Why people Buy Boats To Live On in London Despite the Problems

[Tim Lewis]

https://onlineauctions.my-auction.co.uk/lot/details/59780?fbclid=IwAR3_tHtHiqhUDW6lCkWyViLUgnL8vARIHIvudypIWVTajODAuu_1ja3svRg

[MtB]

Looks bigger than most narrowboats!

 

Although granted, not much bigger....

[tree monkey]

That's madness, £50,000 guide for 1 room and a shower or did I get that wrong and there is at least a kitchen?

[Bee]

Yeah, I saw that, 75 sq ft!!!!!  Our little Dutch tug is only 32` long and the 'saloon' is  approx 90sq ft,  the wheelhouse and bedroom and loo is in addition to that and I reckon that it is too small for living in, its great for summer though. London os just stupid.

[robtheplod]

Someone will buy it and covert it into 4 separate dwellings!

[Mike Hurley]

Service charge 500, ground rent 400, thats your license paid each year, 50k would get you a decent boat. 75 sq/feet??????????? my garage is bigger. You can see why people live on boats in London, you would have to be fairly desperate to live in that flat/box.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Mike Hurley

[Tracy D'arth]

Basic question,                       Why would anyone of sound mind live in London?

 

Its horrible, full of horrible people, restrictive, dirty, smelly, dangerous, violent, foreign, stupid expensive, crowded, etc. etc.

[Alan de Enfield]

"You" don't have to live there, let the "horrible people, restrictive, dirty, smelly, dangerous, violent, foreign, stupid" live in it - just buy it and rent it out at £800 per month you'd have a big waiting list of prospective tenents.

 

With banks giving an interest rate of 0.01% (or 0.001%) a gross return of 19.2% looks very attractive to me.

[MtB]

8 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Basic question,                       Why would anyone of sound mind live in London?

 

Its horrible, full of horrible people, restrictive, dirty, smelly, dangerous, violent, foreign, stupid expensive, crowded, etc. etc.

 

 

Can't help but disagree with you there. Yes there are many areas in London just as you describe but equally there are lots of little 'village'-like bits tucked away out of view which you'd never realise existed looking at a map. You'd need to get out of your car and walk. Each with just as close a 'community spirit' as the canals. And the 'village' might be only a couple of hundred yards in size, turn a corner and you're back in the big anonymous thoroughfare.

[tree monkey]

5 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Can't help but disagree with you there. Yes there are many areas in London just as you describe but equally there are lots of little 'village'-like bits tucked away out of view which you'd never realise existed looking at a map. You'd need to get out of your car and walk. Each with just as close a 'community spirit' as the canals. And the 'village' might be only a couple of hundred yards in size, turn a corner and you're back in the big anonymous thoroughfare.

I don't like London or any city really, far too many people for my liking but I do remember being surprised quite how "village" like a great deal of London is, one particular time I was lost driving through South London and it quite blew me away the number of distinct small villages I drove through 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

57 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

That's madness, £50,000 guide for 1 room and a shower or did I get that wrong and there is at least a kitchen?

Looks like there’s a microwave under the bed

and a shelf opposite for your baked beans

[Tracy D'arth]

16 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

"You" don't have to live there, let the "horrible people, restrictive, dirty, smelly, dangerous, violent, foreign, stupid" live in it - just buy it and rent it out at £800 per month you'd have a big waiting list of prospective tenents.

 

With banks giving an interest rate of 0.01% (or 0.001%) a gross return of 19.2% looks very attractive to me.

There, I knew I was of sound mind!

 

I would think that renting it out to the sort of people who would live in a rabbit hutch could likely be more problems than any return was worth. Its only a good return if they pay the rent, don't trash the hutch, don't sublet it to undesirables etc.

 

What are "tenents"?

[koukouvagia]

29 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

 Why would anyone of sound mind live in London?

 

Yeah.  It’s a real drag living in London.

I have to put up with this boring sunset view and I have to walk at least 500 yards to reach woodland. 

 

 

[Victor Vectis]

41 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 < snip > just buy it and rent it out at £800 per month you'd have a big waiting list of prospective tenents.

 

With banks giving an interest rate of 0.01% (or 0.001%) a gross return of 19.2% looks very attractive to me.

 

But that is the root of the whole problem.

 

The world of housing has gone to hell in a handcart since property (and how I hate using that word) has been viewed as a money producing machine rather than homes for people to live in.

And however gave planning consent for that coversion, assuming it has any of course, needs putting against a wall and shooting.

 

......or, on second thoughts, be forced to live in it.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Victor Vectis

[MtB]

21 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

"You" don't have to live there, let the "horrible people, restrictive, dirty, smelly, dangerous, violent, foreign, stupid" live in it - just buy it and rent it out at £800 per month you'd have a big waiting list of prospective tenents.

 

With banks giving an interest rate of 0.01% (or 0.001%) a gross return of 19.2% looks very attractive to me.

