/2023 19:26

Also, bear in mind that not only are you taking the financial/career hit outlined above, but you don't even have the financial protections that marriage would give you.

While you are on mat leave, or working part time, and paying very little into a pension, your partner will be building his earning potential plus pension (at your expense, if you are the main carer), and you won't be entitled to a penny if you split.

NewNameND · 21/08/2023 19:31

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 21/08/2023 19:26

Also, bear in mind that not only are you taking the financial/career hit outlined above, but you don't even have the financial protections that marriage would give you.

While you are on mat leave, or working part time, and paying very little into a pension, your partner will be building his earning potential plus pension (at your expense, if you are the main carer), and you won't be entitled to a penny if you split.

To add to this, there’s a poster on MSE with a similar story.

she put all her cash into house equity on the idea that they would use her house for her pension. He had money in cash and high pension. When they split, he got half the house and kept all his own cash and pensions because they weren’t married