Spending 68% of my salary on rent!! :( How can i get it lower??

owitemisermusa

Angel89 wrote: »

whast RM??

Rightmove as in www.Rightmove.co.uk

anotherpaul_2

Angel89 wrote: »

And then for the last 1year when i worked fulltime self employed i worked as a stockmarket trader, traded crude oil,
but to ''legally'' avoid paying tax i traded through an SB not, not brokerage firm.

I was looking at doing that a while ago, and my accountant advised me that HMRC would almost certainly claim that I was professionally trading rather than betting, and chase me for tax. This would be the case if a significant portion of your income is derived from spread betting. Hopefully they won't catch up with you because you'll at best spend a lot of time persuading them that you really don't owe them, and you might lose the arguement.

Angel89_2

anotherpaul wrote: »

I was looking at doing that a while ago, and my accountant advised me that HMRC would almost certainly claim that I was professionally trading rather than betting, and chase me for tax. This would be the case if a significant portion of your income is derived from spread betting. Hopefully they won't catch up with you because you'll at best spend a lot of time persuading them that you really don't owe them, and you might lose the arguement.

As far as i am aware theres no clause taht the government had invented at the time that said 'if you do it (professionally) you have to pay tax'.

Since it would be totally ridiculous for them to even make a statement like that,
since why would you ever trade 'unprofessionally'?? :huh:



I did it for 11months, and it was my sole source income.

(Did extremely well due to the volatility and the easiness of trading oil that i brought, but theres no way the governmnet will or even could get any of my income to be taxed as its all be spent!) :cool::o



If it was taxable then no-one would do it though and so the entire indsutry would dry up, addking 10,000s more to the unemployment queues.

Since technically we do still contribute to tax, just indirectly.


Cos if you trade through a broker you pay about 50p - £1 per trade you make as comission fees, but pay tax.
When you trade through an SB platform i was paying roughly £120+ per trade in fees, but tax exempt.

The SBs merely do exactly what brokers do by hosting the platform for you, and filling you trades into the underlying market,
and so they make guaranteed profit each trade by earning your comission fee.
(Which is taxed when they pay tax)

anotherpaul_2

Angel89 wrote: »

As far as i am aware theres no clause taht the government had invented at the time that said 'if you do it (professionally) you have to pay tax'.

That's the advise I was given. It's possible that my qualified accountant was wrong (opinions on the subject do differ), but it's at best a grey area. My understanding is that the exemption on gambling only applies to people who do it as a hobby. It's no longer a hobby when you make all your income from it (it becomes a business).

Angel89 wrote: »

Since it would be totally ridiculous for them to even make a statement like that, since why would you ever trade 'unprofessionally'?? :huh:

Plenty of people gamble a little or do a bit of spread betting on the side of a regular income from somewhere else.

Angel89 wrote: »

(Did extremely well due to the volatility and the easiness of trading oil that i brought, but theres no way the governmnet will or even could get any of my income to be taxed as its all be spent!) :cool::o

If they decide that you owe them tax, it doesn't matter if you'd already spent the money - you still have to pay them. If you worked cash in hand to dodge tax, do you think "Sorry, I've already spent it" would get the tax man to go away?


As I said, it's only a problem if they catch you (which is less likely if you've now stopped), and it's not black and white, so you'd have a chance to argue that it was tax exempt, but this might be through the courts.

Welshwoofs

Angel89 wrote: »

(Did extremely well due to the volatility and the easiness of trading oil that i brought, but theres no way the governmnet will or even could get any of my income to be taxed as its all be spent!) :cool::o

Ummm....it doesn't quite work like that. If you owe them tax and you can't give them a lump sum, guess where they take it from?

As for your spread betting and tax:

I did it for 11months, and it was my sole source income.

http://www.financial-spread-betting.com/Tax-free.html
Q: So is Spread Betting really tax-free?