 

 

To get that rate of return your horrible people, restrictive, dirty, smelly, dangerous, violent, foreign, stupid tenants would have to actually be paying the rent. As opposed to tenants who know their rights, stop paying the rent then sit tight waiting for you to get, then enforce a possession order. Which will probably take you several years with a well informed and awkward non-paying tenant in London. 

 

The 19.2% gross return is not all it appears. 

[mrsmelly]

8 minutes ago, koukouvagia said:

Yeah.  It’s a real drag living in London.

I have to put up with this boring sunset view and I have to walk at least 500 yards to reach woodland. 

 

 

Wow, what a pretty crane to look out on!!  and luuuurrvvvvvv the concrete!!

[Athy]

49 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Basic question,                       Why would anyone of sound mind live in London?

 

Its horrible, full of horrible people, restrictive, dirty, smelly, dangerous, violent, foreign, stupid expensive, crowded, etc. etc.

It's probably a generational thing (I suspect that I am oof a similar generation to you).

In my late 20s and early 30s I lived in the West End for five years and absolutely loved it. I had a spacious flat in the area known as "Seymour Village" (bounded by Edgware Road to the West, Marylebone Road to the North, Baker Street to the East and Oxford Street to the South) and there was indeed a bit of a village atmosphere, with lots of people in the area knowing each other, socialising together & c.

 

But I would not care to live there now.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Athy

[Tracy D'arth]

14 minutes ago, koukouvagia said:

Yeah.  It’s a real drag living in London.

I have to put up with this boring sunset view and I have to walk at least 500 yards to reach woodland. 

 

 

That's not woodland.

 

Its scrub, I can see a steel fence too. Plenty of sick looking stunted trees, pollution?

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

To get that rate of return your horrible people, restrictive, dirty, smelly, dangerous, violent, foreign, stupid tenants would have to actually be paying the rent. As opposed to tenants who know their rights, stop paying the rent then sit tight waiting for you to get, then enforce a possession order. Which will probably take you several years with a well informed and awkward non-paying tenant in London. 

 

The 19.2% gross return is not all it appears. 

 

 

But being 'next door' to the University Hospital should give you a reasonable clientelle.

 

I asked my accountant for some investment ideas when we had sold a business - he said his best investment was Student accomodation in Lincoln.

[David Mack]

18 minutes ago, koukouvagia said:

Yeah.  It’s a real drag living in London.

I have to put up with this boring sunset view and I have to walk at least 500 yards to reach woodland. 

 

 

But can you buy that for £50k or £800 per month?

[Tracy D'arth]

2 minutes ago, Athy said:

It's probably a generational thing (I suspect that I am oof a similar generation to you).

In my late 20s and early 30s I lived in the West End for five years and absolutely loved it. I had a spacious flat in the area known as "Seymour Village" and there was indeed a bit of a village atmosphere, with lots of people in the area knowing each other, socialising together & c.

 

But I would not care to live there now.

I was there one day this week, unavoidably, and its worse than it was 30 years ago when one of my sons lived in Islington in a basement flat.

I thought it was bad then but this week I realised that it is no longer part of England.

I couldn't understand a word of what was being mumbled at me all day.

Best part was the motorway out.

[doratheexplorer]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

Looks bigger than most narrowboats!

 

Although granted, not much bigger....

It's far, far smaller than most narrowboats.  My 55' boat has an internal floorspace of somewhere around 250sqft, that doesn't include front cratch and rear deck.  This has 75sqft. 

 

I'm less shocked by the £50,000 price tag than the £800pcm rental cost.

 

75sqft is 7sqm.  The government's current minimum space standard for single person dwellings is 37sqm, which is still a small studio type flat.  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/technical-housing-standards-nationally-described-space-standard/technical-housing-standards-nationally-described-space-standard

 

75sqft is a prison cell. 

 

[tree monkey]

4 minutes ago, Tracy D&#x27;arth said:

That's not woodland.

 

Its scrub, I can see a steel fence too. Plenty of sick looking stunted trees, pollution?

That's just regeneration, nothing stunted, I suspect they have changed the management in the last 20yrs or so to encourage this, the funny thing about London is quite how green and how many trees (not stunted) there are

[Victor Vectis]

3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I asked my accountant for some investment ideas when we had sold a business - he said his best investment was Student accomodation in Lincoln.

 

May I refer my honourable friend to my previous post

[doratheexplorer]

2 minutes ago, Tracy D&#x27;arth said:

I was there one day this week, unavoidably, and its worse than it was 30 years ago when one of my sons lived in Islington in a basement flat.

I thought it was bad then but this week I realised that it is no longer part of England.

I couldn't understand a word of what was being mumbled at me all day.

Best part was the motorway out.

In my experience, London has improved greatly in the last 30 years.  Is it possible that it's you, that's changed?