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.

There is such a thing as key workers accommodation.

Getting divorced, selling the flat, and although there's a good amount of equity I'm at an age and financial status now where buying on my own is impossible in London. So I'll be entering the rental market for the next couple of years, and it scares the living shit out of me. Especially because we have a cat, and most landlords HATE pets.

Oh yeah, for a tiny flat in East Dulwich you're looking at £2200 and I take home £2500 so I'm looking further out, even though DD goes to school in the area. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Our standard of living will,reduce but far better than the situation I was in previously.

It isn't just London though. My sister lives in a grotty town in Cornwall. Not a nice tourist area. She's looking at studios which are £700 a month for the absolute cheapest shoebox. There's nothing cheaper. I've been looking for her too and seen for myself. And being in a grotty isolated town means only minimum wage jobs available.

At least in London there are options to earn a better wage. There are key worker schemes in London too, which I'm surprised your teacher friend hasn't looked into. My sister is screwed. She's in her 50s and her DC and grandchildren are nearby so of course she doesn't want to move away. Young people have more flexibility.

This is a private rental issue, not a London issue. I'm in London in social housing. £800 a month for a 4bed house. £100 more a month than my sisters tiny studio and I earn more.

A lot of house shares have long gone due to council licences etc, they either restrict the amount or dont allow them at all, as in our borough.

Agree I work in a particular area that involves key workers and we just can't recruit because they can't afford to live in London

This isn't true, most people have to houseshare in London, no one is living alone it is just simply too unaffordable.

Depends what the developers deem a key worker.

During the pandemic I was a key worker as a tube station supervisor. But on enquiring about a key worker rental in Lewisham, was told no, I'm not. Emergency services, NHS, council workers, yes. So it's not easy.

@MotherOfRatios

I have from renting include experiencing sexual violence and racism and it's so stressful.

OMG. So sorry you have had to go through that!

@RichTea90 Yes, but as someone who lived it in before, there's very little of it available and it's very competitive to secure key worker flats.

Plus, they're generally rented at 80% of market rent, which doesn't really help much relative to the sort of salaries a lot of public sector workers earn. My last place in London before I moved away in 2020 was a key worker 1 bed flat in Zone 2, £959 a month and could barely afford that on a teacher's salary. Sounds like a really decent deal now lol...

Haha, that does sound like a decent deal now, esp for London.

I am not sure what the answer is for key workers in London but it sure is a vital need for the city.

Yes. This is awful indeed. No one should have to endure this. This is why I would never rent (if I can help it).

There will be nothing left for anyone here soon particularly young adults. It's become unaffordable for most middle and even some highly paid people.
Enjoying this city comfortably these days takes affluent people. Really affluent.
There's a lot to be said for being older I often hear myself say.
It's a high flyer city now.

I completely agree. I’m mid 30s and I can’t afford it. I work in the city one day a week, and the travel and food prices are extortionate. I would hate to live there. I’d love to relocate up north, but my partners job is niche and he needs to be near London.

The cost of housing is absurd everywhere in the western world, judging by media stories. I live in a small city in Canada, and the new 2-bed apartments near me rent for $3000 a month including heat and electricity. (about £1750)

$3000 a month is more than the take-home pay for most people. Even sharing, that's half your income on rent

It could be worse.

It could be brighton

I guess a lot of people can only afford to rent in London because they can get universal credit to contribute to the rent. Otherwise I don’t see how it would be affordable to people on low incomes.

However, most capital cities are expensive so London is no different to Paris, New York etc in that regard. The market dictates the prices that LL can charge so if enough people couldn’t pay and properties stood empty, the LLs would have to reduce prices.

That's horrendous. Was it directly related to the renting factor or just awful people in general?

I do think that rents will fall over the next few years (in real terms) because I think the economic prospects in the UK are extremely poor. That doesn't help people right now or in the last 10-15 years though.

It is ridiculous!

Just the nature of flat sharing sadly

Ridiculous prices.

Also if people can't afford to live in the capital on regular salaries it means a shortage of workers for many sectors. No wonder sectors like hospitality, retail, care, education say they can't find staff. Especially after many EU workers left.

I think London has also lost a lot of its 'cool' and creativity because it has just become a corporate playground.

I lived in London for 30 years and left it two years ago. Like many people in creative industries I just could not justify the high cost of everything and struggling to remain in a creative role.

I moved to the seaside and can afford to have a studio and a house rather than a poky flat.

I don't miss it at all. I think the London experience in itself no longer justifies the extortionate prices and the poor quality of life.

I enjoy the occasional visit but would never want to live there again.

Really sorry to hear that @MotherOfRatios

It is shocking. I live in a really grotty town (its a dump!) but the rent is ridiculous.
Probably coz we are on a really convenient commuter route to London.

I'm in a trendy London area and our local FB group is full of professional job-type renters saying goodbye because they can't afford it anymore.

That's really sad.
As I said in an earlier post: '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?!'

Paris.

London will be like Paris. Nice restaurants nice shops but boring as hell.