Heads Up! 9pm BBC1 Tonight

[Doesn't Commute Anymore]

51 minutes ago, Timak said:

All our PhD and post-doc students seem to live in HMO/flat shares now.

Room in Cambridge is £450-700 depending on if you want a box room in a grubby house or a decent sized room in a 2/3 bedroom house.

10-15 years ago post-docs almost always rented whole houses or even (shock, horror) purchased their own homes.

I always tell them they are too accepting of the situation. I seem more annoyed about it than them.

This was 15 years ago, but I was told as a young STEM researcher at the time that the lifestyle of sharing houses HMO style was a leading reason for the decline of numbers wishing to research in STEM - basically, you were committing yourself to living as a student for 10 years after student-dom. 

 

[Tom82]

I wonder how many Landlords were inundated with maintenance calls the following morning. The landlords on the show made it very clear they wanted to hear of issues asap and would fix them before they became major issues. 

[Doesn't Commute Anymore]

On 29/06/2017 at 2:52 PM, iamnumerate said:

I think you can find cheaper rooms in Milton Keynes

https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?featured=1&flatshare_id=3439796&search_id=502785169&search_results=%2Fflatshare%2F%3Foffset%3D10%26search_id%3D502785169%26sort_by%3Dage%26mode%3Dlist

I took a look at my old rented place in MK on rightmove, where I moved to in my first proper job, a decade ago.  It was a one-and-a-half bed flat in a safe area, and had risen 25% in the last decade to a rent of about 850pcm now.  Lots of MK flats have these tiny second rooms which are OK for a nursery, but useless as the child grows up.  It was a safe, well-located, but very dull modern housing estate good for the rail station.   I think you are looking at about 750pcm for an entry level one bed that is not horrible, or in the middle or nowhere, now.

Thus, if that is not affordable, you are looking at living in HMOs in Milton Keynes.  I guess an HMO also offers the chance to meet people of a similar age outside your workplace - Milton Keynes is a very lonely place with little in terms of established culture or social scene.    The documentary did make me think that the girl in the  MK HMO chose badly though - she was living in possibly the worst area, and paying a bit too much for what she was getting. 

[mrtickle]

2 hours ago, Tom82 said:

I wonder how many Landlords were inundated with maintenance calls the following morning. The landlords on the show made it very clear they wanted to hear of issues asap and would fix them before they became major issues. 

Excellent point!

I wonder if the 118 crowd started off gloating that they didn't take part, but are now being flooded with complaints from newly-emboldened tenants.

 

 

[olliegog]

the 66 year old (who by the way is a baby boomer!) does not need to work 3 jobs

she would have the state pension and if that was not enough be entitied to pension credit of circa £155 per week in total.

in addition she would get her council tax paid, housing benefit for most of that rent (if not all), cold weather payments, warm front help, winter fuel allowance, free bus pass, free prescriptions and so on.

She would not be starving in a garret - and I suspect her landlord is taking advantage of her naivety.

Either the story is a lie for sensationalism (how does anyone work 3 jobs?) or she genuinely does not know what she is entitled to.

[Dorkins]

14 minutes ago, olliegog said:

the 66 year old (who by the way is a baby boomer!) does not need to work 3 jobs

she would have the state pension and if that was not enough be entitied to pension credit of circa £155 per week in total.

in addition she would get her council tax paid, housing benefit for most of that rent (if not all), cold weather payments, warm front help, winter fuel allowance, free bus pass, free prescriptions and so on.

She would not be starving in a garret - and I suspect her landlord is taking advantage of her naivety.

Either the story is a lie for sensationalism (how does anyone work 3 jobs?) or she genuinely does not know what she is entitled to.

The 1 bedroom LHA rate is £674pm for the RM6 postcode and she was paying £950pm so housing benefit would not cover her full rent. I think they said she was getting £125pm in housing benefit? No idea how they calculate that or if she is entitled to more. Sounded like her net income was something like £13-14k pa.

https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/benefits/local-housing-allowance-rates/

Probably her best bet would be to find another lady pensioner in the same situation and share the flat. Like >95% of private renters in London, she's not affluent enough to afford a 2 bedroom flat to herself. I'd imagine that the pensioner shared house market is not as liquid as it is for younger workers though.

