"£110 pounds a week - that is outrageous!"

[Mists]

Says my Dad.

About my three-bed in a social-housing (nice actually) estate. DH works and it is paid for btw before anyone starts

I used to rent a two-bed for £800 per month eight years ago.

He is always on at DH and I to buy and I am always trying to tell him that it isn't like the seventies when you could buy a house for one Guinea two times your basic salary.

AIBU to GRRRRRR (that's me being articulate) at him?

Know what you mean about parents.

My mum & dad have both bought houses recently (split so each bought new, smaller place) so they do know what it is like.

Nevertheless, my DF in partic keeps saying, 'Peasant, you should buy now whilst the market is good.'

I point out that I have only 2p a thousand or so in savings and this will not constitute a deposit.

'But the market is good, you're being silly...'

<img loading="lazy" class="inline-flex mumsnet-emoji" alt="Angry" src="https://www.mumsnet.com/build/assets/angry-BLHnmhGV.png">

Bloody hell my posts from last night don't even make much sense to me

To clarify, my Dad is so ignorant of what people pay now that he thinks my rent is expensive yet I am always getting the "buy / own lecture" which would be er, rather more.

Spikeycow I completely agree. When I was a LP and my landlord needed to sell I couldn't afford a deposit so applied to the council. Grim dangerous hostel and then we were in a 1-bed flat with damp for four years.

It was a complete stroke of luck that we are even in a 3-bed to be honest - we found someone who was willing to do a swap. I hope I don't give the impression that families are just given social housing as it isn't the case!

In actual fact, when I lost my owned house I took the equity and used to it fund the move to private rental. I didn't even know that I could ask to be put on the list while my home was being repossessed.

Security would be wonderful but I also realise that I am in an incredibly fortunate position at the moment.

Then again so are many people my age. My old mortgage ten years ago was only £250 per month!

My mortgage on a 3 bed terrace is £125 per month!
Nice area, big kitchen, lounge and dining room.
I am glad I bought as i've made approx £90k profit so I think I bought at the right time.
But I would struggle now to get a mortgage.

My friends who rent can move when they like so they have that freedom but rents do seem really expensive.

Another problem with private renting is the lack of stability.
RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH As you were

I wonder why people like your Dad think there is some sort of stigma attached to renting instead of buying a place?

Mists, tell him that you know - from your own experience - that a mortgage can be a millstone round people's necks, and you have been really fortunate/clever to find such a nice place, with a secure tenancy, within your means.

Ask him if he isn't proud of his happy, debt-free daughter, and insist he gives you the right answer!!

kitty - I think the stigma comes from the fact that historically, even until very very recently, people who did own a home were marked out as people who were of a higher social order and trustworthy enough to have a mortgage. Anyone who didnt was likely to be untrustworthy or feckless.

I have had the attitude to tenants shoved in my face by greasy haired, shiney suited, spotty oik, estate agents so often now its laughable. They are the worst perpetrators - regarding tenants as some sort of lower lifeform compared to homeowners.

The attitude that you must own a home is ingrained in UK society so deep that no one dares question it. So many people would have much better lives if they rented. Places like Germany see long term renting as a perfectly viable/normal way to live for even well off people.

long term renting would be so much more viable here if you could have long term contracts, we rent, and every year I'm terrified the landlord will say they're selling up and we have to leave.

Kitty/BB.

Home ownership did not become the "norm" in the UK until the late 1930s, and it is all down to the banks.

Thesre was not enough decent housing for men returning from WW1, a programme was funded by the govt to provide "homes fit for heroes" which ran out of money by 1929. Lots of houses were built between 1933 and 1939 as building was pretty much unrestricted and unregulated, added to this the Building Societies had their money tied up in Government Bonds which, in a recession, were pretty valueless and gave little return. The Building Societies collaborated with the builders to build houses on which the Bss could give mortgages and get higher returns for their money.

Rentals were expensive and insecure soo home ownership was coveted and became the norm for the middle and working classes. You are right this left only the very poorest or unreliable who could not afford to buy. This stigma continues today, although the reasons for the stigma are long gone.

Thats interesting and explains something I have noticed.

The older a person is the more they tend to see renting as a stigma and the more they see owning a home as a mark of social status.

Ha, the older a person is, te more likely that they have been in a position to be offered a mortgage. It's only been the last few years that it's got ridiculously hard. I bought in 2004. We were offered a crazily large amount of money, but wisely borrowed what we can afford on one wage (unemployment and babies made that a good choice ).

There is no way we could afford it now, and we both earn the average wage, and live where houses are 'cheap'.

I did get pissed off when renting privately that I was buying my landlord a new BMW every year.

I agree, my grandparents bought their home, brand new when they got married in the late 1930s. They did not come from a home owning background and definitely felt they had "bettered" themselves and certainly looked down on people who were still in rented.

I guess this attitude gets passed on to their children but hopefully weakens over time so that renting is not viewed as some sort of social hinterland.

To be clear I was agreeing with BeenBeta there.