Rented rooms in Leyton, East London, advice needed

puddy

Hi I am selling my flat (fingers crossed it all goes through ok) and buying a house in another area with my boyfriend. He has 2 adult children at home on fairly low wages, he will be giving up his council house where they all live as he has been told that he cannot transfer the tenancy to them.

we have been looking for room rentals on the internet, but they seem very expensive to me. the kids want to live in Leyton, or zone 3 anyway for travel purposes and they want to live together. they also have a dog (long story, i have explained the problems with this, boyfriend doesnt want the dog coming with us, i dont mind).

so i have been looking and the rooms seem to be around 90 pw for the cheapest, not many specifying that pets are ok. the kids earrn around 900 a month each, any ideas about cheap lets for them?

they initially wanted a flat but looking at 2 bed flats (plus bils) was far too expensive for them, so im looking at places where they have more than one roomm to rent out at the moment, meaning they can live together but just pay for a room, bills included.

rooms seem almost as expensive as flats? im worried they wont enjoy a quality of life on their wages

socrates

Before you give up the council flat get more advice. There are sometimes incentives for handing back a council property.

Also it may be possible to ADD one of the kids to the rent book.

Someone on the Benefits advice board may know more about this subject.

Have you thought about them renting a one bedroom flat and using the living room as a bedroom and the bedroom as a bedroom (if you know what I mean)?

That way it would be like bedsits but without other people in the house?

The dog thing is going to be a problem either way.

Robert_Sterling_3

Think think and think again about giving up a council flat.

puddy

well the cheapest flats i could find were about 650, then on top of that (even if they were accepted to share the flat as brother and sister, as the landlord might not like someone living in the living room) they would have council tax, bills etc, whereas renting a room the bills are included.

theres not much choice about giving up the council house, he will be a joint owner with me for the new house, he wont be able to afford to pay the mortgage and bills with me and keep up the rent and bills for the house. the kids cant afford the council tax, rent and bills for the council house. he has already phoned the housing association, they only ever do one transfer of tenants in a tenancy, he has already had 2 (one was discretionary because his wife died so he had the tenancy changed into his name obviously), so they have told him that he cant have another change.

socrates

There is an option to keep the council house for 6 months I believe, in case things do not work out. There is no such thing as you cannot have another name change. Also nothing wrong with adding the kids. I think the council are trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

Seek more advice this is a VERY important decision.

Also it is nothing to do with the landlord if you use a living room as a bedroom.

socrates

How much is the rent for the council house I thought they were supposed to be cheap compared to private accommodation?

puddy

socrates wrote: »

There is an option to keep the council house for 6 months I believe, in case things do not work out. There is no such thing as you cannot have another name change. Also nothing wrong with adding the kids. I think the council are trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

Seek more advice this is a VERY important decision.

Also it is nothing to do with the landlord if you use a living room as a bedroom.

well i have done a bit of checking out, he is in housing association for a start which makes it slightly different although not much.

firstly turns out that the changes he had before, were successsions (the second one was done by mistake but since they had already done it, they decided that they wouldnt go back on the change) you can only have one succession but there is no limit on the number of 'assignments' you can have which is to change the names on the tenancy.

however, ive just spoken to him and although i would be fighting to keep the house for them if thats what they wanted, the reality is that the rent is 490 a months, council tax 150, gas 100, plus electric, phone, internet, tv licence, plus things needing fixing (minor things that the housing association would not do) etc etc.

thats without anything needing fixing like say the washing machine, fridge etc,
so we're looking at bout 960 + per month between the 2 of them. sounds reasonable, however, thats without unforseen circumstances AND relies on the both of them wanting to stay there and only moving on when the other one does, or the one that gets left behind will have to shoulder the whole lot on their own. thats also without price or rent rises. my partner is getting himself into debt paying the normal outgoings, thats on his wages alone, so if he cant do it, theres no way they will be able to

whereas lets say that they get a room each for 90 a week, thats 390 each pcm BUT includes all bills and the freedom to move on whenever they want to, without being tied to the house. no responsiblity for the maintanence of a 4 bedroom house or utilities

i think its better for them to rent a room each

blued

I dont think 90 a week sounds expensive for London. I live in the north of Scotland and you're talking 70-80 per week for a room here.

Do they earn 900 pcm after tax? If so they'll be left with £510 per month with no essentials but food? So £350+ of disposable income? When I first left home I would have loved to have had that much money left to play with every month! How much do you think they'd need for decent quality of life?

socrates

Very big difference between Council House and Housing Association.

You still have the problem of the dog.

Bit of a pointless thread really after all that!

silvercar

His kids are going to really love you!

They will see it as you depriving them of their home; enticing him away to buy a place together with no room for them!

puddy

blued wrote: »

I dont think 90 a week sounds expensive for London. I live in the north of Scotland and you're talking 70-80 per week for a room here.

Do they earn 900 pcm after tax? If so they'll be left with £510 per month with no essentials but food? So £350+ of disposable income? When I first left home I would have loved to have had that much money left to play with every month! How much do you think they'd need for decent quality of life?

their travel is 166 per month, food, lets ssay about 100, so that leaves them with about 200 +, thats for clothes, toiletries, going out and savings, not much when you look at it that way