On The Horns Of A Dilemma

Originally posted by Melendez@Sep 18 2006, 11:21 AM
Parent A, from what I can gather is able to afford the Halls of Residence, but is struggling to pay anything significantly more than that.
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We haven't been told that. Parent A says, wrongly, that he can't get involved in buying a property because of tax implications as he runs his own business. In fact the implication was that Parent A was better off financially than Parent B.
 
Originally posted by Desert Orchid@Sep 17 2006, 11:47 AM
He knows the financial plight of family A is close to desperate but the venture leaves his own family with next to no disposable income.
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???
 
Never mind 'strange amateur psychology', Brian: what seems to be figuring here is purely parents' ambitions for their daughters and an eye to the property market, without - as we've not been given any info on this - them finding out if it's what the girls would like, and without taking into account the possible pressure on the girl whose parents would rent on her behalf. I don't think I'd be entirely comfortable living in what would essentially be my mate's home, and having my parents cough up the rent to her parents. I'd feel a huge obligation to my own parents in a way I wouldn't feel towards them paying towards the entirely neutral Halls of Residence. At a time in my life where Bobbyjo has agreed you're supposed to be starting to row your own boat a bit, this situation could put a lot of pressure on the renting parents' kid that is not necessary. Forgive me for being strangely amateurish, but it's a very blokey sort of stance to take human, and especially young female, emotion out of every equation, and reduce a scenario to just cold numbers.

The whole thing sounds like it already got off to a lousy start, anyway, with the family situation as it is, and a lack of mutual enthusiasm. Just doing the math won't make it a successful venture.

BTW, I'm assuming that £3,000 p.a. in HoR gets everything paid bar the phone: electricity, insurance cover, the provision of furnishings, heating, and water. If the renting family is to pay £3,000 to the owning family, then they need to know that that's an all-in deal, too. Particularly insurance in case the flat burns down following one candle-lit party too many. They also need to be aware that the owning family must provide a carbon monoxide detector as well as a smoke alarm (that works), with batteries checked and replaced regularly, that any flues in the flat are free of debris, that there is an escape route from the flat in case of fire in the building, and that the door and window locks are also in working order. A few years ago, a lovely girl at Keele was lost because the rental property her parents had thought would be so much 'nicer' than HoR had blocked flues, and she died of carbon monoxide poisoning in her sleep. There's a wee bit more to this lark than just securing a good financial deal.
 
Originally posted by Desert Orchid@Sep 17 2006, 11:47 AM
Parent A was offered a partnership in the venture at the outset but claimed he couldn't do it. The other evening he offered to piggyback the deal and support it in full because then he'd be seeing something coming back a few years hence. Parent B rejected the offer.
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Hmm, seems to conflict with this bit, though.

The "claimed he couldn't do it" bit was allegedly for tax reasons.
 
Of course the other thing to ask is with regards to the "cost of the let of an equivalent property". Most students aren't going to be renting a flat in the standard way per se - they will more likely be renting a room in a student house. Ergo, they are likely to be paying far less than the x% share of the rent they would pay with x flatmates in a standard letting.
 
In fact, I really don't see much point to this initial post, other than a general rant (although that's no criticism, as most posts amount to that anyway)!

As I understand it, a proposition was made, it gets turned down by Parent 'A'. Much discussion/acrimony follows. Party purchases property (?. Party A then changes their mind and offers to cough up after all (thereby resolving the issue, surely?), only to be told to shove off.
 
OK, let Parent A and Parent B sort themselves and their families out - we just don't have enough information (nor should we have) on all the background.

But one bit of advice to any parents who can afford it - if you have a child at university who is going to rent outside accommodation with or without friends, then buy a property in the area rather than rent for the duration.
 
The other side of the above is - if you would have to stretch your finances to purchase then don't do it. It's an investment, not like buying the family home, and you're going to have enough additional expense already in funding a student for three years.
 
Originally posted by Songsheet@Sep 18 2006, 11:22 AM
In fact, I really don't see much point to this initial post, other than a general rant (although that's no criticism, as most posts amount to that anyway)!
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Not quite, Songsheet.

The purpose of the thread was that Parents B found themselves wondering...

1. Were they morally at fault for including insurance and factoring costs in what they were asking girl A (ie, parents A) to pay?

2. Should they just have asked the going rate without divulging the breakdown of costs to themselves?

Parents B felt their motives, honesty and integrity were being called into question, which hurt them deeply. They know mother and daughter A very well but not the father.

The replies on here have been interesting, though.
 
Originally posted by Desert Orchid+Sep 18 2006, 12:18 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Desert Orchid @ Sep 18 2006, 12:18 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Songsheet@Sep 18 2006, 11:22 AM
In fact, I really don't see much point to this initial post, other than a general rant (although that's no criticism, as most posts amount to that anyway)!
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Not quite, Songsheet.

The purpose of the thread was that Parents B found themselves wondering...

1. Were they morally at fault for including insurance and factoring costs in what they were asking girl A (ie, parents A) to pay?

2. Should they just have asked the going rate without divulging the breakdown of costs to themselves?

Parents B felt their motives, honesty and integrity were being called into question, which hurt them deeply. They know mother and daughter A very well but not the father.

The replies on here have been interesting, though. [/b][/quote]
No more so than any landlord or letting agent!
 
Put them in the "Halls of residence", and let them mix with others and have a bit of fun also, as well as studying for a pass mark...... don't look at the cost one is going to make off your childs back????????? ;)
 
Originally posted by Merlin the Magician@Sep 18 2006, 03:52 PM
Put them in the "Halls of residence",
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Not always the cleverest place to be, Merlin - for a number of reasons. And most students would prefer to be outside. They mix with others all the time, both during the day and in the students' union and all sots of other laces at night.
 
Halls of Residence can rarely cope with their entire student population, Merlin - usually they just about manage the first year and some of the final year students. HoR's are great as an introduction but students need to learn a degree of independence - not least managing a housing budget.
 
Just out of interest..... I can understand halls of residence for 1st year students, but why also the last year ? By then they should they not know the lay of the land better than anyone ?
 
Originally posted by BrianH@Sep 18 2006, 04:22 PM
I think there is a theory that it's easier to work in halls.
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Well, if you're serious about getting a good degree, it usually is easier - the libraries are on hand and the student wastes less time (and money) in travelling each day.

But I suppose if you were at Uni only for a complete piss-up, it wouldn't figure!
 
Halls for final year students are a good idea. At my University, there was a separate hall for final year students are it worked very well for my friends who chose to go there.
 
My son enjoyed his time at university greatly but also did a bit of work to get a good degree. He spent about his first three months at Kent in halls of residence. He came home at weekends initially, saying that he had to move out - at 2.30 in the morning their were other undergraduates running around the corridors wearing rugby shirts and nothing else, singing loudly and puking all over the floor.

And the male students were little better.
 
I lived in halls for my first year. Freshers' week was fun. 4 times in a week, I woke up and opened a can of cider.....
 
Halls of residence were terrible in 1985 - dreadful food , crappy room and boring as hell .

Shared house second and third years - brilliant brilliant fun.
 
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