A: Spread Betting is only tax free if it is not your main source of income.

iscrimger

I think the Landlord is entitled to charge whatever he see's as reasonable. None of us know his mortgage or factoring costs towards these 2 flats so we have no idea what sort of money he is making from the rent.

The point is the posters outgoings are too high, particularly the rent - his income is above average at around £18k.

I would look for something cheaper - possibly not new as this really does increase the rental prices.

superfran_uk

There are two ways to change this percentage for the better:

a) Get a new job
b) Move somewhere cheaper

Your landlord is likely to baulk at your email and rather than offering you a massive reduction, is more likely to evict you - putting it mildly, you come across as being difficult. It is badly worded, and I think you should have asked for opinions before you pressed send. But what's done is done, let's hope he doesn't take it badly. You may still need to look for shared accommodation though, it's cheaper and can be great fun if you get on with the people you share with.

What is your job? Are you a PCSO? There are no other jobs I can think of which would be a stepping stone into the police force, they will consider people from any background as long as you pass all the tests. If you can't cope on 18k (and thousands cope on far, far less) then I suggest you get a better paid job and volunteer as a special constable at weekends, that is likely to make you look better in a police recruiter's eyes.

Saying all this, your lifestyle is just not that of someone looking to save. £75 on beer a month is excessive, £36 on Sky is a waste...Two haircuts is ridiculous.

I would also be worried about your tax - you are aware that they do a full financial check as part of the police applications process? Tax evasion is a criminal offence and as such would most likely disqualify you completely, which would be a shame if that's the primary reason you've given up your old lifestyle. I would look into this sharpish.

jackieblack

Personally, if I were your age, I'd find someone to flatshare with.
Looks like lots of of 2/3 bed flats for £725-£800pm in your area (http://www.findaproperty.com/searchresults.aspx?edid=00&salerent=1&areaid=0047&bedrooms=02)

Save yourself £200 a month.:D


Let us know what your landlord says, when you get a reply.

TotallyBroke

Have a look at places like Gumtree they always have rooms available and in the current climate a lot of people are taking in lodgers to help with their own commintments. Not all flatshares are grotty. My friend shares in a gorgeous 4 bedroom victorian house. They have 1 huge bathroom upstairs and a downstairs toilet and shower as well as communial living room and kitchen. They actually choose to split the cost of a cleaner to come in once a week and clean the communial parts of the house so no arguing about who does what and when. They then clean their own rooms if the choose to. They have a rota and agree on house rules from the start, so kitchen is wiped over after use, plates rinsed before going in the dishwasher. Bath wiped out after use and toilet cleaned every night. I think the cleaner costs them £20 pw so that works out at approx £20-25 per month each. Great if you are saving a couple of hundred each month on rent.

Edit: You would at least save the council tax, electric and other household bills. You could then split your landline and sky bills and broadband. Depending on where you stayed you may even save on travel

mlz1413

My life costs sheet is as follows-
Rent= £675
CT= £64
Travel to work= £180 (£45pw)
Food= £105 (£26pw / £3.50pd = 3meals)
Drink= £75 (£19pw / £2.50pd = 2beers)
BT (Internet port)= £12
02 (Mobile phone)= £20
Sky TV + Internet= £36
Halifax CC repayment= £50
Electricity= £30
Haircut x2= £18
Other Essentials= 30
______________________________

£1,295


Ive already cut back on basically any sort of luxury or even basic expense of any sort,
but so the only other thing i believe that i can get reduced is my rent.

But what is the best way of approaching my landlord to ask for this to be done??

---

Sorry but this is the best laugh I've had in ages!

Angel says in bold that they have cut back on ANY sort of luxury - but the list includes £75 on booze, £36 on Sky and £18 on 2 haircuts a month.

I'm nearly double your age Angel and I don't spend out that much on those 3 items in a month! And I'm clearly not the only person with an issue on these costs as at least 3 other have pointed out these are luxuries.

And then to expect your LL to drop the price of your rental to compensate your life style - laugable.

Get on with seeing out your contract and then move to somewhere you can afford or back with family.