Wednesday 19 October 2011

The Middle Class Housing Crisis

As regular readers will know, our landlord gave us notice to leave a few weeks ago. He wants to sell our house and realise the profit he imagined when he developed the property. We have been paying his mortgage for him for nearly 4 years.

With two small children at school, the thought of finding somewhere else to live was daunting enough, but when we started looking for a new home, we soon realised just how daunting house hunting has become in the affluent Sussex towns and villages.

My husband works, earning just a little less than the national average, but that is not enough in places like Sussex. An average family home costs around £200,000 + to buy and a three bedroom property rents for between £900 and £1100 per month. That is around 60% of my husband's salary. Clearly I cannot work, however much I would like to, so we are limited to one wage.

No matter, two bedrooms would do, so we started to search the local property sites.

There was nothing. In the first week, just 6 properties were on the market and the good ones were let within seconds of an administrator pushing "send" on their databases.

After countless appointments to view depressing rabbit holes, we finally found a little cottage that would do us and put down our deposit.

Credit checks complete, all looked good until yesterday morning. The tenants currently renting the cottage could not find or afford anywhere else to live, and the council have advised them that they will have to be evicted before they can be found even temporary accommodation.

I had phoned the local council myself when we were unsure if we would be able to find anything in time and it was one of the most depressing phone calls I ever made. In the starkest of terms, I was told we would have to sit tight until our landlord evicted us (destroying any credit rating we might have) and even then, we would be placed in a B&B for up to two years until suitable accommodation could be found.

Like most people, we decided anything would be better than that and ploughed on through the private sector.

Yesterday saw a flurry of panic as my husband and I dragged the children round a succession of even nastier rabbit holes. With just 2 weeks left to find somewhere suitable to live, we didn't have the time or resources to be fussy.

Miraculously, the 4th property we saw was beautiful. A huge old Victorian mansion flat with stucco ceilings, wonderful gardens and a conservatory. We snapped it up in delight. For the first time in ages, we spent the evening excitedly planning where our furniture would go and how lovely it would be to live there.

When I called the agent this morning to put down a holding deposit, we were told that it would cost us £292 EACH for referencing and agency fees. Just £200 of that goes towards our overall deposit with a whopping £400 going to the agency. Well, we have no choice but to find £600 then do we? As you crawl through this process, you can see why so many families are finding themselves unable to afford a roof over their heads.

Having done a little digging, agents tell me that there is an explosion in tenants unable to move, forced into eviction and living in fear of what tomorrow will bring. Areas like mine are in the grip of a housing crisis - not enough homes, rents too high, mortgages too high. Remember, these are not necessarily families who rely on benefits, but working families who simply can't afford a home.

We will duck and dive, scrimp and borrow because we have found a beautiful home that we want to live in as a family and because a roof over our heads is kind of non-negotiable.

Whatever solutions politicians are currently considering to this crisis, it is clear that they need to act quickly. The South East - and other areas - simply do not have enough homes. The laws of supply and demand dictate that all the while that is the case, accommodation will move further out of reach for ordinary people.

40 comments:

  1. So sorry you're going through this, Sue - sadly it will become more common as Tories raise the Right to Buy discounts and the private sector continues to be severely under regulated in order to 'boost' the markets. The dreadful irony is that housing depts are being cut but more people will be in need of them. Colleagues and I predicted this about three years ago.

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  2. Sue, this is awful.. The one thing that needs to be firm in anyones life is HOME. home is the most fundemental part of happiness and self worth, it is the base of everything and without it how can anything else grow?

    By highlighting this I hope with every being in my body that this is turned around.
    something needs to be done now.

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  3. Hi Sue, sorry to hear about your problems. I hope everything works out. - I'm a landlord myself and I pay the letting agency to find my tenants so the tenants won't have to. In my opinion at best its sharp practice and at worst profiteering to charge prospective tenants more than an at cost admin fee (c. £100 in total whether single or multiple tenants?). After all the agencies are getting about 10% of the first year's rent from me as a finders fee (and often attempt to charge me again if the tenants stay on for more than a year (which, I'm happy to say, sometimes they do).

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  4. Anonymous 13.52 It's fairly standard here sadly, which I suppose was one of the points I wanted to make.

