Affordable Housing

You think rent's aren't artificially high here, look at the accommodation section on this site...

...£900 per month for an ex council house in Brae. I would guess more than double the council rate for a similar property. In my experience, over 11 years, there is a huge lack of reasonably priced rented properties in Shetland.

 However rents have risen in most places in the UK as more people are priced off the property ladder. But I would hazard no where has seen such a rise as Shetland, especially in the lower end, lower spec properties.  

For the average people on average wages this ties you into renting forever. As, when like me, you spend over half your income on rent  you can never put enough money aside for legal fees and a deposit on any house.

 Just a thought to government: Offer 100% loans, to people who rent, to either buy or build a house then pay it back as rent over 20 to 25 years (with a small amount of interest added) after that time the deeds become yours. If you leave within that time then you are treated as if you just rented it and some one else gets the chance, on the same scheme, to buy the property in the same manner.

 Offering £2000 towards buying a £200000 to £300000 home is just ridiculous. If I had enough money to buy a £200000 house what difference would £2K make to my decision???

You think rent's aren't artificially high here, look at the accommodation section on this site...

...£900 per month for an ex council house in Brae. I would guess more than double the council rate for a similar property. In my experience, over 11 years, there is a huge lack of reasonably priced rented properties in Shetland.

 However rents have risen in most places in the UK as more people are priced off the property ladder. But I would hazard no where has seen such a rise as Shetland, especially in the lower end, lower spec properties.  

For the average people on average wages this ties you into renting forever. As, when like me, you spend over half your income on rent  you can never put enough money aside for legal fees and a deposit on any house.

 Just a thought to government: Offer 100% loans, to people who rent, to either buy or build a house then pay it back as rent over 20 to 25 years (with a small amount of interest added) after that time the deeds become yours. If you leave within that time then you are treated as if you just rented it and some one else gets the chance, on the same scheme, to buy the property in the same manner.

 Offering £2000 towards buying a £200000 to £300000 home is just ridiculous. If I had enough money to buy a £200000 house what difference would £2K make to my decision???

The new Help To Buy ISA scheme can help, if there are two of you and you have one ISA each and can afford to deposit £200 per month (the maximum) then the Government will give you 25% when you go to put a deposit on a house. If two of you put the maximum in then after 4 and a bit years you will have £12k each, the Government will then give each of you a further £3k taking your combined total to £30k. 

I understand everyone can't afford to put away £200 - £400 per month but anything you can afford to save will be worth it as you will not get anything near 25% interest with any other method of saving. 

Whalsa, this sounds a great idea, I'm 43 years old and after bills my wife and I have an expendable income of around £50 per month. So I'll leave the maths to you but with most first time buyer mortgages being 20% deposit plus legal fees, I'd say I would be around 60 when I could start buying. Even if I came into a little financial windfall and went to a bank for a mortgage I may as well go in with a clown suit on and big floppy shoes. My point being is not all people qualify for a mortgage. My rent is very high and we've never missed a payment-ever! But I would not be offered a mortgage, if I wanted one, yet I believe I've proved over 25 years of renting I will repay it. We are not alone, millions are in the same position, hence my idea about hire purchase type schemes.

I have resigned myself to being on the rental conveyor forever. I just worry, as many do, that I will eventually be unable to afford to keep a roof over our heads due to ever spiraling (greedy?) private rents. 

Whalsa, this sounds a great idea, I'm 43 years old and after bills my wife and I have an expendable income of around £50 per month. So I'll leave the maths to you but with most first time buyer mortgages being 20% deposit plus legal fees, I'd say I would be around 60 when I could start buying. Even if I came into a little financial windfall and went to a bank for a mortgage I may as well go in with a clown suit on and big floppy shoes. My point being is not all people qualify for a mortgage. My rent is very high and we've never missed a payment-ever! But I would not be offered a mortgage, if I wanted one, yet I believe I've proved over 25 years of renting I will repay it. We are not alone, millions are in the same position, hence my idea about hire purchase type schemes.

I have resigned myself to being on the rental conveyor forever. I just worry, as many do, that I will eventually be unable to afford to keep a roof over our heads due to ever spiraling (greedy?) private rents. 

It would seem the right to buy scheme suited your situation a pity it is no longer available.

Where can I afford to live?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23234033

Depressing..

It would seem the right to buy scheme suited your situation a pity it is no longer available.

Yes, in what is quickly becoming the Scots government trademark, of instead of addressing the flaws and shortcomings of what was basically a reasonable idea, their "solution" was to go to the opposite extreme.

"Right to Buy" had a lot going for it, for both tenant and landlord and its a pity to see that go. Where it fell over was little attempt was made to ensure only houses over a "certain age" were the ones that could be sold, the discount given was excessive, especially those who qualified for the higher end of it, properties were on the whole valued far too low, and most importantly no help, support or encouragement was forthcoming from any Government to replace the houses being sold on.

So now thanks to the "wisdom" of the Scots, we've cut off a supply of housing which gave a lot of folk the only chance they were ever likely to have of getting on the property ladder, and lumbered landlords with a increasingly ageing stock, with the much faster escalating repairs/refurb bills that accompany such things.

Thanks very much Scots Gov. for condeming far more people to a lifetime of paying rent, and ensuring that new builds are minimised as the repairs/refurb bill steadily rises consuming more and more of available capital, while the folk live in increasingly outdated houses.

Ahh, but i forgot, Holyrood is a den of Socialism where ownership of anything unless by the state is dispproved of, and that we should all be good little subjects and do, and say and think exactly what they tell us we should. I wonder where they have planned to send dissidents and political prisioners to when they'd tightened their grip enough to do such things, maybe they'll re-open a few coal mines in Fife to be the Scots equivalent of the Siberian salt mines.

 

Whalsa, this sounds a great idea, I'm 43 years old and after bills my wife and I have an expendable income of around £50 per month. So I'll leave the maths to you but with most first time buyer mortgages being 20% deposit plus legal fees, I'd say I would be around 60 when I could start buying. Even if I came into a little financial windfall and went to a bank for a mortgage I may as well go in with a clown suit on and big floppy shoes. My point being is not all people qualify for a mortgage. My rent is very high and we've never missed a payment-ever! But I would not be offered a mortgage, if I wanted one, yet I believe I've proved over 25 years of renting I will repay it. We are not alone, millions are in the same position, hence my idea about hire purchase type schemes.

I have resigned myself to being on the rental conveyor forever. I just worry, as many do, that I will eventually be unable to afford to keep a roof over our heads due to ever spiraling (greedy?) private rents. 

It would seem the right to buy scheme suited your situation a pity it is no longer available.

 

Not really as he is renting privately. Surprised after 25 years he hasn't got a council house?

I wish the rents would come down. I have been offered a job in Shetland but at £900 a room? I currently pay £620 for a 4 bedroom house with garage. Who can actually afford to live up here?

A Lerwick flat and a house in paper right now for £800-£850. I am sure there might be some wriggle room for a long term tenant.

Still sounds a bit high but better than £900 for a room.

£130k mortgage is around £640 a month.

As a paper exercise, you're better off buying......

.... once you've saved a wedge of cash, grovelled around the banks....etc..etc....

Will we ever have this situation in Shetland?

^ Many would say we've had the situation in principle here for years, just not so much racial, ethnic, religious etc driven, but whether you're an addict, done time, just walked off the boat etc.

Sort of crap that happens when the lunatics are allowed to run the asylum...

3 threads about race issues man has an agenda