Ticha: I will not return to doing stand-alone Airbnbs. The income is too volatile for my liking. As part of the house I live in, I will consider and prefer short term lets as long I do not depend on the income to pay my bills.
A few things to consider for long term lets in an annexe -
With an annex, the council will band it as a separate property for council tax purposes from the main house especially if it has cooking facilities. Some will band it if it has a separate loo/bathroom. Once it’s banded, it can be a massive pain to get them to remove the banding. They’re broke and are not smiling!
Studios tend to have a high turnover rate for long term lettings. The rent is not too different from a 1 bed which has more space and same bills or from a room in a shared house which is cheaper as bills are shared and potentially all inclusive. People will often use them as stepping stones. If you’re near a university/hospital, it maybe worth liaising directly with the accommodation offices as a stop gap accommodation provider. My advice will be to make it at least a one bed annex.
Your mortgage provider might not be too happy about it because you’re changing their security from what was agreed. Obviously, you’re ‘supposed’ to notify them of any material changes to the house. They can stop you from doing the extension or ask you to change the kind of mortgage you have if you say I want to extend to rent out so thread carefully.
Consider your tenant profile. Single occupant? What if the single occupant has someone visiting daily? Happy to take a couple? What if they have a baby?
Minimum ASTs are 6 month long. What happens if you get a not so good tenant? You’ll be stuck with them in your adjacent space for a min of 6 months (will change if the rental reform plans go ahead).
Then there is tax. Rent a room only applies to lodgers or short term lets that share your space with you. Anything else will count as income for tax purposes. Due to S24, you cannot offset your mortgage interest, so all rent counts as income minus expenses. If the studio is all inclusive, then you will need to ensure that your calculation of the share of expenses is proportionate. Depending on your current incomes, the rental income might put you and madam straight into a higher tax bracket.
The cost of the conversion will not be classed as an expense for tax purposes – it will be a capital expenditure against future CGT. If the council re-bands you, when you sell, you will also be liable for CGT for the value of the annex as it would not be classed as your primary residence (just the annex value portion). So, you will pay tax on that portion of the uplift when you sell which is currently set at 28% for each of you so the longer you will there, the more tax you will pay as the house appreciates in value.
It doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Just some things to consider as you plan especially around taxes and how that will impact you both as you earn more.
Thanks so much!
it's not to rely on for bills or anything but just to get some additional funds to overpay as and when, so I think short-lets will be the best, and it'll probably be easier to do some minor work in the annex to make it work for short-lets without needing to do the major works (and resulting planning issues) that we'd need for long term lets.
Ticha: 1. Check the rules in your area. Parts of Wales (Cardiff especially and the Valleys), Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh), Cornwall, Devon and London have a ban on short term lets in varying degrees. You will even need planning permission in certain areas which takes months and some serious dosh spent to get. Neighbours will rat you out so ensure you have your Ts crossed! 2. It can be a rented property but make sure you have clearance from the landlord and in writing where possible. A normal BTL mortgage expressly forbids using the property as a short let or as a residential property. Some landlords don’t care and some do – so be upfront with the landlord so they can decide for themselves if they’re happy for you to run a short let 3. It can be your own property but a. if you have bought with a residential mortgage, you will be breaching the terms (na who know go open ya yansh). If you have bought with a specialist short term let mortgage, then you will be breaching the terms by living there as well. Some lenders (Halifax for example) offer a residential mortgage where you can also use the house for short lets for short periods of time thus allowing people to rent out their homes when they go on holiday etc rather than as a proper business. 4. Interest rates for short term let mortgages are way higher than regular BTL or residential interest rates. Deposits are also higher -most lenders want between 35-50% deposit. Most lenders class it as commercial lending so the mortgage term is usually also short (between 10 to 15 years max) 5. To be profitable, you may have to be in locations that may not really be family friendly – city centres, near airports or event centres, touristy areas. These areas will also have competition, so you then have to spend money to up your game. Luxury does not usually equal profit 6. If you live in the house and run STL from it, you will benefit from the government rent a room tax free scheme. 7. People are less likely to misbehave and be shady if you live there and just rent out rooms but then you’re sharing bathrooms, toilets, kitchens and shared spaces with strangers daily – think of family safety.
