What would you do in this guys shoes?
What would you do in this guys shoes?
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Discussion

A500leroy

Original Poster:

7,775 posts

142 months

Monday 31st May 2021
quotequote all
The renter
Rudolf Bozart has had a year to forget - the media company he worked for went bust, he found a job as a carer but was made redundant. So now he delivers takeaways.

The bills have mounted - energy, council tax and rent - and the 26-year-old owes the landlord £3,400 in arrears.

The pandemic has cost Rudolf Bozart two jobs and he now owes his landlord £3,400
"It is stressful and it's affecting my health and it gives a lot of sleepless nights," he says.

"I just don't know when I'm going to wake up to the dreadful message, saying that this is your notice because of the rent arrears.

"So far the ban on eviction was my safety net for me not ending up on the streets."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57262181

voyds9

8,490 posts

307 months

Monday 31st May 2021
quotequote all
Get a second job

WolfAir

456 posts

159 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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So many have fallen through the cracks this past year and many continue to fall. We do not hear of the 100's if not 1000's that have committed suicide.
Very difficult situation to be in, i would start by making some sort of arrangement with the landlord and the rest of the bills and then simply try and work my arse off in any capacity possible. Good luck to him..

vonuber

17,868 posts

189 months

Monday 31st May 2021
quotequote all
voyds9 said:
Get a second job
How lazy. Why not a third job?

valiant

13,400 posts

184 months

Monday 31st May 2021
quotequote all
vonuber said:
voyds9 said:
Get a second job
How lazy. Why not a third job?
Why can’t he simply get a job paying £100k?

He’s simply not trying is he?

jimothyc

761 posts

108 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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His story doesn't exactly tie up with his LinkedIn profile. The media company that closed was his own, and it was his first and/or only employment.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudolf-bozart-a05a3620...

He's since started another company and appears to be trying to freelance. I guess without much success. At 26 years old and from Budapest, he could always move back with his parents if he can no longer afford to live in the UK.

stuthemong

2,515 posts

241 months

Monday 31st May 2021
quotequote all
I did feel for him when I read that article.

Interesting sleuthing above, but taking the article at face value. Hes lucky in that he has no partner /child, so Id regress to student chic....

-Seek early exit from tenancy.

-Explain cannot afford rent. Negotiate clean exit, I think it likely LL would waive arrears to get clean possession.

-Sell furniture / extraneous stuff to be light on feet.

-Rent room in shared house so all bills are split and base costs are maybe 1/3to 1/2 what he's spending now.

It sucks. Its like going backwards in life, but I think he'd feel happier in a room he can afford than stressing about his bills that are mounting faster than his ability to service them in a house he can't afford.

When I'd cut the rot (big bills and commitments), then I'd start trying to find more work to build myself back up.

Really tough situation. Feel for him and those like him.

T6 vanman

3,427 posts

123 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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Top snooping Jim-o

61 thousand opportunities open to him


As someone facing the icy chill of redundancy,
1, what's your skill set,
2, what opportunities are out there, with your skill set

3, Do I need to improve my skillset

My concerns & sympathy are with those with low skill sets or other 'disadvantages'
But a BBC love-y liberal media intellectual ... Sorry knuckle down chap, It's not handed to you on a plate.

Edited by T6 vanman on Monday 31st May 12:25

skyrover

12,698 posts

228 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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We do not have all of the facts to make an informed opinion.

Dromedary66

1,924 posts

162 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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He needs to be immediately removed from the house he cannot afford.

Very glad the eviction ban is soon over. Too many selfish, self-entitled s taking advantage of it.


austinsmirk

5,597 posts

147 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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2 sides to every story. Personally working in social housing so dealing with 10,000’s: we saw people blatantly use Covid as an excuse not to pay rent. Bear in mind they are all getting £20 a week for free for nothing. I’m talking the majority who are FT on benefits/uc.

Staff asking them why not paying? “Covid innit”

But you were never working anyway and had no job to lose. Yr now £20 a week richer.

