How will people afford rent increases in London?

[slapbangwallop]

Aware rent increases are effecting all areas of the UK, but will hit those areas where rents are already at their most unaffordable.

Dd is a grad living in London and shares a flat with her friend. Their rent has just gone up from £1,850 a month to £2,100 for a grotty two bed in Zone 3.

An old friend returned to renting after a divorce and had been living in a one bed fairly centrally that has gone up by £800 a month over the 8 years she lived there. She’s a teacher at the local state comp. She was saying that her salary had only gone up £100 a month over the same period. Her take home is roughly £2,500. When the rent was £1,100 a month and she earned £2,400 she was willing to make the sacrifice to live alone and near work. Now the rent is £1,900 a month and her salary is £2,500, she can’t make it work.

@slapbangwallop my son rents a nice flat in a really upmarket leafy zone 2 area and they pay £2200 but 2 bed 2 bath, luckily he now shares with his gf and another friend has the other bedroom and bathroom but again like your DD his has gone up from £1660 in early 2021 to £2200 now.

It's mental and yes the only way they can afford it is to do this. They did look at moving to lower cost ,but crappier areas were just as much and this way they can charge a decent amount to the friend as he effectively has an en suite

It's extortionate. Fresh out of uni, it makes sense to share with as many people as is tolerable to make it work but you can't live like that forever.

I know it's preferable to stay within a network of friends and family but your friend would be so much more comfortable being a teacher just about anywhere else in thr UK and it's not like they aren't in demand.

Long term, I have no idea how London, and other cities that require mega bucks for rent, function when the people who do important jobs with un-remarkable pay packets are priced out like this?

Teachers in London face very high rents relative to their salaries.

As the teaching pay scale is mostly national with only a small London weighting lots move to cheaper areas.

New grads - if they want London experience and that's where their jobs are then that's the way it is.

They won't. It's not sustainable.

There are more businesses moving out of London (which should have happened long, long before now, imo)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-01/london-is-losing-out-on-new-job-listings-for-head-office-staff?embedded-checkout=true

And more HMOs springing up

https://www.property118.com/landlords-increasingly-diversify-portfolios-with-hmos/

more people work remotely now so less people need to live in zone 1 etc

Not sure I'd want a remote teacher or nurse.

I predict the south is going to lose almost all its public sector workers over the next 5-10 years

It’s shocking isn’t it.

DD is on a grad scheme in the private sector, the pay has apparently only increased £7k a year in the past 20 years!

Spot on @slapbangwallop. The rental situation, in London particularly but also in other areas of the UK, is unsustainable.
Young people will stop living there, as is clearly happening already. Schools are already struggling for pupils due to there being less young families and no doubt teachers and others with decent but not huge salaries are relocating. What sort of a capital city is that, with only the very wealthy, often foreigners, the old and those supported by taxpayers able to live there?!
How people respond will obviously depend on their circumstances so some will move away, some will move in with their parents again, multi generational living is likely to continue to become more common. A significant percentage are likely to default on their rent and, in time, prices will fall as a result.

London rental market is absolute filth. I feel sorry for tenants.

London will become a business district in the not too distant future.

Your brave! Every time I comment about London rents or just rent in general on this website posters will come at me really aggressively and make up like we all just need to get a better job and earn more when in reality that just can't happen for everyone.

it is getting out of hand and the amount that people have to flat share is ridiculous. You have people with children flat sharing.

I have frequently have junior colleagues being evicted and having to take time off work to find new homes. The conditions are poor in terms of what they get for their money too. There should be controls for London. It affects workplaces and the health of younger colleagues now in a way that is a problem.

I'm not surprised they've gone up. My mortgage has gone up to £2600 from 1st May

2 bed flat in SELondon

Selling won't help me - basically fucked

I'm a teacher renting in London. My rent keeps going up and obviously my salary doesn't. However, if I leave London I'd take a large pay cut and rents (although cheaper) aren't so much cheaper that it would leave me significantly better off. Additionally, I've been here for over half my life. My friends are here, I don't have anyone anywhere else and DD is hoping to move out soon. So the thought of starting over at 50 in somewhere I've never been and know noone is very daunting.

I'm not London but I am south east

The teachers at my school who have been in the area for a long time mostly don't move and don't want to.

But we have a steady stream of trainees/NQTs who work with us for a few years and then move either back home where it is cheaper or just move somewhere cheaper or go abroad.

So the pipeline of teachers is pretty leaky by me.

I'd guess London is the same - people who are settled and have family and friends are less likely to move. But teachers might do a couple of years and then go somewhere cheaper.

Hasn’t it already??

I moved back home. The rent payments feel like flushing money down the toilet.

You always get a few people who are unable to see the big picture and so make foolish suggestions or are just plain unpleasant.
As all these posts show, the rental market in the UK is completely broken. For those trying to buy, especially FTBs and those seeing massive hikes in their mortgages like @LaurieFairyCake, the rest of the housing market is equally disastrous.
The whole thing is just waiting to explode.

It's just actually hell the stories I have from renting include experiencing sexual violence and racism and it's so stressful.

Your DD needs to look around. This is in a lovely street about 10-15 minutes walk to the main train/tube station in Zone 3 for the same price.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/146720780

Or this (it's now let) for £1750?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144782009

That's just the a couple of a considerable list.

Rents are high but there's no shortage of tenants willing to pay. People I know who rent are accountants, doctors, IT, civil servants as well as those recently graduated. We all lived in shared houses for years back in the 80s too. Not sure how it can be resolved - people will say more social housing but that will take years and any council estates I know have been largely sold off.

What’s even worse is that the outer parts of London - and I mean Z3, not proper outer London - doesn’t qualify for London weighting on salaries.

It’s a huge problem for recruitment and retention in some boroughs.

On an individual level, no-one has to “live” in London, that is a choice. On a wider level, if the people who supply basic services, bin men, teachers, nurses etc, can’t afford London prices then something needs to be done.

Maybe, people who choose to live in London on lower rates, start looking elsewhere and move to a better life/work environment, London landlords will have to reduce their prices. Its all down to supply and demand

London rents are ridiculous and unaffordable for many. But your teacher friend just be exaggerating, teacher salaries went up by 6.5% for 2023 which even for the most junior teachers would be £100 a month rise, would be a lot more for 8 years especially taking into account going up the pay scale.

It’s all a bit insane. I’ve been helping a friend look for a 2 bed to rent in East London.

Very average 1 bathroom flats are £3-5k in Hackney which is where she wants to live.

I advised her to look further out but even properties in places like Romford aren’t dramatically cheaper.