Pitfalls 1. You need to either have a good cleaning crew or be open to spending a good chunk of your time on cleaning otherwise the reviews will kill your business pretty quickly 2. Location, location, location is key – which again ties into the above 3. Most residential flats expressly prohibit short term lets and where they allow it, other flats will also be STLs so there will be competition. 4. On average, you need to be booked for at least 20 days every month to break even. Expenses to think about off the bat - all the house bills are paid by you, updating furniture and fittings as the wear and tear is a lot higher, higher cleaning expenditure, fees to booking platforms (Airbnb takes an average of 18% of all bookings, booking.com takes 15%, VRBO takes 15%), linen and laundry costs (at every booking), providing and replacing toiletries and tea stuff then rent or mortgage. 5. You are not guaranteed a booking. People will cancel last minute. You will have to reduce prices to keep it competitive. There will be down periods – usually December to March that your expenses will keep running when your bookings are down. 6. The booking portals can shut you down at any time and sometimes for frivolous reasons. Airbnb is very good at this. They can also withhold payments to you and refund customers without your approval and there’ll be nothing you can do about it. 7. Neighbours will intensely dislike you – guests are not usually very considerate. They will park anyhow, party, thrash the property, make noise and you will be called out to break up issues. 8. It can easily become a full time job without the commensurate full time pay unless you outsource it and then that eats into your profits. 9. Reviews even when malicious can make or break you.
We turned our family home into an Airbnb when we first left the UK. We restricted bookings to a minimum of 3 nights. It was a larger home (5 bedroom) and could sleep 12 people, so we got large bookings and were able to charge accordingly (£300 a night and fixed so if it was 1 person or 12 people, you paid the same price. Otherwise, people book for 2/3 and sneak the reast in)
2 bookings was break even for us. So we aimed for a min of 3 bookings a month. Even though we didn’t target tourists (it was near a military base, close to a motorway, a speedway and a nuclear power plant), Nov to March was absolutely brutal! So, we targeted contractors and track racers, those would wake, head off to work, come back, drink, sleep and repeat and they were filthy! OMG! The cleaner always had to take rubbish to the tip -which cost money as well. Christmas and NY were always booked so we often upped the charge for that time to cover us till March. There is a large number of retirees (67% of the population of the town) so their families would book and stay at ours when they came to see, visit or bury their family member.
There’s was always something to be repaired after every booking. People would put the heating on in the summer and just leave it on all day. Our cleaner lived 2 doors away and would hand over keys so they knew she was nearby, people still tried to have parties, sneak people in, hide broken stuff.
Guests will message at all hours of the day for basic things even when we had a comprehensive house manual detailing every single thing. I can’t find the thermostat for the heating – it’s on the wall by the controls. The lights won’t dim – use the dimmer nau! I’ve forgotten the pin to get in (it’s always the last 4 digits of the booking person’s phone number and they can change the guest one to any 4-digit number), I’ve locked myself out (just use the 4-digit pin that you set! It’s a digital lock o! I can unlock remotely but still!), your spoons are not shiny enough, could you please buy round pasta bowls? Can you get me cots? My baby will only sleep in a cot (we don’t provide cots and it’s detailed in our listing and the booking rules), your bedsheets are not Egyptian cotton, I only sleep on cotton sheets – ogbeni carry your favourite sheets follow body o You will have your customer service face and voice on 24/7. Knowing what I know now, I’ll take Mon- Fri lodgers over short term let guests if I am not doing it full time.
PS - You can check prices and availability in your given area by checking calendars of hosts on Airbnb or VRBO by month (booked dates will be greyed out), open dates will show prices. Play round with weeks (7 days discounts), months (long term booking discount), check how lax their rules are - strictly no refunds or usually means bookings are generally slow. It is more difficult to do that on booking.com so to check viability for booking.com, use the search function and check which cheap hotel chains are in the area - Travel lodge etc as those will be your direct competition
Madam Ticha, thanks for this evergreen insights.
Please, based on your experience doing airbnb and also longer term rentals of part of a home, which would you say you had a better experience with and which would you do now? Also, any issues you'd be more wary of - especially the long term rentals since you've covered airbnb pitfalls here.
Looking at converting a garage/extension into a separate self-contained studio flat so trying to figure out which route may be best.
kwakudtraveller: I have a couple of questions. Please help a brother 🙏🏿
1. If I'm buying a house in an onward chain, and all contracts are signed. My question is: When do mortgage payments start? Is it right away, or when I move in? This is especially confusing especially if the current owners haven't found a new home yet.In this case, who pays the mortgage if they're still living there after the sale closes?