One chap whose case I reviewed was spending £400. A mth on cigarettes and £400 on fuel. How? He literally has no where to go for any purpose. At height of Covid I doubt we were spending even £25 a mth as a household on diesel

Got a case into court for eviction a couple of months back: we failed. Single bloke has failed to pay any rent ever. Owes £6k. Has a benefits income solely of about £1400 a mth. Refuses to pay us the mere £300 a mth.

He stalled it loads too due to “health” even though hearing was by zoom.

Don’t doubt loads have struggled and it’s been horrible on both sides.


pquinn

7,167 posts

70 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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Why should he expect some other poor sod to pay for his house?

Can't afford it? Move. Or find some family member to sponge off.

67Dino

3,642 posts

129 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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Unfortunately this chap has no more right to be in this property than many others who also can’t afford it and yet are living in cheaper accommodation. So he should move out, but of course, it’s more complicated than that.

The underlying problem here is the lack of quality, affordable rental properties, including social housing. Without them, people like Rudolph are forced into a choice between an unaffordable private rental or homelessness, and to avoid the latter, the government is just making private landlords do the state’s job and subsidise peoole who need somewhere cheap to live.

We’re a wealthy enough country, we should be able to provide for everyone. Move him out, give the chap somewhere else decent but cheaper to live, and let the landlord get back to making an honest living.


pquinn

7,167 posts

70 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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67Dino said:


The underlying problem here is the lack of quality, affordable rental properties, including social housing.
Not at all. It's people with an undeserved and unrealistic idea of what they should have, and no ability to deal with reality.

He could have rented a room instead, or been realistic about his work ideas, or relocated to back home. Instead he's stuck to keeping a home all of his own with no way to pay for it and no plans to change anything.

What certainly shouldn't be an option is asking everyone else to pay more so some people can continue to live in the style to which they've become accustomed. Especially young single male migrants.

98elise

31,484 posts

185 months

Monday 31st May 2021
quotequote all
I would live to my means, and stop reading bias articles from the BBC. I loved this gem....

One renter in arrears told the BBC his landlord has "the power to just flick their finger and get me out".

No they don't, not even close,even in normal times. Tenants have the power to live in your property rent free, and play the system while recieving money from tax payers for accommodation.

Getting someone out of a property takes months, and you only have to watch one of those bailiff programs to see that the landlord is normally sat with thousands of debt, and a trashed home, while the tenant says they haven't received any paperwork.

Electro1980

8,931 posts

163 months

Monday 31st May 2021
quotequote all
T6 vanman said:
Top snooping Jim-o

61 thousand opportunities open to him


As someone facing the icy chill of redundancy,
1, what's your skill set,
2, what opportunities are out there, with your skill set

3, Do I need to improve my skillset

My concerns & sympathy are with those with low skill sets or other 'disadvantages'
But a BBC love-y liberal media intellectual ... Sorry knuckle down chap, It's not handed to you on a plate.

Edited by T6 vanman on Monday 31st May 12:25
LinkedIn jobs has about zero relevance to the real amount of jobs available. The vast majority, if not all, of those jobs will either be irrelevant, none existent or in somewhere totally inappropriate.

Saleen836

12,238 posts

233 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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And it is made worse by the councils who tell the tenant to stay put and wait for the bailiffs to arrive and evict them,if they don't do this the council will not help them as they have in effect made themself homeless!

remedy

2,183 posts

215 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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My grandfather moved down from Newcastle to Bristol about 100 years ago looking for work. Back then, people did what was needed.
Incredible that in a world that is physically and digitally more connected than ever before it's easier to go to the press and cry.

TCX

1,976 posts

79 months

Monday 31st May 2021
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Just shows the stupidity of EU freedom of movement,immigrants coming to a country should financially support themselves,if not able,back to whence they came

bigandclever

14,221 posts

262 months

Monday 31st May 2021
quotequote all
stuthe said:
-Rent room in shared house so all bills are split and base costs are maybe 1/3to 1/2 what he's spending now.
Potentially he could also rent out the second bedroom in his flat to someone else. There are other articles his story is in going back to last year; some of the timelines and details aren’t coherent.

Nonetheless, it’s not the greatest situation he’s in but it’s also nowhere near the worst. He’s running at a deficit of £300 a month. I haven’t worked for over a year and am burning ten times that.