    The market got so out of control for so long, that now times are tougher no-one can afford the fees/rent/mortgage etc. If you want somewhere to live, you just have to swallow it :((

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  5. I have added this link to my fb wall as I am not certain the message is getting through - many people cannot believe what the truth is because media and politicians are prone to cloud over the issue.

    We are changing to a renting society, in line with many other countries. We need regulatory control over letting agents to limit their charges and for rental levels to be inspected by local authorities.

    Plus, a 'help me/us find a home' agency would be great! I often joke that Escape to the Country should incorporate rental properties - it isn't just owners/mortgagees that like living in nice places.

    Good luck Sue - you are overdue some positive times.

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  6. Well why dont we all pitch in and send a couple of quid each to help sue and her family after all she helps us

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  7. This may not be to Sue's taste but there's a Donate system on PayPal (although I presume fees apply). Plus receiving money has its own official implications.

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  8. [QUOTE]Anonymous said...

    Well why don't we all pitch in and send a couple of quid each to help sue and her family after all she helps us[/QUOTE]

    It's a great idea but it does have some pitfalls the pitfall being that not everyone will donate which then leads to the recipient wondering what's gone wrong trust me i know everything and more about how donations are made and it far from clear cut on how money is raised

    I once needed to raise £15000 for a person in need for something very specific so i approached a private group of 15000 comfortably off pensioners and would they each make a contribution of 1 pound now that seams simple doesn't it well you'd be wrong it completely back fired and i got nothing at all so I'm not sure what the answer is but for myself i would donate and throughout my life have always done so

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  9. The art of raising funds are normally undertaken by those who are guaranteed to raise funds like Lenny henry etc for them they can be certain of success no matter what the sum is to be raised

    I however have never managed to raise a penny so as i said in my previous post it's not straight forward although it looks easy and getting it wrong like i have done in the past puts you for life

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  10. Sue I'm sure something will turn up for you and hope and pray that it's soon
    With your illness you should be of the highest priority in the social housing list and it's tragic that not the case and am lost for words

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  11. Hi Sue - I'm so sorry you're having to deal with all this.

    2 years ago, I was made homeless. Having been sick for months, my job ended. I was working part-time, and had not received the correct tax credits.I got behind with the rent while I was working! I got ESA for 3 months, and housing benefit. I failed a WCA, and despite being on appeal rates, the local authority wouldn't pay HB.
    The arrears got worse (I couldn't even afford council rent of £62 pw) and when they took me to court, I had documentary proof of how much I was owed by HMRC and evidence of no income or savings. I was facing eviction if I didn't pay, but the local authority couldn't work out how much I owed because they couldn't work out benefit entitlement. Madness.
    In the end, I moved out, losing a valuable council tenancy; I couldn't face eviction and fighting for my rights any more. My illness got worse, and I was lucky - a close friend took me in, and I'm still there 2 years later. I have, apparently, made myself voluntarily homeless.
    The CAB in my old town are still waiting for the council to decide if I was entitled to HB and if so I should not have been threatened with eviction. The reason they give for the delay is because if I was not entitled to "passport" benefits I shouldn't get HB - and they had never dealt with a person who had zero income.
    Well, they'll get plenty more.
    My original claim for tax credits rumbles on with the ombudsman, and it's now been 4 years. According to CAB I am owed about £4,000.Had I had it from the beginning, none of this would have happened.
    This is going to happen more and more as time goes on. People are having ESA/DLA and JSA stopped or suspended on spurious grounds, and all other benefits associated with a DWP claim get stopped too - there will be people dead on the pavement before this government sees sense if it ever does.
    I'm a very lucky woman. I have good friends, and I've got a safe roof over my head. I've got good doctors here, and I'm hoping the next Atos WCA goes better than the previous ones. And f not, I'll fight again - I may be poorly, but there's nothing wrong with my brain.
    My heart goes out to people who don't have my advantages and have to cope with the devastation this government and the economy is wreaking on the sick and disabled.

    I haven't any money to send you Sue - but if I did, I'd be careful how I did it. The benefit thought police would make you suffer even more given half an excuse.

    Soldier on, sweetheart - you and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.

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  12. People we can donate to the official moving fund there is nothing wrong with that

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  13. Just give the details and we will send i reckon couple quid of each of us would help secure the amount needed, after all i'm certain Sue would do the same thing if circumstances were reversed

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  14. Guys, this is lovely of you, I'm really, really touched.