[olliegog]

why does she need to live in London?

my net income is LESS than hers - granted I have no mortgage but have to pay council tax /utilities, insurances etc.

The point is she does not NEED to work 3 jobs - in fact because she does is probably why she is having to top up her rent and pay her own council tax.  Maybe 3 other people who are younger could do those jobs instead. 

[Pop321]

1 hour ago, olliegog said:

why does she need to live in London?

my net income is LESS than hers - granted I have no mortgage but have to pay council tax /utilities, insurances etc.

The point is she does not NEED to work 3 jobs - in fact because she does is probably why she is having to top up her rent and pay her own council tax.  Maybe 3 other people who are younger could do those jobs instead. 

Maybe she wants to stay close to her family. But maybe we should ship them all up to Stockton? 

London prices are not reflective of the real people living there. Once the landlords and investors disappear from 'world cities' then prices will normalise again. 

At the moment interest rates are 0.25%, I can buy something for £700k cash and leave it empty at almost no cost. Whereas if my savings were paying 7% (which I was getting 10 years ago) then property looked a real bad deal. Even if I was getting a 15% return on property it wasn't worth the risk if I could get 7% in the bank. Nowadays the attitude is that there is just nothing to lose. £700k earns nothing in the bank so 'throw' it into equities or property. 

And once you start to leverage and borrow the scales just keep tipping in favour of this Ponzi scheme....0.25% base rate....it is laughable. 

Can't wait for 5% to happen....many say it won't (and I am closer than most) and I think today it looks unlikely. But 10 years ago 0.25% was unheard of, never mind unlikely. 

Mao a rate rise will kill borrowing but will also kill 'cash' investors too  

Am waiting for the big pop and then waiting for it to hit up in T'North. 

[winkie]

.....safe to say this country is split down the middle, see elections and referendums, see communities, see housing....one half gaining, the other half over time losing....when the balance starts to tip towards a greater number growing poorer, being disenfranchised, there to be used and profited from or simply just an inconvenience things just might start to change in their favour, others just might start really listening then....who knows?

[Dorkins]

5 hours ago, olliegog said:

why does she need to live in London?

my net income is LESS than hers - granted I have no mortgage but have to pay council tax /utilities, insurances etc.

£13k pa net is loads of money if you have a paid off house and no dependents. Plus if you don't have to work you have the luxury of time.

Call it £11k pa net after bills and utilities, that's £30 a day on food, clothes and fun. Can't be many wage slaves spending that much on themselves.

Edited July 1, 2017 by Dorkins

[electrogear]

This is vomit inducing! The young landord at the beginning of tonight's program - "there's winners and there's losers, and I've always thought of myself as a winner" then talks about how he "outsources" the cooking of his food to a woman who charges £10 per hour because he's "worth" more than her at £750 per hour. It get's worse, he then starts talking about the shoddy workmanship in one of their houses "well I prefer the pipes on the boiler boxed in but some people like it to look like that." (it looks absolutely horrendous) and then talking about the awful finishing in the bathroom "well yeah it doesn't look good but we don't pay them for the best job because the property is not our best paying property"

Pass the bucket!

Edited July 5, 2017 by electrogear

[Ah-so]

Awful. It shows exactly how unpleasant many landlords are. Lazy, greedy, self-entitled. 

[ubuntu]

all a bunch of parasitic *****, the young lads and the asian couple

[chicker]

asian fella full of shite. That electric metering is not an oversight . The cutn wouldn't pay for separate metering .......

His father came to this country and worked at full union rates . Most families only had one wage earner. Probably lived in council housing. Britain is eating itself

[chicker]

£100 as goodwill gesture for paying next doors elec bill ! You gotta be kinding

[GreenDevil]

Funny all the landlords drive mercs.

Must be the BTL landlord transport choice.

[BLOW FLY]

It's decorative mould don't you know.....

Let's put special paint on the bathroom tiles !

This just out of control.

These guys surely must be leveraged to the hilt?

