Brighton - Fastest rising rents in the UK...

[southstandandy]

My colleague pays £1600 a month for a two bed apartment on Hove seafront - over 50% of his salary. Madness IMO.

 

[StonehamPark]

At the risk of being flamed, I am going to own up to being a landlord. I also work in property (not an estate agent). I am amazed anyone is paying that for a studio flat. I have a studio flat in a listed square on the seafront recently refurbished = £700. Last year it was £600, so I don't deny rents are on the increase. But £1000 a month should easily get you a decent one bed flat.
Are these very large studios?

I hope you were between tenants when you put the rent up by £100p/m.

 

[HantsSeagull]

Mine's a little under £800, for a bedroom with shared bathroom and shared tiny kitchen (between 10 people!).
But I guess I pay a premium for it being a fairly large bedroom and in a good location.



That's it, I can't really afford to go any higher than what I'm already paying, and not prepared to move 15+ miles outside of my hometown and workplace.

Current plan is to stay where I am, keep stashing money away for a deposit and HOPE that I can get on the property ladder soon, if not win the lottery. Whichever comes first.

so that's a bedsit really? that is a mad price

 

[Soulman]

Thanks.

Think I'm going to have to suck it up and look at properties in Bognor or Seaford at this rate.

I would think Seaford is a better choice, i suppose it depends where you work of course. Very hard for those trying to get on the property ladder, mainly gone are the days when the kids had mortgages and were gone by 21.

 

[HantsSeagull]

I hope you were between tenants when you put the rent up by £100p/m.

yes - I have never increased rent when tenants renew.

 

[5mins-from-amex]

Thanks.

Think I'm going to have to suck it up and look at properties in Bognor or Seaford at this rate.

Be quick prices are rising fast in both of them areas. When people used to get priced out of brighton places like Newhaven, seaford were a viable alternative but there is not a lot of value there anymore.

 

[StonehamPark]

so that's a bedsit really? that is a mad price

yes - I have never increased rent when tenants renew.

Phew!

And not a bedsit (although may sound like it).
Basically 2x large houses (next door to each other).
The upstairs for both houses has been converted into 7 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 1 kitchen (no lounge/dining).

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

so that's a bedsit really? that is a mad price

Agreed Stoneham would be better off getting a bedsit for £100 less a month and saving the extra 100 for a deposit.

 

[samtheseagull]

Thanks.

Think I'm going to have to suck it up and look at properties in Bognor or Seaford at this rate.

Seaford is not that cheap

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Phew!

And not a bedsit (although may sound like it).
Basically 2x large houses (next door to each other).
The upstairs for both houses has been converted into 7 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 1 kitchen (no lounge/dining).

So you are paying almost £800 month for a tiny part of a shared house? That sounds like too much, you could get your own single bedroom place for that much.

 

[StonehamPark]

So you are paying almost £800 month for a tiny part of a shared house? That sounds like too much, you could get your own single bedroom place for that much.

I'm not sure if I mentioned above that it's all-in. So includes bills/tax etc. Plus in a good location (close to work).
I'd love to get my own 1-Bed place but that'd tip me over £1000 inc. bills etc.

I've weighed it up over the last few months and as you've said in an earlier post, better to save £100-£200 a month towards a deposit.

 

[Reagulls]

I pay 1200 a month for a very nice brand new 2 bed, off street parking in portslade, it's my choice to pay that much and don't have a problem with it.
What pi$$es me off is that I had to pay an £1800 deposit!
They now have best part of 2 grand of mine for the foreseeable future that I have no access to whatsoever.
There seems to be no alternative regarding the deposit system.

 

[drew]

Let's just be clear that not all rents are out of control and not all private landlords are rapacious profiteers - I'd imagine that most own one or two properties and simply want to get a return on their savings that is a reasonable fraction of the return a public sector worker gets on his pension investment. It's worth noting that recent tax changes mean that any such landlords with mortgages will find their overheads increasing, giving them a choice between (a) getting a smaller return (b) increasing the rent (c) reducing the maintenance or (d) selling up.