    Truly though, it hasn't come to that yet. We've found a lovely flat, paid the deposit and hopefully all will go well.

    If the worst came to the worst, we have masses of family members and friends who will pitch in which makes us incredibly blessed.

    There are thousands of people in much worse situations than us - people with no options at all and I wrote the post more for them really.

    What would you do if you couldn't find the £600? Or if you really did have to wait to be evicted? It's coming to that for lots of people less fortunate than us and though we are a whisker from disaster, we'd always have family we could stay with or someone who would give us the money.

    I'm worried about the people who don't have the support Dave and I do.

    All the same, I'm really honoured that you would want to help me out and I promise, if it ever came to that, I'd let you xxxxx

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  15. Sue Marsh said...

    Guys, this is lovely of you, I'm really, really touched.

    Truly though, it hasn't come to that yet. We've found a lovely flat, paid the deposit and hopefully all will go well.


    Any time sue i have just been supporting a charity jump for a old colleague of mines daughter :)

    That's very good to hear that you have found something
    I lived in my last flat for 20 years and was very happy despite it being on the small side it was only that my kids were growing up that we had to move out but it took 15 years to get on the social list but for me personally i didn't care one way or the other sometimes in life you just get a property that has something special about it and to hell with the size of it however the kids didn't see it that way and we had to get out out

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  16. May or may not be off topic
    Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world
    AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters' worst fears.
    http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html

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  17. Have you considered moving somewhere where you can find a house?

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  18. please donm't forget this sorry state came about under LABOUR

    the coalition govet are loosening planning laws to permit more home building

    furthermore, housing benefits are a big CAUSE of high prices, when they are reduced then prices will fall

    the only reason Labour/Public sector schills are saying we need to maintain benefits is because IT KEEPS THEM IN A JOB. Labour WANT you to be poor so they can justify their existence and govt/public sector salaries (who vote for them).

    Reality is, liberalised planning law and lower benefits will DROP the cost of housing and a working man will be able to house is family without needing a 2nd income.

    Remember - this is after 3 terms of a Labour govt. Labour governments make you poor.

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  19. Sorry for your position, however I wanted to clear up some incorrect facts in your post.

    Just to be clear, being evicted on its own via the no fault process (in jargon called the Section 21 process) will not have an impact on your credit rating. This is true even if you ignore the court eviction order leading to the court sending in the bailiffs.

    Your credit rating would only be impact if you were evicted for rent arrears or had rent arrears AND failed to pay off the arrears within 28 days of a court ordering you to pay.

    However, the problem with following the council advice (which, by the way, is one of the reasons why many LLs and their insurers and mortgage companies refuse to take tenants on benefits) is that if your next LL asks for a reference from your previous LL then you have no chance of being offered any decent private properties in the future.

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  20. I simple 'Land Value Tax' would solve all these problems along with more house building

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  21. N79 - Thank you so much for that information, I didn't know that and I'm sure other readers will be very interested.

    To the Anon who asked if we'd considered moving to another area, yes we certainly have. It's something I think we will have to do as soon as we can, but my father is very elderly and frail. My Mum cares for him alone and I couldn't possibly leave them at this time.

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  22. Immigration caused this crisis, not Labour, or Tories. Sorry to be un-PC, but it's the main cause of the population explosion and housing shortage in the south-east. No gov't will say this though, because the spectres of Enoch and racism will be brought up and destroy any chance of investigation or objective argument

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  23. Gosh Enoch, boy I take it your here to bring up the Tory ideals.

    Why have we got a housing problem simple labour refused point blank to build social housing , because it believed people should buy.

    Thatcher built in three terms 400,000 council houses, labour built 295.

    Labour stated for every housing contract of 100 houses four should be built for low cost housing, companies built housing in 99 units so not to have to build four houses for the poor simples.


    It you have immigration without building program they cause the private rental housing to increase way about what immigrants can afford, so you get large groups of immigrants living in hovels.

    I'm a socialist to even have to write Enoch is enough to make me sick

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  24. Sorry to hear about your problems. Hope it all works out.

    Somewhere along the line purchasing of a home became an investment opportunity rather than just the selection of somewhere to live.

    If I was in charge, I'd introduce huge (50% +) capital gains taxes and some sort of hefty 2nd property land tax to dissuade people from profiteering on the housing market.

