Posts with tag: tenants in london

Renting couples in London priced out of starting a home

Published On: November 30, 2016 at 12:49 pm

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Concerning new research conducted by crowdfunding platform property partner Property Partner has revealed bad news for renters in London looking to start a family.

Data from the investigation shows that those wanting to start a family while renting in London must pay an average of 55.6% of their combined monthly wage to rent a typical three-bed property.

This means that in one year, a couple would have to pay £29,520 in rent, before they even consider childcare and other associated costs.

Monthly expenses

The research looks at average monthly costs for rental prices for one and two bed flats in London. It then looked at how much it would cost to progress to an average three-bed house in each of the capital’s 33 boroughs.

Using the total average net monthly of earnings of a couple in London, amounting to £4,417, the investigation looked at the proportion of salary required to make the step-up.

Worryingly, it indicates that tenants are facing a nigh-on impossible task to rent larger properties in London. In Kensington and Chelsea-the last affordable borough-an average one-bedroom flat would cost more than 59% of their combined income. This rises to 92% for a 2-bed flat and 168% for a three-bed house!

The table below shows that 10 least affordable boroughs in London:

Borough Average rent for 1 bed flat Rent as a % of combined salary for 1 bed flat Average rent for 2 bed flat Rent as a % of combined salary for 2 bed flat Average rent for 3 bed house Rent as a % of combined salary for 3 bed house
Kensington & Chelsea £2,634 59.63% £4,059 91.89% £7,434 168.29%
Westminster £2,602 58.90% £3,864 87.47% £5,978 135.33%
Camden £1,814 41.06% £2,738 61.98% £5,383 121.86%
Tower Hamlets £1,439 32.58% £2,399 54.31% £2,437 55.17%
Hammersmith & Fulham £1,695 38.37% £2,389 54.08% £2,887 65.35%
Islington £1,738 39.34% £2,355 53.31% £3,461 78.35%
Southwark £1,589 35.97% £2,194 49.67% £2,608 59.04%
Hackney £1,600 36.22% £2,167 49.06% £2,811 63.63%
Wandsworth £1,480 33.50% £2,152 48.72% £2,591 58.65%
Lambeth £1,485 33.62% £2,099 47.52% £2,325 52.63%
London average £1,311 29.68% £1,839 41.63% £2,460 55.69
Renting couples in London priced out of starting a home

Renting couples in London priced out of starting a home


Shocking

Dan Gandesha, CEO of Property Partner, said: ‘Our research will come as a shock to tenants in the capital. With London house prices now so high, the ranks of Generation Rent are rapidly expanding. And, as demand for larger rental properties has grown, finding affordable accommodation is increasingly difficult.’[1]

Those unable to buy but hoping to start a family and move up the rental ladder may just be able to make ends meet in outer London boroughs. But the harsh reality is that they’ll be forced to bring up their children in a flat rather than a house. Although everyone knows Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster, are totally out of reach on an average London salary, the surprise comes with Camden and Islington too.[1]

Sobering

Continuing, Mr Gandesha noted: ‘Another sobering thought is that our research assumes both partners are in full time employment and earning the average London salary. The figures do not take into account that if a couple have one or two children, the costs of childcare and household bills would make meeting the monthly rent unachievable.’[1]

‘It’s welcome news that the new Chancellor announced £1.4 billion for affordable homes in last week’s Autumn Statement, and that this is across a ‘wider range of housing’. This sounds like a sage commitment to increase the supply of affordable rental stock which will also help control rental prices.’[1]

Concluding, Gandesha said: ‘Traditional landlords though are suffering from recent tax changes including cuts in mortgage interest relief due to kick in next April. With increasing constraints on making a profit or even balancing the books, buy-to-let investors could be forced to either sell up or increase rents. We must ensure more rental homes are built to balance this out.’[1]

[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property/renting-couples-priced-out-of-starting-a-family-in-london.html

 

London Tenants Share Rooms with Strangers

Published On: January 26, 2015 at 11:03 am

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Tenants in London have to share bedrooms, sometimes with complete strangers, to combat the spiralling rents of the capital.

Flat and house share website SpareRoom.co.uk has experienced a 71% increase in searches for bedroom shares in the last two years.1

Matt Hutchinson, Director of SpareRoom, says: “We know many couples are sharing rooms in house and flat shares with other people to save money, but there’s also a rising number of single people sharing rooms now too.

“Few people would choose to share a room, but the harsh reality is that London’s housing crisis means rents are becoming increasingly unaffordable.”1

A twin room in West London is being listed at £259 a week per tenant. Bunk beds are also being offered as twin rooms in some instances.

Another website, Kangaroom, which helps people find spare rooms, had 93,505 adverts placed on their site in 2014 by those looking to share either twin or triplet bedrooms. This was a 48% rise on 2013.1

Founder of Kangaroom, Jinder Sidhu, says that bedroom shares now make up over 10% of the market.

Sidhu explains: “While rent prices in general rose by 7.5% in 2014, room share prices have decreased by 12% due to increased supply and denser living conditions.”1

Tove Eriksson and Francesca Whitlock, both 25, met at the University of Leeds. After they graduated, Eriksson moved back home to Sweden and Whitlock, from London, taught English in Chile.

London Tenants Share Rooms with Strangers

London Tenants Share Rooms with Strangers

Last year, they both looked to move to London. Researching prices, they found that the only option in their price range was sharing a bedroom. Their friends and family were shocked when they revealed the situation.

Eriksson is a project coordinator for a women’s rights theatre project. It is a paid role, but is only part-time. She works as an office temp the rest of the time. Eriksson was hoping that she would earn enough for her own bedroom, but admits this could be a long way off: “I’m dependent on sharing. It’s either sharing a room or not living [in London].”1

Whitlock is beginning work as a campaigns intern at the Climate Coalition, and thinks living in the capital is the only way she will build a career in the area she is passionate about. She says: “It’s tricky; you feel you have to be here, but you have to pay absurd rents.”

Both girls have expressed how lucky they are to be sharing with a friend. Whitlock comments: “To share with someone you don’t know, I don’t want to use desperate because that’s not a nice word to use, but what a horrible situation to be in if there is no other way you can live.”1

Housing and rent campaigners have said that the trend is worrying, but inevitable.

Housing charity Shelter’s Chief Executive, Campbell Robb, says: “With our housing market out of control and rents sky-high, it’s no surprise that people across the capital are having to resort to these sort of measures just to keep a roof over their heads.

“But it’s simply not right that people are being forced to share their personal space with someone they barely know just so that they can make ends meet each month, let alone save money to build a stable future.

“The only way to end this madness is for politicians to roll up their sleeves and commit to building the genuinely affordable homes we so desperately need.”1

The March for Homes on 31st January will see tenants, trade unionists and campaigns march on City Hall, London, in a bid for Boris Johnson and councils to tackle the lack of affordable homes in the capital.

1 http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jan/25/london-tenants-forced-to-share-rooms