£480 wk ben cap not enough for families in London to live on.

wotsthat

drc wrote: »

Possibly that the FOI request is from 2011 and the pdf is from 2006? Or discrepancy between Westminster's own calculations and that of the Dept of Work and Pensions. Who knows if one department talks to another?

Btw, it is not "my" table. It is a document I found online. I didn't write it .

HB claims have been increasing YoY for some time I suppose. Also some of it will be down to total claims vs. private sector claims? There's bound to be a !!!!-up factor somewhere too. Even so that's some discrepancy.

If (over) 100% of HB claimants are getting in excess of the new cap I'll take it back about thinking that relatively small numbers would be affected. It looks like we'll be seeing lines of London refugees heading up the M1 and M6 to the North-West.

AndyBSG

The answer to the question of how will these families be able to afford to live in London after the cap is simple... They won't and I don't see any problem at all with that.

I work in London and spend over 3 hours and a huge sum of money each day commuting because I can't afford to live closer to my work. Even living out in the burbs like I do in a modest property I spend half my income on housing costs(excluding utility bills).

When I then see another 25% of my income going on taxes for this 'privilege' while unemployed people live rent and council tax free in prime real estate that the workers in that area can never dream of affording then there is no sympathy from me.

I hope it does lead to an exodus of unemployed from the capital to more reasonably and realistically priced real estate on the outskirts because with any luck the prices will come down and more hard working people like me can afford to live near where we work.

ukcarper

I think people are looking at this much to simplistically where are all these properties in the cheaper areas going to come from. I live about 35 miles from the London and there is not much property available here.

drc

ukcarper wrote: »

I think people are looking at this much to simplistically where are all these properties in the cheaper areas going to come from. I live about 35 miles from the London and there is not much property available here.

Luton, Stevenage, Peterborough, Southend etc etc?

ukcarper

drc wrote: »

Luton, Stevenage, Peterborough, Southend etc etc?

How much property is available in those areas?

Graham_Devon

ukcarper wrote: »

I think people are looking at this much to simplistically where are all these properties in the cheaper areas going to come from. I live about 35 miles from the London and there is not much property available here.

Well if people are moving out of london, then people will move further into London, such as the poster above.

Theres no more demand. It's just moving the demand around.

However, landlords will HAVE to lower prices to tempt the tenants living on the outskirts to move further in. There is little chance that people paying out of their own pockets will be able to stump up the same cash that the taxpayer did.

So we have 3 different outcomes:
- U turns and everythign stays as it is.
- People moving out of prime locations and prime location property lying empty with landlords not reducing asking prices, and taking a loss month upon month.
- Landlords reduce prices and tempt existing outskirt tenants into the prime location. This fress up property on the outskirts for those with a certain budget constraint.

My personal feeling is 4:
- Everyone stands their ground. Landlords won't reduce, people won't move, government backs down. Rents continue to go up alongside the benefits bill.

This doesn't create more demand. It just re designs the current demand. Or it has the potential too.

nearlyrich

No one should be able to take more in benefits that they could earn however many children they have, no-one gets a pay rise for having a new addition to the family. I think £25k is pretty generous I know families where both parents work full time and bring in less than £25k between them, we can't afford to pay the mortgages of greedy landlords and the sooner this comes in the better.

drc

Graham_Devon wrote: »

My personal feeling is 4:
- Everyone stands their ground. Landlords won't reduce, people won't move, government backs down. Rents continue to go up alongside the benefits bill.

This doesn't create more demand. It just re designs the current demand. Or it has the potential too.

I think we will have a situation like Dale Farm where the media (especially The Guardian, Independent etc) make a big fuss about people being made homeless (when in reality they will just have to move to a cheaper area) and make out like the residents are brave warriors who will put up a big, long fight but in reality people will move (and are already) and everyone will get used to the new facts on the ground without much real opposition.

ukcarper

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Well if people are moving out of london, then people will move further into London, such as the poster above.

Theres no more demand. It's just moving the demand around.

However, landlords will HAVE to lower prices to tempt the tenants living on the outskirts to move further in. There is little chance that people paying out of their own pockets will be able to stump up the same cash that the taxpayer did.

So we have 3 different outcomes:
- U turns and everythign stays as it is.
- People moving out of prime locations and prime location property lying empty with landlords not reducing asking prices, and taking a loss month upon month.
- Landlords reduce prices and tempt existing outskirt tenants into the prime location. This fress up property on the outskirts for those with a certain budget constraint.

My personal feeling is 4:
- Everyone stands their ground. Landlords won't reduce, people won't move, government backs down. Rents continue to go up alongside the benefits bill.

This doesn't create more demand. It just re designs the current demand. Or it has the potential too.

Like I said very complicated the people living further out will not be able to move in until the people living there move and the landlord decides to reduce rent and I’m not sure the property is available now for the people moving out.
I believe the £400 cap has already been introduced for new tenants so it will be interesting to see what happens.
　

Graham_Devon

ukcarper wrote: »

Like I said very complicated the people living further out will not be able to move in until the people living there move and the landlord decides to reduce rent and I’m not sure the property is available now for the people moving out.
I believe the £400 cap has already been introduced for new tenants so it will be interesting to see what happens.
　

It won't happen en masse.

Like you say, it's been implemented for new claimants.

I assume if an existing claimant wants to move, they also will see a reduced rate....therefore they too won't have any choice but to move further out, or stay where they are.

Either way, there will be less money for rent, and landlords will have to find that same rent from someone who can afford to pay it out of their own pocket. It's a lot harder to do that than it is to target someone who has a certain budget attached to their name through HB.