Housing in the UK

[DarloRich]

Try living in Hatfield. Where I am it's not too bad, but some areas are horrid - thanks to a combination of rogue landlords and students that care very little about their surroundings.

I shouldn't need to add that not all students are bad, but - boy - can you spot the bad ones.. and don't need to venture very far to do so.

Since we got the new recycling rules (with three bins) the amount of rubbish dumped or put out incorrectly has grown massively in these areas. The general waste bin is the smallest, but the students only really use this - and then the excess bags are dumped by the roadside, which aren't collected. Eventually rats/foxes/birds get at them and, only after a while, does the council have to reluctantly come and clean up.

It's quite amazing to see how some people (and it isn't just students renting obviously) care so little for the environment where they live - even if only for a year or two. And no doubt when they move away later, they'll tell everyone how awful it was where they lived...

Hatfield - Yes. Horrid. I mean it is miles worse than say Grangetown or Eston isn't it. Terrible. I mean all those jobs and opportunities. Awful. Imagine having to survive on a mere 50k per year. It must be dreadful.

TBH if what you are complaining about is that you dont have a good enough refuse collection service you must live in a pretty good area!

I also believe that 'Right to buy' is misguided in the long term. Although I may well make use of it, it does nothing to solve the underlying problem (too many people and not enough housing stock in the Southeast). By subsidising first time buyers, if anything the government will drive up prices even more, so that they will have to subsidise more and more as time goes on, or when it finally stops prices will be higher than before they started.

(And yes I am a hypocrite as I moved from the north to London for career, social life and love life prospects, so I am part of the cause of the problem)

Do you mean help to buy? Right to buy gives you the option to purchase your council/housing association home after a certain time and imo is a great scheme................ as long as the funds are reinvested into new housing projects to feed the system

 

[maniacmartin]

Yes, I meant help to buy.

 

[DarloRich]

Yes, I meant help to buy.

then i think your are right - unless the supply of "starter" homes is managed correctly you risk creating a price bubble.

 

[Tom B]

The problem is that nobody really cares about the problem!

If they actually wanted to reduce prices, they could increase building supply massively and at the same time introduce limits on buy-to-let properties. Prices would reduce pretty sharpish.

There also ought to be more stringent rules on landlords - for instance, obliging them to fit double-glazing (there's no financial incentive for them to do so as the tenant pays the gas bill!).

However, the people who are both more likely to vote and also the sort of people the Government - particularly the Tories - wish to be seen as helping are older homeowners, who benefit from prices rising. Can you imagine the furore from the Daily Mail if a reduction in prices meant that Albert and Doris couldn't flog their house for a massive profit, whilst enabling Dwayne and Chevette to buy a cheaper house?

 

[DarloRich]

The problem is that nobody really cares about the problem!

If they actually wanted to reduce prices, they could increase building supply massively and at the same time introduce limits on buy-to-let properties. Prices would reduce pretty sharpish.

There also ought to be more stringent rules on landlords - for instance, obliging them to fit double-glazing (there's no financial incentive for them to do so as the tenant pays the gas bill!).

However, the people who are both more likely to vote and also the sort of people the Government - particularly the Tories - wish to be seen as helping are older homeowners, who benefit from prices rising. Can you imagine the furore from the Daily Mail if a reduction in prices meant that Albert and Doris couldn't flog their house for a massive profit, whilst enabling Dwayne and Chevette to buy a cheaper house?

such a cynical approach! (and correct!)

 

[jon0844]

Hatfield - Yes. Horrid. I mean it is miles worse than say Grangetown or Eston isn't it. Terrible. I mean all those jobs and opportunities. Awful. Imagine having to survive on a mere 50k per year. It must be dreadful.

I like Hatfield, but feel I have the right to moan just as much as anyone (including you, it seems!) about the state of some of it. Just like messy trains, most of the problems are down to other residents that have no respect for where they live and who they live with.

I'd love to know where you get the 50k figure though. I've never been aware of Hatfield being a massively affluent area - you only need to visit our decrepit, run down 1950s town centre to see that. Sure, there are bound to be some rich people in Old Hatfield that have nice jobs in the City of London, but that's not everyone by a long shot.

 

[DarloRich]

I like Hatfield, but feel I have the right to moan just as much as anyone (including you, it seems!) about the state of some of it. Just like messy trains, most of the problems are down to other residents that have no respect for where they live and who they live with.

I'd love to know where you get the 50k figure though. I've never been aware of Hatfield being a massively affluent area - you only need to visit our decrepit, run down 1950s town centre to see that. Sure, there are bound to be some rich people in Old Hatfield that have nice jobs in the City of London, but that's not everyone by a long shot.

The average house price in Hatfield is 310K! However that has gone down 3.9% over the last 12 months. The average house price in Grangetown was 49k. The price range there is 19k-80k

So i would say Hatfield is a pretty affluent area. I doubt there are many properties in Hatfield for 19k nor are the majority of the population signing or or working for minimum wage.

The 50k was a slight joke - however Hertfordshire came out 5th in a table of areas with the highest average expendable income. The average level of expendable income (having paid all debts etc) per annum was 19k!

 

[jon0844]

Well, I'm about two miles from St Albans and a mile from Welwyn Garden City and I can agree they're pretty nice places. Hatfield isn't quite as nice as either of those places!

 

[DarloRich]

Well, I'm about two miles from St Albans and a mile from Welwyn Garden City and I can agree they're pretty nice places. Hatfield isn't quite as nice as either of those places!

it is still quite acceptable though

 

[jon0844]

Well I suppose there aren't any £19k houses here!!

 

[DarloRich]

Well I suppose there aren't any £19k houses here!!

tell me about it!

 

[maniacmartin]

Hatfield isn't posh (I know, I've been there!)
I'm sure the prices aren't that expensive compared to other surrounding towns, and wages in the South East are higher than nationally to compensate for the house prices.

The comparison with Grangetown isn't really fair.

 

[soil]

Hatfield - Yes. Horrid. I mean it is miles worse than say Grangetown or Eston isn't it. Terrible. I mean all those jobs and opportunities. Awful. Imagine having to survive on a mere 50k per year. It must be dreadful.

TBH if what you are complaining about is that you dont have a good enough refuse collection service you must live in a pretty good area!

£50k/year isn't riches in the London area.

TBH you are better off on £25k somewhere cheaper.

Tax and benefit differences mean that £50k is far from double the salary in the first place, and then housing is so much cheaper in other areas that you can be better off on a much lower salary.

 

[maniacmartin]

That raises an interesting question. Should income tax bands be related to house prices?
ie in cheap places to live, you need to earn more to pay the same tax as in expensive places to live.

 

[SF-02]

jonmorris, how on earth did your neighbour pass their driving test? I thought mine were bad for just parking on a junction corner. But on a mini roundabout junction? Remarkable.

That kind of parking is standard in parts of London I frequent though not sure where that pic is taken. People are always parking near crossings, junctions, and double parking and blocking roads/cars/cul de sacs, as well as parking on grassed communal areas - no enforcement action is ever taken. It's strange how councils target certain areas constantly with traffic wardens yet allow so much terrible parking and driving (though that's a police job) in other areas.

 

[telstarbox]

That raises an interesting question. Should income tax bands be related to house prices?
ie in cheap places to live, you need to earn more to pay the same tax as in expensive places to live.

That would be very difficult to implement.

 

[IanXC]

That would be very difficult to implement.

Indeed - its an extra layer of complexity on a Local Income Tax scheme - which I seem to recall was described as "technically challenging"(!)