Renters pushed to breaking point as Britain's selfish homeowners gloat their hands

greensalad

ukcarper wrote: »

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52705955.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52086749.html

Thanks. Sadly neither new-builds so not eligible for H2B But I had not considered Farnborough, it appears to be a little cheaper than where I am now. Off to hunt down the new-builds.

greensalad

WestonDave wrote: »

Another thing we also need to deal with is the South East concentration of jobs and people. We've seen in recent years pressures on water supplies - land is obviously in relatively short supply and yet we continue this mad focus on doing everything within 20 miles of London, whilst in Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle, there are resources to spare and with current technology no reason why many jobs couldn't be done there. We need to spread the load a bit better.

I totally agree, unfortunately though the glamour of London attracts a lot of major employers which in turn attracts employees. We need to move business focus away from London. Don't know how though, foreign companies will continue to clamour to be in London.

ukcarper

ShAnE wrote: »

I do hope those working in London work next to Waterloo otherwise 45 minute walk to the station + 45 minute train ride means most people would be looking at a 4 hour commute each day by the time they've reached their central London destination.

I think i'd much rather have been working in the 60's where everyone walked 5 miles in the snow to get places, as at least that didn't cost anything, and wouldn't take quite as long.

Plenty of people commute from both those areas and have done since the 60s. The Mytchett house is just over an hour to Waterloo including walk.

lisyloo

I'm not a lover of commuting but millions of people do it everday in London.
If you hate commuting then find a job/career outside of london.
Choose a career you can do anywhere - like electrician, plumber, hairdresser, dentist, funeral director, teacher.

greensalad

lisyloo wrote: »

I'm not a lover of commuting but millions of people do it everday in London.
If you hate commuting then find a job/career outside of london.
Choose a career you can do anywhere - like electrician, plumber, hairdresser, dentist, funeral director, teacher.

Yet the government has pushed for all children to achieve university education, rather than encouraging trade jobs. Wasn't that one of Labour's major campaign points? Every young person university educated?

WestonDave

greensalad wrote: »

I totally agree, unfortunately though the glamour of London attracts a lot of major employers which in turn attracts employees. We need to move business focus away from London. Don't know how though, foreign companies will continue to clamour to be in London.

Part of the solution (harsh as it may sound) is that when employers struggle to find decent employees at a competitive wage in London (because people can't afford to live there) then they become forced to look at outside alternatives.


For example I might want to run a call centre in London - however in reality unless I pay vastly over the going rate for call centre staff, I'm not going to get good staff in London because normal call centre wages won't pay for housing there. Meanwhile my Newcastle based competitor can get reasonably paid staff so can charge my customers much less than I could if I insist on being in London.

greensalad

WestonDave wrote: »

Part of the solution (harsh as it may sound) is that when employers struggle to find decent employees at a competitive wage in London (because people can't afford to live there) then they become forced to look at outside alternatives.


For example I might want to run a call centre in London - however in reality unless I pay vastly over the going rate for call centre staff, I'm not going to get good staff in London because normal call centre wages won't pay for housing there. Meanwhile my Newcastle based competitor can get reasonably paid staff so can charge my customers much less than I could if I insist on being in London.

I feel like it's a vicious cycle though. People can afford to *rent* in London, just about, so they'll still go for roles in London. Those roles are so few and far between that they will take about anything they can get. And then live in rented, shared accommodation for the rest of their lives as they cannot afford to save enough for a deposit. You really to have to save at an incredible rate to be able to afford both rent, and beat the house price increases. I don't know what the solution is. I'm trying to figure it out for myself, how we can afford to save several thousand a month when our rent (outside of London) is more than half our salaries. By the time we have saved enough, what we thought was "enough" is no longer enough.

ukcarper

lisyloo wrote: »

I'm not a lover of commuting but millions of people do it everday in London.
If you hate commuting then find a job/career outside of london.
Choose a career you can do anywhere - like electrician, plumber, hairdresser, dentist, funeral director, teacher.

I was not a lover of commuting but I had to do it to buy this was in the 70s. The train journey Farnborough to Waterloo is 45mins and you have a better chance of getting a seat than nearer stations.

mwpt

ukcarper wrote: »

The self build argument is a red herring no where near enough people would build their own home.

Incorrect, people do it in other countries.

mwpt

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Yes.

Provided planning permission can be obtained for it.

Or you could just pick one of the 300,000+ plots already in existence with planning permission and have a house built on it.

Genuinely interested if you could provide links to examples of such plots.

Is planning permission easy to come by? Why are plots with planning permission so pricey then?