Definitely!

£2000 a month for a 4 bed is probably below market rate. Janine was renting to Bianca at a lower rate which is why Bianca couldn't claim housing benefit- Janine said if she did the rent would go up.

Stacey and Martin would get -

Child benefit for Bex, Lily and Arfa
Tax credits
Housing benefit top up

She'd get nothing in her own right as Martin works. Because he's working there's no cap so their tax credits would be quite a bit. I don't get any but I do know people who get quite a bit in tax credits due to a low income. I also know someone in London renting a smaller house than that who is paying £3000 a month - house is valued at just over a million. Why anyone would want to live in a crappy square full of murderers, thieves and drug dealers with no jobs apart from selling fruit or stocking shelves as there is nowhere outside of that bubble to get a job is beyond me. In reality they couldn't afford to live there and would have moved on.

It would all depend on circumstances, the benefit system is so complicated, its all being changed now, cuts are coming in so the threshold is lower, I would think they be entitled to some help but not sure what as you have to look at it as a real life scenario.

I would imagine a person with a larger family would get more benefits such as child benefit, tax credits etc as it hasn't been capped to two children till next year

The cap is for children you have after the new rules. Those with half a dozen kids already who work 16 hours and claim tax credits will still continue to get them like that taxi driver guy who gets £72k in benefits for his 8 kids that people were going metal over recently. It's all written strangely in soaps like EE where no one can afford a washing machine but can pay an ancient old woman to launder things for them.

In the real world, they would get tax credits and some housing benefit.

so can we expect hours and hours from the benefits office / housing association etc. in the new year?

They would get £47 approx child benefit. How much they would get in tax credits depends on how much Martin earns, but if they qualify for working tax credit, the child tax credit alone would be around £260-270 pw. Stacey could get £73.10 pw JSA IF she has paid enough NI contributions 2014/15 & 2015/16, but only for 6 months.

It's impossible to guess how much housing benefit they might be entitled to, because Walford is a fictional place so no local housing allowance (LHA) has been set for it!

Also, the house will be bigger than they need when Kyle moves out. I'm assuming it's got 4 bedrooms: Martin and Stacey's, Kyle's, Belinda's and the one Bex and Lily were sharing. They'll only entitled to the LHA for a 3-bed, as Lily and Arthur are considered young enough to share.

Maybe Martin should try and get maintenance for Bex from Sonia? An experienced nurse must surely earn more than a market trader.

Or Stacey could get a well-paid job in a West End salon, that would be a bit of a departure.

I doubt it. It would be straying too close to realism.

Do the salary in London work-wise match the rent there? like a standard job there?

What is minimum wage in London?

guess we can conclude there's no way they can stay in that house unless they rent a couple of rooms out, or Derek has a nice surprise for them, or Stacey gets a proper job outside the square - Jack can look after Lily & Arthur - he already looks after a lot so two more won't matter.

I wouldn't trust Jack to look after my dog let alone any children, he willingly with Ronnie let Andy a man they barely knew look after their kids and move into their house, don't seem they got much sense to me.

No, private rent per month far out weigh's what people likely earn.

Minimum wage is 7.20. per hr.

Could be slightly higher elsewhere depends on the job.

I hope we don't get a money struggling storyline, yes it's realistic but soaps always make them really boring. Lets hope the random Derek return brings loads of money Martin's way.

It does depend. Salaries in London are generally higher for office based roies. I work in finance where salaries are significantly higher in central London than outside, even in the south east.

so right you are - but wonder what's going to happen to Matthew? bet the scriptwriters don't even know either "sorry, forgot she had a kid" . If R dies of course - will probably be picked up off screen by his dad or paternal nan. Or Jack keeps him because of Amy (and Dot) and launches JB Childcare in one of his houses and once Phil is back on his feet he can help - know all about nappies from when he looked after Lexi. . Ha Ha Ha

Im sure they will be ok.

Martin makes a small fortune every day flogging onions.

Martin makes a small fortune every day flogging onions. Lets not put reality into soap land.

Found some job adverts for market stall jobs – in London (in fact, both Camden Lock - who can probably afford to pay more due to all the tourists etc)

A lot of them are 60/day – 5 days a week 9.30 am – 6 pm = 300/week = approx. 1300/month before tax

And several others 8-8.80/hr – so 8-hour day would be approx. 68 – or altogether a little more than the 60/day for a month.

In other words, with all the benefits they may just be able to scrape by – leaving nothing for food/fun/the vic/the café etc. unless Stacey gets a job or they rent a couple of rooms. But if they rent rooms – it’s probably goodbye to housing benefits. And if Stacey gets a job, who will look after Arthur ? and how much will that cost?

And knowing Ian, he probably deducts from Martin’s wages when Kathy looks after the stall.

So unless a miracle happens, I can see them moving to a smaller place, leaving yet another "mansion" empty

I doubt Stacey would have accrued enough NI over te past 2 financial years to qualify for anything on that front when you consider the time not working after the PPP and being self employed prior to that.

Her best bet for money although ut would be dishonest if she has I t under control wpuld be ESA due to her BiPolar.

There did used to be something called London Weighting designed to top up peoples salaries to help with higher house prices or the costs of commutong in each day if you lived further out by some of the big National companies (a friengd got it that worked for Wloolwich) but I think that has mostly been.phased out now. I never see it mentioned in job adverts anymore.

There's a very good reason for that. It's called AN AGENDA. Claiming any kind of benefits is portrayed as being a CRIMINAL ACTIVITY.

...

A house that size in that part of London would be worth about double that.

As far as we know, Janine owns the house. But I'd estimate their rent would be anything from £2000-3000pcm. Completely unrealistic that they'd be able to afford it, but EastEnders has to be allowed some creative licence on this otherwise the Square would be populated exclusively by affluent middle-class professionals.

now it this was real life, they would be evicted, housed in temporary accommodation, spend endless hours at the benefits office and local housing association trying to get a council flat/house in the neighbourhood, all while the owner - Janine ? - may rent out the house to the council so it can house a large im....... family on every benefit under the sun.