2. For those who recently bought a home within the £300k mark, what is your monthly mortgage payment? I understand interest rates vary by lender, but I'm curious about actual figures people are paying, not estimates on Zoopla (which I've heard can be inaccurate).
Cannot answer 1 but for 2, it's not the property size that matters primarily - it's the loan size, so based on your deposit. Anyway, for a loan of 289, it's ¬1660 at 4.87% (5 year fix), so for a property of 300 with 10% deposit and so a 270k loan, it should be around 1550.
missjekyll: Look at the molue that jammed Elon yesterday. Lol
Love this from VK.
Very accurate summary of the depravity that Trump represents.
Was very interesting to see EM's (non) response as well - sidestepping the points and making vague, irrelevant claims about fake news - as usual from MAGAs, as if Trump's actions haven't been very well documented beyond any doubt.
And I loved the very specific follow-ups from VK who, interestingly, used to be a republican himself.
Zahra29: 1. The fact that the King was denied his wish to change his title and was offered the concession pledge instead (30 years after the wish was initially made known) shows that it is very very unlikely that the titles will be changed at all. The RF has its own interests to look after as well, if it modernises or changes too much then it builds the Republican argument that the whole institution might as well be scrapped. What makes the RF unique are the sacrosanct traditions and pomp and ceremony which have stood for centuries, some of which are beyond the power of even the Monarch to change.
2. Exactly - the fact that Rishi could publicly perform his religion as part of his office is further proof that UK is already extremely inclusive of other faiths and cultures. I don't see why the RF has to change its fundamental traditions just to virtue signal the same point.
3. Reform also polled relatively high among blacks you know...so if they're attracting the younger populace as well as a group that is /has been on the receiving end of racism....I think the argument for/against them is perhaps more complex and nuanced than just race issues.
A couple of things;
You don't know that the pledge was an offering to him or if he moderated his views over the intervening period. What we know for a fact is that he changed the wording of that pledge literally upon taking the throne. He couldn't have done anything before. Indicates that it was a priority for him. Also, the extent to which the royal traditions are beyond the power of the king to change are speculatitve (unless you have a statute you can cite) so this is a moot point. We'll see how things play out.
Again, I'm not saying the UK should change. I'm saying it has changed and is changing in one direction. It's not an opinion - it's a fact.
About Reform, now I'll speculate a little bit and tell you that you'll find that polls and indeed votes when people know that Reform doesn't actually have a chance of winning won't be indicative of actual voting patterns among the group the party has made it its priortity to demonize and threaten. Everyone was angry at the Tories and many were/are angry at Labour and so many votes and polls reflected that. In an election where they have an actual chance, the same will likely happen as did in France when the possibility of a Le Pen presidency became very real and people understood what that could mean for their immediate futures, they found the energy to unite and vote tactically to prevent it.
Ultimately at this point I'll just say let's see how things play out.
Zahra29: 1. The modified pledge, which is a very reasonable promise for ANY country to make in the 21st century, is very different to altering the fundamental titles of the RF. The King is Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church and shall remain so.
2. The UK is already extremely inclusive,it does not mean that the title of the King/Monarch has to change from the central tenets, faith and traditions that it and the country was founded on. Embracing other cultures and religions does not mean you have to lose sight of, or water down, your own.
3. There was a poll before the election that showed that Reform was polling high among the younger age groups. I posted a comment here about it, same trend playing out with the far right in Europe. So it's got nothing to do with the younger generation being enlightened as they already live in an inclusive, multicultural society. It has more to do with the hope that they feel that these new parties offers them over the status quo, such as home ownership.
1. The point is not about whether it's reasonable for the UK to make. The point was that taken into consideration alongside the King's previous wish to change his title to reflect multiple faiths, the current unprecedented change which he later made reflects a definitive shift away from tradition. It also doesn't matter how adamant you are when you declare that it shall remain so. The king himself said he wanted to change it. He didn't get his way fully but he started the monarchy down the path already. That's what matters.
2. I agree with you. I actually like British culture a lot. Doesn't change the facts though. I'm not talking about what should be. I'm assessing what is and what is likely to be in the future based on cultural and demographic trends. Did you think you'd see a UK prime minister doing a Hindu ritual before entering no. 10? Or the way religious politics affected the recent elections?
3. You're right - it's not just one thing. That doesn't change the overarching stats that younger people generally tend more 'progressive', and there's that other point about how there'll be an increasing diversity among those younger voters, especially as the old, consertative core dies - literally.
