The shame I feel over not having a house is immense,” says Kiranjot Kaur. The 48-year-old Kundalini yoga teacher currently rents a house in Peckham from her 16-year-old son’s father. But her future in that home hangs in the balance. “It is unwritten between us that when my son turns 18 I will move out.” Kaur, a born-and-bred Londoner, tried to buy a house when her parents downsized and gave her some money. “I had £15,000 but I went to the bank and they laughed at me and said I didn’t earn enough to get a mortgage.” This is despite her always earning the average London salary. “My business is doing okay, but I can’t keep up with the price of houses. My sister made a £120,000 profit on a house she bought and sold after three years, that’s £40,000 a year, which is more than I earn annually.”
Julia Herman, 34, is a journalist who was on the cusp of buying an ex-local-authority, two-bedroom flat in Oval in the summer of 2021. “At that time, I could just about afford it. I had a good job and savings, but it fell through because it was leasehold and there was a big repair bill. It was cheap for a reason. I’d spent six months going back and forth with solicitors and I couldn’t face another six months of that, so I took a pause.”
During this time, she met and moved in with her boyfriend, who owns a house in Hackney. “He’s said I’m welcome to go on his mortgage and the house is as much mine as it is his but it’s not. I want my own space and I want to be able to say it’s mine. It’s a level of independence and self-sufficiency that feels quite important to me.”
This story is from the March 08, 2023 edition of Evening Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 08, 2023 edition of Evening Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Only £65k a month to live like Boy George
The Karma Chameleon singer listed his house for £17m in 2022, turning down offers. Now, he's looking for a tenant
Welcome to London, unicorn capital of Europe
We're flying far ahead of anywhere outside US for tech investment
Arteta's Arsenal evolution The next phase
Malik Ouzia and Simon Collings assess how the Spaniard will try to bring down Man City after he signs up for another three years with the title in his sights
Title fight catches fire after Gunners embrace dark side
Arsenal-City clashes take on a welcome edge of animosity
Whack the hippy gong-boho's back
It happened in Paris one grey February day. Sienna Miller was in an oversized, black leather jacket, lace-trimmed silk slip and clumpy great wedges.
There's a Starlink waiting in the sky... 7,000 in fact.Can Elon Musk stop them crashing to Earth?
As he was preparing his fields for seeding this year, Barry Sawchuk came across a giant slab of space debris. It had come from a spacecraft belonging to Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX.
'Politicians are only into power-mongering, corruption and cronyism'
We speak to alt revolutionary DEEPAK CHOPRA about biomarkers, his digital twin and his work to save humanity from disease
I've been waiting for a production of Godotthis brilliant all my life
Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati bring a potent, tragicomic chemistry to James Macdonald’s rich revival of Samuel Beckett’s challenging play.
Trust me, the Ritz is London's bestrestaurant
To whom we turn in moments of gloom and glory can be instructive, a filter of our truest friends. I've fallen out with the Ritz a couple of times, including once after a visit to the bar which didn’t warrant a review (“But you said it was lovely!” they said.
'Healing is a dirty word'
After four traumatic years, FKA twigs is back with a new album -and a thrilling metamorphosis