    While I have no doubt as to how unpopular this would be, it would surely be a step back towards sanity and would hopefully put an end to the sort of troubles faced by Sue and others.

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  25. This is a result of the mass immigration the UK has suffered over the past few years. Resulting in
    1) more pressure for rented accommodation
    2) reduction in people's wage because the immigrants will work for low wages.

    You should have objected to this

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  26. Housing benefits is not the cause of high rents, do not believe that argument it is just propaganda to direct the issue away from the government onto the poor. Immigration, the lack of social homes and government spending in the private sector of projects like p f i are the main cause of high rents.

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  27. As an additional comment, if you were really told this

    "I had phoned the local council myself when we were unsure if we would be able to find anything in time and it was one of the most depressing phone calls I ever made. In the starkest of terms, I was told we would have to sit tight until our landlord evicted us (destroying any credit rating we might have) and even then, we would be placed in a B&B for up to two years until suitable accommodation could be found."

    then the council is almost certainly acting unlawfully. If you want to seek council accommodation or further support then you should go back to the council and ask why the are not paying regard to the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities: July 2006 Para 8:32 where you case is explicitly covered as a case where councils should not wait until the Section 21 notice expires.

    Your local authority are required to have regard to this guidance by law (The Housing Acts).

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  28. N79 - Yet again, great info.

    I was really told this and in fact, a lady I know with a small boy has just gone through that exact process. She's now in a studio room waiting for "suitable accommodation" on the council list to come up.

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  29. No problem. Normally, in my experience, councils will refuse to put that advice in writing and will claim that they said something along the lines of "we advised them that they could stay put until the LL gets an eviction notice from court, thereby having longer in their nice accommodation as we may have to place them in a B&B for some time". They will then claim the tenant chose to stay until the bitter end, thus damaging the tenants chances of getting private rentals in the future because of the referencing problem.

    The advantage to the council is that they manage to delay their obligation to house and, in your case, have succeeded in avoiding their obligation all together. This subterfuge even has an informal name: gate keeping. Although not lawful, it is a rational response given the lack of available housing stock.

    On those fees they really are outrageously high - especially when you consider that the agent is no doubt also charging a similar fee to the LL for conducting the reference checks. The checks themselves will definitely be costing less than £50 and probably less than £30!

    Good luck with the process.

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  30. The fees were pretty shocking, even for here.

    However, they got a fridge freezer, some gorgeous curtains and some teacups (random I know) so I don't feel quite so bad

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  31. This is pretty much why I've shifted over to a council house as I'm pretty sure it was going to be a matter of time before my current landlord decided to cash in on all the work I've been doing - and being on HB and Officially Scrounging Immigrant Scum now, I'd be hardpressed to get anything as private landlords will not rent to anyone with HB.

    I was lucky for a bungalow to finally show up for me and have snapped it up and will probably stay there for the rest of my days if I can...but I know not everyone has that kind of thing going for them.

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  32. Woooooftie, have you ever thought about moving to Scotland. Don't laugh. The couple two doors down from me moved up here from Worthing for the reasons you have just described.

    Really hope things go well for you Sue.

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  33. Sue, I have been through the process and have been evicted. It was the only way the council will house you. It was very stressful at the time but worked out well in the end. They are scaring you with b&b, but in real life, if you have children, they don't actually place you in a b&b. They will either get you a council place or find you a private rental. We were lucky and got a really nice private rental and we were upfront with the landlady about the reason for our bailiff eviction and that it wasn't our choice. The agency wanted a year's deposit because of it, so the landlady sacked them for unreasonable charges and we have been living here now for 2 years, paying the landlady directly, which allowed her to lower the rent, as she doesn't have agency fees to pay.
    I am glad you found something and hope the move goes well, but speak to your housing department again and get yourself on the list for a council place. At least you have a secure stay there. Private rental is never more than temporary accommodation, due to the awful laws here protecting tenants.

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  34. Good luck with the housing situation.
    My advice is to go on the road in a converted truck or bus.
    This gives you are great open-air lifestyle, the children grow up strong and independant and there is no more stress, excepting you know the laws on parking up etc.

