Housing Hangups

Published on 18 November 2003 in , ,

Last week was hardly my idea of a relaxing week of work I must confess. Instead of sitting down and relaxing, we spent most of our week walking down road after road in an attempt to find a location where

  1. we could afford to buy a two bedroom property
  2. it was actually reasonably nice.
  3. you can get to White City and Kew relatively easily.

It could be argued that the British are too hung up on owning property but

in a world where rents are high, deposits are often not returned and the

amounts of rights you have are limited, who can blame us for not wanting

to be stuck in the world of renting.

My current abode is on a one year contract and we can’t actually

do anything with the place. We desperatly need basic storage like

shelves, but can’t actually install any ourselves. To get anything done is

a slow and painful process and of course it’s not your propery, so the

landlord has to agree – if it’s something that they deem to be bad, then

no chance.

So we buy. If we can actually afford it anyway. Judging by last weeks

trogging, then it’s either live in a grotty area, or keep on renting.

The prices in London are quite frankly ridiculous – over the top prices

not helped by a complete shortage of accommodation that reflects how people

live. You can find tree-lined street after tree-lined street of 3 or 4 bedroom houses, but a 2 bedroom flat? Then you’re usually tucked in a dark corner of town, near the tube depot.

It is to be quite frank, depressing, and makes you wonder why you even

live in this overpriced capital city that is London. A city that

gives you unaffordable housing, long commutes and a lot of pollution.

Then you remember – it’s where the jobs are. And you sigh, and then realise that your week is up and it’s back to that job to earn the cash so that you can one day, just maybe buy that flat.