The Reality of Renting in Britain today....

Lakelady_2

Hasn`t London always been like this? I remember friends 30 years ago telling how they got to rent their grotty flat.
One held a phone box free whilst the other waited for the evening papers to be delivered to the newsagents. You found a flat to rent, phoned and said you`d have it there and then, sight unseen.

careinthecommunity

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23902390-all-i-want-is-a-room-somewhere-far-away-from-the-cold-night-air.do

Wow.

Sounds like fun..... Not.

Never mind though, the housing shortage deniers will be along shortly to tell us all there is no shortage of housing in the UK, and that renting is cheap as chips and a lovely flexible stress free existence.

Or something...:cool:

someone probably has already beaten me to this as I have jumped in and replied before reading the rest of the thread, but this is london centric not Britain an a whole[as you are trying to suggest], and as have you (quite rightly) stated london is a micro climate of its own


or am i missing something...

still everyone can find bad stories for either argument

bristol_pilot

I can well believe it to be like this in London but not elsewhere. I could afford to buy but am renting due to the rent being less than a third of what the mortgage interest would be on the same property.

Jowo_2

Sounds like she's got Zone 4 income and Zone 2 expectations. It's almost like she's convinced herself that as she's excluded Zone 1 from her property search, she's not being overly fussy.

London is one of the most expensive cities in the world. You wouldn't expect to find a flatshare in Manhattan or Central Tokyo as a young single person on a low salary, would you? No, you'd commute in from a longer distance but that doesn't make for exciting copy, does it?

Not sure why she wasted the landlord's time by setting up a viewing of a self-contained property exclusive of bills when she could barely afford the houseshares which were less and included bills. Budgeting is not her strong point (nor is realism). She's shocked to discover she'd have to arrange to install her own broadband?! Not that it's prohibitive (small connection fee charged by some providers and 10 mins setting up the modem), but then its the norm for a tenant to pick up the expenses associated with the installation of a new service (or there's always dongles...).

Not sure why she bothered to view single rooms if she knew she had lots of bulky belongings (or there's always self-storage..).

Not sure why she bothered to view tenancies arranged through a letting agent if she didn't want to pay their admin fees - by cutting out those managed by agents, she reduces her chance of securing accommodation as many landlords have contracts with them.

In fact, I do actually feel sorry that's its so tough for the young on low salaries to find decent flats and flatmates in London but I've just decided to pick holes in her approach.

robmatic

I read this and was shocked to learn that places to rent in London are sought-after and expensive. Who knew!? Next we'll discover that it's expensive to buy in London as well.

DaddyBear

markharding557 wrote: »

well done on helping your relative,not many would do that these days:beer:

Considering that his housing 'empire' is built mostly on gifted family money, it seems only fair.

Sapphire

Why go for zones 1 and 2 if it's so difficult to find a place there? There are plenty of places in London outside these zones where this person could live. She sounds like a spoiled 'I want, I want, I want' individual and/or someone trying to make a name for herself with something of a non-story.

chewmylegoff

i lived in various houseshares from 1998 to 2008 in london. even 5 years ago prices were around £600pcm before bills for anything decent. her budget is simply not realistic for zone 2.

as a result she is battling for the rooms which are advertised at below normal market value, meaning she is either finding (a) they are carp or (b) they are not too carp, but loads of other people also want them because they represent very good value.

chewmylegoff

Sapphire wrote: »

Why go for zones 1 and 2 if it's so difficult to find a place there? There are plenty of places in London outside these zones where this person could live. She sounds like a spoiled 'I want, I want, I want' individual and/or someone trying to make a name for herself with something of a non-story.

i think a lot of the time people know someone who is living inside zone 2 and not paying very much rent and therefore ends up thinking that they can do that too. the trouble is, that people paying, say, £400-450pcm in those areas of zone 2 which anyone would actually want to be living in are just lucky that they have been living somewhere which has been a houseshare for a number of years with a landlord who has let the rent slip behind market value.

Bargain_Rzl

chewmylegoff wrote: »

i lived in various houseshares from 1998 to 2008 in london. even 5 years ago prices were around £600pcm before bills for anything decent. her budget is simply not realistic for zone 2.

as a result she is battling for the rooms which are advertised at below normal market value, meaning she is either finding (a) they are carp or (b) they are not too carp, but loads of other people also want them because they represent very good value.

Totally agree with this. I was housesharing in London from 1999 to 2006 and never lived in Zone 2. However I never had any trouble at all finding somewhere with nice housemates within a very short walk of a Zone 3 or 4 overground station and on multiple bus routes. And I never paid more than about £400pcm inclusive for the privilege...

If Emily took her blinkers off and started looking in places in Zone 3 served by the overground rail network (especially in South-East London - Forest Hill, Nunhead etc...) she shouldn't have any trouble finding somewhere nice and within budget, even if she were to deduct from her monthly budget the additional cost of commuting from Zone 3 instead of 2.