Zahra29: Erm no, King Charles is Defender of the Faith just like his mother was and monarchs before him. His other official title is Supreme governor of the Church of England. The Royal Family does not dispense with centuries old tradition on a whim. Charles had indicated that he might want to be styled King of the Faiths but that was quickly shot down.
Whim or not, the fact of the matter is that King Charles recited a brand new pledge that spoke of him working “to seek to foster an environment in which people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely.” None of his previous ancestors had ever said that.
So although the "defender of faith" thing was shot down as you put it in 1994, the king has clearly followed through to an extent on his principle and made a substantial step toward the monarchy being less exclusively Christian in outlook...for better or worse.
Also, budaatum, you make a very valid point about the inclusiveness in younger people. It's also not a coincidence that Labour is advocating for the vote to be given to 16-year Olds. Apart from their mindsets being more inclusive, that demographic will be increasingly diverse as the years go on. I think people will be very surprised come 2029 but let's wait and see.
Zahra29: Yet despite her Indian heritage, they still endorsed Vance and his wife to become the Second Family out of numerous other candidates.
Nikki Haley came second in the republican hustings, beating the likes of DeSantis, and still carries a lot of sway in the Rep party - despite the fact she is Indian : born to Indian immigrants.
I'm definitely not saying they are spotless, but many people of BME origin who vote for Reform or Trump don't necessarily do so because they think they are bessies with black people, but because their policies align most closely with the priorities and values they consider most important to them, their children,community and the country they call home. Just like Evangelicals who vote for Trump despite his questionable personal moral record, but they reason that his policies are more in line with their Christian principles than the Democrats, so they hold their noses if need be and support him.
Tories have had a worse reputation for racism than Labour, yet they've appointed more senior cabinet members of ethnic origin, including in all the 4 Great Offices of State, than the Labour party.
The Democrats have been accused of sidelining Harris in favour of white men who are far less qualified, aka Gavin Newsom. You'd also be surprised the number of women who don't support Harris simply because she's a woman herself. (Reverse sexism?)
There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes in politics, it's not just black and white issues. Sometimes people put the persona, headlines and emotions aside and vote on raw policies.
I don't disagree with any of this.
I understand fully that people vote based on different factors and I'm not campaigning or arguing anyone should vote one way or another.
The point was to highlight, as I said, what the core of the MAGA movement thinks about non-white people, and I can confidently say "the core" because these people in that video are all ones that Trump himself had platformed on multiple occasions and continues to associate with. Labour has its issues, yes, but it's incomparable.
No other party has the same level of acceptability of open racism and antagonism of non-white people as in MAGA and Reform, and there have been multiple incidents that showcased that. If any person Labour affiliate said the things Nick F said (as an example), they'd be roundly denounced immediately, but with Trump you'll hear nothing, or at worst some 'both sides' umms and ahhs. This part is my opinion and I'm fine with anyone not agreeing.
Ultimately, I shared because I found it interesting and genuinely very amusing. I actually laughed out loud thinking about the cognitive dissonance many MAGAs must be facing now.
Should be especially interesting for those of you who support Reform/Trump, and a reminder about what the core of those movements really represent and think of you.
missjekyll: Thats a bit rich coming from a Tory supporter,dont you think? You continued to support them even as they failed and failed for 14 years. Now they have been booted out, you are still raining on the parade after 2 weeks . Luckily,You will be here to see and to enjoy all of it too.
Agreed.
And crucially as well - the plans display coherence in the government's strategy, unlike the previous few Tory governments that have bumbled from disastrous plan to disastrous plan, from Boris' "oven ready Brexit deal" to Truss's budget to Sunak's compulsory national service.
I personally like everything there although there's something I was hoping for as it relates to my field that was underwhelming but even if one does not agree with everything, it's a marked improvement already. Plus they have the numbers to push anything through so we can reasonably expect most of these will go through.
Also the point about how they might still fail is irrelevant. Every government may still fail. Same as every new leadership in any organisation. As you said, it's rich when such sour grapes comments come from Tory supporters or even the ones that said they'd vote Reform and their hallucinatory manifesto.
KOVIC19COVID20: Oh woww your trust is booking your lessons for you? That’s so sweet of them.
Actually, you could ask your trust to get you a driver or two to be driving you to work, pending when your trust-sponsored driving test booking happens.
It worked for me during my time.
😄
I don't know why people are taking that account seriously. It's clear from many miles away that the person is just trolling.