An 18yo in charge of that LL's 80 property portfolio.....

Jesus wept ???

Wrong on all levels!

BF

 

[chicker]

We need a revolution, mid 50s and I'm up for it . Knees a bit rough , stone ish overweight but sharp elbows and a long ladder TPTB will hate me .

The youth need to join us/me because Im weird . A home owner who wants HPC .

 

[Tapori]

2 hours ago, chicker said:

We need a revolution, mid 50s and I'm up for it . Knees a bit rough , stone ish overweight but sharp elbows and a long ladder TPTB will hate me .

The youth need to join us/me because Im weird . A home owner who wants HPC .

 

 

2 hours ago, satch said:

The main problem being that the young have been very well conditioned ... houses and rents are expensive .... oh dear so they are ... tuition fees .... that's just the way it is ..... kids getting blown up by terrorists ... very sad, don't look back in anger ..... have you seen the tommy robinson video ..... FACIST NAZI SCUM ...

It does seem that 1984 is indeed a handbook being used by TPTB not a novel and a warning as intended by Orwell.

The young should be on the streets rioting about the state of housing in UK and the way they are treated .... but they do nothing and assume Corbyn and labour will make it alright .... they won't as they are as bad as the Tories.

Well said.

A mix of 1984 and more Brave new World.

Of particular note was the end tonight 

"i never knew what it's like for people to have to go out to work and live.... Never knew that people with real lives live in our properties. etc etc."

Horrendous.

[A third of everything]

1 hour ago, chicker said:

We need a revolution, mid 50s and I'm up for it . Knees a bit rough , stone ish overweight but sharp elbows and a long ladder TPTB will hate me .

The youth need to join us/me because Im weird . A home owner who wants HPC .

 

That's a battle cry I'd rally to ?

[janch]

Fair play to the Beeb on this one.....They've found the worst examples of the LL class and exposed them for what they are.  OK on the programmes they (the LLs)  cry a few crocodile tears and "see" the error of their ways but I doubt it will last very long.  I hope someone from government/HMRC has been taking note as they need to be hit hard, probably harder than the government changes so far have impacted.  Let's hope they're all highly leveraged at least

The 2 young ones attempts at cooking were quite hilarious.  I would urge them to invest in learning to cook as they may need that skill imminently

[rantnrave]

16 minutes ago, janch said:

Fair play to the Beeb on this one.....They've found the worst examples of the LL class and exposed them for what they are.  OK on the programmes they (the LLs)  cry a few crocodile tears and "see" the error of their ways but I doubt it will last very long.  I hope someone from government/HMRC has been taking note as they need to be hit hard, probably harder than the government changes so far have impacted.  Let's hope they're all highly leveraged at least

During the day, the BBC tells people via HUTH that property is the best way to make money, how to calculate yield against rental values etc. A few hours later, they portray those who take their advice as the scum of the earth...

[btl_hater]

I had this on last night in the background with the mute on (won't explain why).

At first I though the young guy who went to the gym a lot must have been a renter, but it turned out he was a landlord, WTF?? How did he end up with these properties? 

Both sets looked like typical lazy, entitled scum though. Driving Mercedes in tunc white to top it off.

[longgone]

On 06/07/2017 at 5:14 PM, btl_hater said:

I had this on last night in the background with the mute on (won't explain why).

At first I though the young guy who went to the gym a lot must have been a renter, but it turned out he was a landlord, WTF?? How did he end up with these properties? 

Both sets looked like typical lazy, entitled scum though. Driving Mercedes in tunc white to top it off.

The bloke was broke too working as a cleaner for 6 quid an hour.

 

Shows they would lend to anyone.

I agree lazy entitled scum.  I worked hard for my cash and have seen its value dwindled down in house price tokens. 

I want to see that chunt working as a cleaner again but paying off his bankruptcy.

[juvenal]

There's a choice bunch on tonight...

Devout Christian Samuel, 25, who earns what he calls a 'passive income' of 10K a month and says, 'I probably spend less than five minutes a month managing my portfolio..'..he admits he hasn't visited some of his properties for years...

Radio Times

Half-bricks at the ready, please..