Have you any stats to back that up? Also, you don't seem to make any reference to the increase in value of the property over the term of the investment.

Finally, I suspect there are many members of the public sector who would love to have some savings to invest in a couple of properties in Brighton.

 

[mikeyjh]

yes. that would be more accurate having taken advice on the market value.

I don't want to get into a row but I doubt there are many people who would rent out property (if they had the chance) for less than the market value. would anyone sell their house for less than it was worth to aid the buyer market?

Understood, but we can't just absolve ourselves and say, "that's the market" if you are part of driving that market. For what it's worth, I'm glad you've done it between tenants, amazed at how the agents try and increase rents mid tenancy.

Edit - I appear to be picking on you, which is unfair, trying to make a broader point.

 

[NooBHA]

Let's just be clear that not all rents are out of control and not all private landlords are rapacious profiteers - I'd imagine that most own one or two properties and simply want to get a return on their savings that is a reasonable fraction of the return a public sector worker gets on his pension investment. It's worth noting that recent tax changes mean that any such landlords with mortgages will find their overheads increasing, giving them a choice between (a) getting a smaller return (b) increasing the rent (c) reducing the maintenance or (d) selling up.

I agree 100% with what you say but that still doesn't make rent NOT too high and making them often unaffordable to many, especially for people like key workers such as Nurses.

Your option D is a possibility. That would mean that if all those landlords with 2nd or 3rd property, if they all went on the market at the same time, there would be a ''glut'' of properties on the market which would slow the cost of rising house prices.

I am not against people having 2nd rented properties but to pretend it does not affect the less affluent would be incorrect. Thats Capitalism for you

 

[Soulman]

Crikey i knew my nephew had landed on his feet, but just how much i never appreciated.
A young lady about the same age as him (28) was advertising for a lodger in Worthing. He lives in a detached 3 bed house with garden and parks his car on the drive.
The lady works in Kent all week so only comes home at weekends, and often does not.
So the place to himself and all the mod cons for £500 a month all in.

 

[drew]

My colleague pays £1600 a month for a two bed apartment on Hove seafront - over 50% of his salary. Madness IMO.

Sounds a lot but does he have a partner who also contributes? I assume that the 1/3 of income ratio applies to all earning occupants.

 

[knocky1]

There should be caps on rents and house prices. All it does now is keep rich landowners rich and young people poor. Most landlords probably earnt their wealth on the back of free degrees as well.

...and given hard to let council flats to rent in inner London. There were thousands of empty flats in London in the early 80's and given a lovely 2 bed 12th floor maisonette, a mile from London Bridge. 15 years Later on in 1997, fighting my Socialist Ethics, I bought it off Thatcher for £9,400.
I was incredibly lucky to get the free degree, cheap rental flat (£50 a week) and then buy that flat for peanuts.
The Tories have stopped the free degree, the Tories have stopped the below market rents and the Tories have not left many local authority flats anyone would wish to buy or be allocated unless really in need.

I would be in a different position if born 20 years later.

 

[BBassic]

Rents are exactly why me and the Mrs are trying desperately to get on the property ladder. Sod paying upwards of £800 a month that goes straight into someone else's pocket.

I'm "fortunate" enough to have inherited a sum towards a deposit but having rented for 11 years can totally appreciate how awful it is to have to rent at these prices.

 

[HantsSeagull]

Understood, but we can't just absolve ourselves and say, "that's the market" if you are part of driving that market. For what it's worth, I'm glad you've done it between tenants, amazed at how the agents try and increase rents mid tenancy.

Edit - I appear to be picking on you, which is unfair, trying to make a broader point.

I understand your point. But whatever I may sound like, I am not a fat cat making myself rich at expense of the down trodden who can't afford to live. we all have our crosses to bear and i have my own financial issues that i need to resolve as best i can with the assets at my disposal. Apart from that, even if i was inclined to, me making a one man landlord stand against rising rents by refusing to increase mine in line with the market, would be utterly fruitless and make no difference. lets not pretend there is going to be a ground swell of landlord altruism - cos there won't.