Hwy9: No offense but are you sure what you got is actually a court summons and not a letter containing a threat of a summons?
In any case, a call would likely either sort things out or make the issue a lot clearer at least.*******************************************************
The letter stated that I should appear in court in August, a payment plan has been communicated which further states that a liability order will be applied for by the council. Or I should pay all the outstanding amount due to avoid a liability order.
I have called them, requested for a call, raised inquiry form for a call but no response. Just a mail this afternoon.
Also worth noting is that, the last letter from the council showed that they omitted one of my payments in their analysis.
Something is very wrong. Can you go to their office or keep trying via phone? If you try earlier in the morning it may be easier to get a hold of someone.
The Annual bill for 24/25 financial year sent to me showed that my tax should be paid in the span of 10 months (ending January 2025).
However, I had started making payments in April after splitting into 12 equal months.
The Authority had sent a reminder earlier which I missed. Unfortunately, they have sent a summon for me to appear in court.
This is surprising because I haven't missed any of my monthly payments and I have always spread my payments across 12 months in the past.
Can anyone advise on the way forward.
Have you called them? From what I know it's likely there's an error somewhere. It's highly unusual for them to send a court summons after what seems to be a short interval even if you didn't pay at all, not to speak of now that you've been paying.
No offense but are you sure what you got is actually a court summons and not a letter containing a threat of a summons?
In any case, a call would likely either sort things out or make the issue a lot clearer at least.
toughest007: Capitalizing on petty talks concocted out of emotional dislike of Trump is skewing your perception to what really constitutes pro-violence and advocacy of same. You guys just latch on to what the main stream media promotes and totally refuse to build an objective opinion.
Imagine posting a link for me and others to read twisted words from anti-Trump quarters. A lazy man's approach to objectivity!
Ticha: Broker is trying to make his money. From experience, most insurances cancel each other out because insurance companies will do everything not to pay out. So having seemingly useful (on the surface) multi insurance packages will just bleed you money.
Pick one and stick with it.
Before we had kids, we only took life and critical illness insurance as we travelled all the time. Only to find out when we started IVF that if critical illness paid out, the life insurance premiums will drastically increase 🙄
Husbot has a very generous death in service which gets more generous with each year of service so we now have no insurance for him and life insurance for me.
To throw a spanner in the works, you don't really need any of the insurances full stop. You can just save that money into stocks and shares till you need it.
Broker is trying to earn a commission so ignore him completely and think about what will meet your needs now and in the near future.
Thanks very much @Ticha really really appreciated.
It's surprising that LI premium goes up once one claims on CIC - those insurance companies and their shenanigans to dissuade claims as much as possible sha.
Lexusgs430: You don't need this policy...... You would get more value from an income protection insurance or life insurance policy..........
Chief, sorry to bring up an old post but what do you think about critical illness cover as part of the life insurance (intended primarily to cover a mortgage)?
We're definitely getting LI, but broker has suggested everything including income protection, CIC, life insurance (decreasing) so I'm trying to figure out what's essential.
We're also almost certainly getting CIC as well but trying to figure out if it should be separate from the life insurance or additional.
We're both well (me less so haha) under 30 and in the public sector for now so I think overall chances of needing income protection is very low but I don't want to be penny-wise, pound foolish.
jedisco: Just wondering... would the people back home think its worth the cost? £120 plus sundry costs would come upto 250k. They might very well prefer that sum being given to them than sending clothes over. Remember to some, their perception of taking clothes from someone known is different from buying okrika.
Exactly. Send the freight money. Donate the clothes to Salvation Army or another charity here. Simple.
Salvation Army even has bins around in many large towns/cities that you can simply put your clothes into without even interacting with anyone.
missjekyll: Why use virtually then if you meant human rights?
Because I meant virtually. Because it is virtually.
Because although the laws generally apply universally, there are still some differences, although most people wouldn't encounter them. Do you understand now?
jedisco: Hehe.. You've taken it upon yourself at each point to expose the generosity of the UK immigration system. Its like telling apartheid SA to accept the generosity because indigenous groups elsewhere saw worse. In a race to the bottom, there are no shortage of nations who treat migrants worse to compare with.
Also remember the better nations. I from the comfort of my home in the UK applied for and was given a Canadian PR - same thing that took me 5 years of good behaviour and taxation to achieve in the UK. What's strinking is that CAN is a wealthier nation per head with better growth potential. Ultimately, migration is a game of need, not generosity
Your comparison to apartheid is utterly absurd.
