Can I get a mortgage if my only income is from lodgers?

I receive about £1,600 a month from them and I may have to give up my job to look after a relative

Q Can I still get a mortgage if my only income is from my lodgers? It is about £1,600 a month. I may have to give up my job to look after a relative.
SA

A The short answer is no. There are very few mortgage lenders who are prepared to take income from lodgers into account when working out how much they are prepared to lend. And, according to Pete Mugleston of onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk, “even lenders who do accept lodger income are unlikely to offer you a mortgage if you are unemployed and have no other sources of income”. Mugleston adds: “In fact, most lenders who accept lodger income stipulate that your total employed earnings must be at least £20,000 to £25,000 a year.”

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Momentum to focus on resisting evictions during Covid-19 crisis

Group shifts away from internal Labour politics towards community campaigns

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Momentum, the political group closely linked to Jeremy Corbyn’s former leadership of the Labour party, is launching what it calls a “resistance campaign” against residential evictions as part of a shift in focus for the organisation towards community-based action.

With the government allowing court eviction hearings in England and Wales to resume from 20 September, there are concerns that tens of thousands of people who have fallen into rent arrears amid the coronavirus crisis could lose their homes.

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Is that rare plant illegal? | James Wong

How to spot the signs of plant trafficking online

Social media has done incredible things for gardening, opening up an astonishing diversity of clever techniques and innovative styles from around the globe. As with all democratisations of culture, this revolution has also allowed more problematic practices to flourish. The anonymity and reach of these platforms has seen a plethora of wild-collected, sometimes incredibly endangered, plants flooding social feeds and auction sites. How can we combat this?

Most non-specialists would assume that in order to find these specimens, you would need to delve deep into the dark web and the underground criminal world that’s home to the likes of weapon and drug dealers. This is not the case. I see obviously trafficked plants almost every day on popular internet auction sites.

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Calls grow to protect renters as ban on lockdown evictions expires

Up to 55,000 tenants may be at high risk of losing their homes as cases restart after Covid-19 moratorium

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Tens of thousands of struggling private renters need new legal protections and emergency financial aid to prevent a rise in homelessness when a ban on evictions ends on Monday, ministers have been warned.

As many as 55,000 private renters are thought to have been given an eviction notice between March and August and to be at risk when the ban comes to an end tomorrow. Cash-strapped councils fear they will be left to pick up the bill from any increase in homelessness that emerges in the coming months.

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Is that rare plant illegal? | James Wong

How to spot the signs of plant trafficking online

Social media has done incredible things for gardening, opening up an astonishing diversity of clever techniques and innovative styles from around the globe. As with all democratisations of culture, this revolution has also allowed more problematic practices to flourish. The anonymity and reach of these platforms has seen a plethora of wild-collected, sometimes incredibly endangered, plants flooding social feeds and auction sites. How can we combat this?

Most non-specialists would assume that in order to find these specimens, you would need to delve deep into the dark web and the underground criminal world that’s home to the likes of weapon and drug dealers. This is not the case. I see obviously trafficked plants almost every day on popular internet auction sites.

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Happy accidents and garden interlopers | Allan Jenkins

The order of the plot is disrupted by a colour clash from self-seeded fennel, amaranth and orache

A quiet word this week in favour of accidentals – plants that pop up where you least expect them. An inconvenient growth, if you will.

I suspect most gardeners are split into neat freaks who micro-manage; those more comfortable with a wilder way to grow; and the rest who operate in between but may aspire to a tighter or looser style.

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Happy accidents and garden interlopers | Allan Jenkins

The order of the plot is disrupted by a colour clash from self-seeded fennel, amaranth and orache

A quiet word this week in favour of accidentals – plants that pop up where you least expect them. An inconvenient growth, if you will.

I suspect most gardeners are split into neat freaks who micro-manage; those more comfortable with a wilder way to grow; and the rest who operate in between but may aspire to a tighter or looser style.

Continue reading...

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