    There are about 100 families a week doing this and there will be an army of travelling families before the depression ends. If they bond together and mass park (not outside St. Pauls!) the government might help it's own people.
    Don't vote for Tory fascists or Labour fascists. Vote for freedom and democracy in England. We need to change the mortgage slavery system by taxing house sales, bringing down house prices to £80,000 and opening up land to sustainable housing. Agricultural land is £3000 per acre, when they grant themselves Planning Permission the Councils make £100,000 a plot. This must be stopped. Squat on the land and build a shanty town.

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  35. If we squat on land and build greeen sustainable shanty towns, they will treat us like the South Africans did the blacks in shanty towns and send armies of police, town planners with security crews with bulldozers to remove you.
    The reason is simple, if the homeless can build shelters anywhere the house price mortgage slavery system which under-pins the UK economy will collapse.
    It is true that Planning Laws prevent you from making shelter permanent, but Adolf Hitler and the Rascist Aparthied Govt of South Africa made laws first, and then obliterated the victims legally. Don't fall for the arguement it is illegal, as other laws protect our human rights.

    Sadly, the Tory fascists are trying to change this by excluding UK citizens from the European Human Rights Act before cracking the whip on the citizens of England.

    Maybe we need a peaceful Arab Spring type demonstration to force a better system where the tiny number of rich don't enslave the majority with lifelong poverty and virtual slavery?

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  36. [QUOTE]Anonymous

    If we squat on land and build greeen sustainable shanty towns, they will treat us like the South Africans did the blacks in shanty towns and send armies of police, town planners with security crews with bulldozers to remove you.
    The reason is simple, if the homeless can build shelters anywhere the house price mortgage slavery system which under-pins the UK economy will collapse.
    It is true that Planning Laws prevent you from making shelter permanent, but Adolf Hitler and the Rascist Aparthied Govt of South Africa made laws first, and then obliterated the victims legally. Don't fall for the arguement it is illegal, as other laws protect our human rights.

    Sadly, the Tory fascists are trying to change this by excluding UK citizens from the European Human Rights Act before cracking the whip on the citizens of England.

    Maybe we need a peaceful Arab Spring type demonstration to force a better system where the tiny number of rich don't enslave the majority with lifelong poverty and virtual slavery?[/QUOTE]

    That is very true
    We do need a uprising that's for sure on many issues but we wont get one as we live in a democracy and that's the trouble when democracy is working well that's great but for many countries across the world it doesn't and in reality is a police state
    A police state is where the government use the police and civil service to keep people in order and pay them well to do so. The UK is very much like a police state in which people are punished badly by non police and the police turn a blind eye from getting involved saying they can't as it's the civil service that are punishing you and we can't the police intervene but we would love to if we could

    David Cameron and co are no different to many of the world worst leaders from the past and present in where they have an agenda for control and power which costs a vast amount of money and they will destroy as many lives as possible in order to achieve their objective and it will all be done under the disguise of the word democracy and that means there wont be any uprising

    Personally i would have preferred to have lived under the regime in Libya at least if i had done wrong or was not to the regimes way of liking i would have been shot for me personally that would have been much more human then the mental anguish that the DWP have caused me over the years i can tell you

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  37. And our government spends £20 billion of our money on housing benefits each year - enough to build 200,000 new homes every single year. All in the name of keeping the housing ponzi scheme from collapsing.

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  38. Politicians are NOT going to do anything about this situation at all. Firstly, because all of them love the free market (which is never wrong blah blah). Secondly, because doing anything about it means admitting there is a problem, which in this best of all possible worlds where no politician is ever wrong is not an option and thirdly because hardly any of them have ever been short of money or wondering where they are going to find a roof over their heads. Let's face it, most of them have never had any other job outside politics anyway. We can't even make them fix it, except by voting them out, not on the Failed Party roundabout we always do but by voting independent and smashing this ludicrous playground-style party political system once and for all.

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  39. Yeah, the govt certainly does not like anyone to try and solve the problem by living in a van or bender. I like the council flat I am in, but I was initially offered a room with a bathroom. I had no idea that a bed-sit-kitch could even be called a "flat" till then. Fortunately, one of the other tenants of the buildings was an alcoholic who had threatened me and made obscene suggestions to me in public. Otherwise, I might have accepted.

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  40. Fourbanks...

    next time your sentence should go along the lines of 'They will treat us like the "whites" treated the South Africans' it is their country the whites invaded it, not the other way round!

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