The fact that you would equate an oppressive regime like that with the UK just shows how out of touch and entitled you are. There's no compulsion, there's no violence and you have virtually all the same rights as native brits (moreso than brits would have back in your own home country and I daresay more than most natives of your own country have in their own home country even) yet you're comparing the country to apartheid South Africa?
Jamesclooney: Another reason to vote Labour. It seems Peter Obi has an alliance with UK Labour since Rishi Sunak was the first world leader to congratulate Tinubu after the controversial elections. Impressive!
It's not because of a congratulatory message.
Both Labour UK and Nigeria are affiliated with and primarily funded by (some would say they are offshoots of) labour unions in those countries and those organisations are themselves affiliated internationally (via the ILO, etc.), so it's natural for them to work together.
jedisco: All forms of migration especially permanent migration is very much a part of both past and contemporary British culture. Yeah, times change but its mainly the perception and reporting that differ. When Brits/certain Europeans migrate, they see it as their right. When black folks migrate, its pictured as a privilege.
Even on here, mention of Nigerians relocating the UK is christened as 'folks in search of utopia'. Meanwhile, you'd hear words like explorer, risk taker, yolo, expat et.c being used to describe hundreds of thousands of Brits who emigrate yearly.
"Not quite as popular".
Everything you've said is irrelevant to the point I made about how the popularity of temporary vs permanent travel varies greatly between the UK and say, Nigeria.
I understand why you like to think it's a matter of perception because it soothes your ego and boosts your victim complex but Google the figures (actual figures and also per capita) of people who permanently migrate out of those countries annually and compare.
missjekyll: If you have minor children and you are going abroad, you should be allowed to bring them with you,if you want to. Your children should not grow up without you , QED. Your partner is another able-bodied adult paying taxes to the state.
You have never made this argument for British immigrants to Nigeria.its cruel and unusual.
It would be cruel and unusual if people were compelled, but If you read your own post, you'll see that the first action word there is 'going' - not 'being dragged away', not 'forced to go', not 'strapped into a plane and compelled to go work as a care worker in the UK'.
Nobody is being made to make their children grow up without them. People already in the country were exempted. Others have the full agency to CHOOSE. The country wants people who can work in care but not additional family members because they want to keep immigration figures down, so they've set out their conditions. People who are single should apply - those who aren't should not.
It's the same thing with study visas. Some undergrads are married and have kids. Some masters students too. But most countries don't allow those people bring their families along, so if you're in that category you can choose to go to a country that does, or travel on a visa that allows you to.
Stop doing this classic leftist SJW culture of low expectations thing of infantilizing people and making it seem like they have no agency and everything they do, it's because they were forced and nothing is their responsibility etc. etc.
BTW in Nigeria, foreign work permit holders can have their married spouses with them but not their partners, even if they've been together for years, decades, etc, have children and clearly have their whole lives together. How's that for cruel and unusual?
missjekyll: What the heck is that? Small talk is tedious but you natter about the weather, food ,job. Avoid politics and religion. He should have known that. Sorry you had to go through that.
In a church, they should avoid religion, abi?
The pastor might just have been asking from the perspective of wanting to understand the new member's outlook - will they be here for a long time or are they say, students, who'll be here for a short period? There are myriad reasons why he might have genuinely enquired, without any of the malice you're insinuating, but now you're saying sorry to this person as if the question dealt him serious emotional damage.
It's somehow amusing but also sad to watch snowflakes in action. People literally walk around looking for things to be offended by nowadays.
babajeje123: Went to a church last Sunday for the first time and that was the stupid question their pastor asked me after greetings. Him: bla bla bla, when are you going back to Nigeria? Me: (snaps) I don't know A black British for that matter! Probably was privileged to be born here by black immigrants.
You do realize that some people ask this question without any malice, and simply based on their own mindset that people generally go to places to visit, work, study and then return home?
Permanent emigration is not quite as popular and embedded in the public psyche among Brits as it is among people from certain other countries. It's the rare exception rather than the norm.
Not saying you or anyone else isn't right to be irritated when asked that question - it's up to you to gauge the intent behind it in specific situations, etc, but painting the question itself as something inherently offensive and automatically getting your panties in a twist when you encounter it just isn't right.
Travel › Re: Living In The UK: Property,Mortgage And Related by Goodenoch: 7:37am On Jul 23, 2024
