How does buying a 2nd home affect tax credits and benefits?

FBaby

It really is incredible that one family up north could afford a second property for £60K and getting an income out of it whilst this would be what is required to put a deposit down on a main home in some areas of London, yet both families would be entitled to the same amount of benefit....somehow doesn't sound right at all.

dori2o

Teahfc wrote: »

Wow, why does the government and local councils put families on full benefits in these areas ? Why london when HB is so stupidly high when Halifax and many other similar towns with nice houses like that could not be utilised is beyond me ?

And where would all these people work? There's already high unemployment in West Yorkshire. Moving a load of people from London up north isn't exactly going to improve that situation is it.

London has as much , if not more, need for low paid workers as anywhere else in the UK, which means it needs to house these people who do this low paid work.

Is it right/fair to make these people move 20/30/40 miles outside of London just because HB is cheaper, especially when their costs of getting to work would significantly increase making it less worthwhile working?

The problem is not with the level of benefits, it's with the bubble that is London and the SE. Sort that out and things become much fairer.

diymonkey

Don't forget the salary imbalance between north and south. Don't quote me on this, but I'm sure the average salary for west yorkshire is like £15k, whereas in london it will be 2-3 times more.

midnight_express

I think I might be moving up north. I'll be able to retire. Though as I live on the south coast everywhere in the UK is north of me.

zagfles

dori2o wrote: »

And where would all these people work? There's already high unemployment in West Yorkshire. Moving a load of people from London up north isn't exactly going to improve that situation is it.

London's unemployment rate at 8.1% is well above the national average of 7.1%, and is similar to Yorkshire at 8.4%

Perhaps they should move to Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales or the East Midlands which have lower unemployment than London plus of course much cheaper houses.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10589129/Unemployment-in-the-UK-regional-breakdown.html

http://www.itv.com/news/london/story/2014-01-22/unemployment-rate-in-london-falls-to-354-000/

dori2o

zagfles wrote: »

London's unemployment rate at 8.1% is well above the national average of 7.1%, and is similar to Yorkshire at 8.4%

Perhaps they should move to Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales or the East Midlands which have lower unemployment than London plus of course much cheaper houses.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10589129/Unemployment-in-the-UK-regional-breakdown.html

http://www.itv.com/news/london/story/2014-01-22/unemployment-rate-in-london-falls-to-354-000/

So you increase the unemployment rates in the north to reuce them in the south? All that happens there is that even fewer people ever have the chance of getting into employment as there are more and more people chasing the few jobs available in these areas.

Rather than chasing people out of there homes more should be done to increase the number of jobs and the salaries of the low paid.

zagfles

dori2o wrote: »

So you increase the unemployment rates in the north to reuce them in the south? All that happens there is that even fewer people ever have the chance of getting into employment as there are more and more people chasing the few jobs available in these areas.

Rather than chasing people out of there homes more should be done to increase the number of jobs and the salaries of the low paid.

You asked "where would these people work"? Well apparently it's easier to find a job in most of the rest of the country.

FBaby

diymonkey wrote: »

Don't forget the salary imbalance between north and south. Don't quote me on this, but I'm sure the average salary for west yorkshire is like £15k, whereas in london it will be 2-3 times more.

But using an average to make a point is uselessbecause of the scale of salaries. In London, you will have more people earning significantly above average hence skewing the 'average' and let's not forget that public sector workers will earn the same wherever they live except for London. They have been looking at introducing a geographical scale to deal with the impact this has on recruitment. NHS hospitals in the South struggle to recruit compared to those in the North, which really is no surprise when you start comparing disposable income.

Bogof_Babe

diymonkey wrote: »

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31910670.html
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44536589.html
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33195060.html

Is link 1 and link 3 the same house? I recognised the kettle, then certain other similarities. Looks like it is on with two agents.

diymonkey

FBaby wrote: »

But using an average to make a point is uselessbecause of the scale of salaries. In London, you will have more people earning significantly above average hence skewing the 'average' and let's not forget that public sector workers will earn the same wherever they live except for London. They have been looking at introducing a geographical scale to deal with the impact this has on recruitment. NHS hospitals in the South struggle to recruit compared to those in the North, which really is no surprise when you start comparing disposable income.

I totally agree.

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Is link 1 and link 3 the same house? I recognised the kettle, then certain other similarities. Looks like it is on with two agents.

Oh yeah, their both the same lol! I was just showing some examples of the kind of prices you can get up here, but I'm sure you get the jist.