Q This is a long shot but out of my desperation I thought it’s worth at least trying to raise the question, even if you won’t be able to help.
I am a single mum and have been renting from a private landlord in Hounslow since 2016, paying £1,100 a month for a one-bedroom flat for most of the time, until the rent was increased to £1,300 a year ago. I thought that the concept of London living rent would be the perfect thing for me, until I read that I cannot qualify for a one-bedroom apartment that is part of the scheme locally with a monthly rent of £987.74 (which I know I can afford) because my salary of £30,000 is less than the £36,000 minimum household income requirement. I find it tragic how I am deemed unsuitable even for London living rent, not even talking about ever getting a mortgage. What is a person like me supposed to do? My only option is to keep on paying even higher rent to a private landlord and thus crushing any hopes of ever making any savings: I cannot understand why poor people are excluded from qualifying for cheaper rents.
AS
A If you are not thinking of ever getting a mortgage – and so not hoping to buy somewhere – I’m not sure that the London living rent (LLR) scheme is for you. According to the mayor of London’s website:“London living rent is a type of intermediate affordable housing for middle-income Londoners who want to build up savings to buy a home. London living rent provides high-quality rented homes on stable tenancies [of a minimum of three years, maximum 10] with rents based on a third of local household incomes.” According to the developers L&Q Homes: “The main benefit of the scheme, is that through LLR you can go on to purchase the property you already call home via shared ownership or on the open market.”
More up your street may be the type of scheme – called SimpliCity – offered by Notting Hill Genesis, which is said to be “an affordable private let and not a social let”. The scheme offers low-cost rental homes with a choice of one- to three-year tenancies, which are reserved for households that do not already own property and have an income of less than £60,000. A similar scheme offering lower-rent homes – typically 20% less than market rents – is the SmartRent scheme from Network Homes.
You can find other forms of affordable housing (exclusively for Londoners) by using the Homes for Londoners search tool on the mayor of London’s website.
