'The Super-Rich and us'..BBC 2 tonight...7.00-8.00 pm

[Inchy]

I think it was meant as 'less well off then your grand parents, when they were young'.

I would hope old people will be better off then younger ones as they have had a lifetime to get there.

my grandad owned a house by the age of 25, and he probably paid a reasonable price for it. That doesn’t seem as possible these days

[Hipper]

My Grandad was in the army in WW1 and died from the effects of gas after the war!

I must admit that today it seems so much more difficult for school leavers and just above - tuition fees, access to work, cost of housing. When I left school in 1970 I could walk in and out of a job as I pleased - and did! If I had had the ability to go to university it would have cost nothing and I would likely have got a grant for my living costs.

For house prices and wages I've tried to look up the averages. Wages in 1970 averaged £1,801 and housed prices averaged £4,975 - 2.76 times wages. In 2017 the figures are £27,600 and £220,713 - that's 8 times.

The plus is I suspect the younger generation have better health, better opportunities (in theory anyway) and materially - cars, tv etc. - are better off. The dark cloud though is climate change/destruction.

[Foshiznik]

1. How do you know how much work your landlord has done to buy the flat you rent?

2. It is likely he has got a mortgage on the property and he has 'bought to let'.

3. You will presumably be pleased to know that in 2015 (introduced by the much maligned George Osborne) the tax arrangements on landlord's profits for renting has reduced his profit, and will reduce it further in future years:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/landlor ... ax-relief/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1. It’s a converted garage. It will have probably cost him 10k to do up admittedly, buts done absolutely nothing of improvement to it in the 2 years I’ve been here.

2. It’s the old garage of his house (I.e I’m on his land). It’s not mortgageable as far as I’m aware.

3. It was off gumtree and cheaper than the going rate. I also have to pay part cash part bank transfer so I think it’s fair to say, landlord rules don’t apply to him but like for like, it’s cheap for me!

[Foshiznik]

Can't blame the landlord for the banks being unreasonable.

Anyway, if it's a bedsit, presumably there are several of you sharing the house. If the landlord was forced to stop renting, then you'd want a property each - that's not going to help the housing shortage.

I’m talking old school bedsit, nowadays advertised as a studio flat.

I chose it to live on my own.