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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Those of you who rent, do you nest or not bother?

116 replies

KnittedBreast · 09/02/2011 14:58

I privatly rent my house and this is the first one I am determined to settle in. This means I need to stop looking at similar budgets in cheaper parts of the UK and depressing myself. I am currently doing up my house, today i went looking at oak to make shelves (didnt realise how expensive oak was, looks like wel only be getting 2 shelves this month!)

to those of you who rent, do you bother to make your home your own knowing it isnt yours and yo could be asked to move, all that wasted time and money etc...

I never used to but having realised unless someone dies il never buy ive decided to do it, fuck the deposit (like il ever see it again anyway). ive painted walls and put up coat things and am planning on shelves and outisde ornaments. Its my little bit of paradise even if i wouldnt chose to live in this house if i had the choice to move

OP posts:
Cain · 10/02/2011 00:40

Just thought of somehting else - I rented a stone walled cottage for a while, was bloody cold, without central heating just a Rayburn, but I got carpet ends, cheap again and hung them from the rafters against the walls. It was like insulated wall paper.

I do the same in the winter over doors with heavy blankets I got from oxfam, it makes a noticable difference to the heating.

The other thing I do when I move house is flatten the cardboard boxes I use for my belongings and lay them over the insulation in the loft - its another layer of insulation and I can reuse them when I move again.

ambarth · 10/02/2011 06:35

Laminate that can be taken with you? Thanks for the tip, never heard of that.

Slightlyreluctantexpat · 10/02/2011 07:38

I'm renting and NOT nesting.

To my mind it does seem like a waste of time and money to make the place my own, and yet some people I have met out here are spending silly money on blinds and plants and what not and, guess what, their places feel like homes, whereas mine feels like a rented flat.

I guess if I were renting long-term I'd make more of an effort to personalise the place.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 10/02/2011 07:41

I am that landlord who will give two months notice to our tenants. They do know though, and were made aware of the short nature of the rental.
Me and DD are moving into our house in July so they are in a position to find somewhere in the meantime.

nooka · 10/02/2011 08:01

I'm another landlord (by accident not design, as we moved out of the UK and might be back) and I'd love some of you as tenants. We rented our house on a two year let and have now spent over £8k on repairs as a result of our tenants basically neglecting to look after it in any shape or form. I painted the whole house, laid new carpets and generally made it into a nice home to move into and the agents fixed everything pretty swiftly too, so I think I wasn't too bad a landlady. I didn't expect to make any money from the house (we basically covered the mortgage) but was really taken aback at how poorly they treated it. To add insult to injury they are contesting our claim for the deposit (which will cover a pretty small amount of the cost - really just the replacement carpets and cleaning).

We've also been renters and always got our deposit back because we looked after the houses we've been loaned. Some landlords are I'm sure terrible, but some tenants are really bad too. Sadly there is no way of knowing (we had good references). It makes me a bit scared about what the next people might do to be honest.

traceybath · 10/02/2011 08:05

I loathe renting - being at the mercy of landlords who do nothing to their properties and seem to think they're letting you live in a palace.

If I ever rented again I would not want to rent a home that the landlord was emotionally attached to - way too difficult for all concerned.

But anyway - I've bought additional stuff for this house but all things we can take with us.

And fingers crossed we're moving in the next couple of months into a house we're buying.

bamboobutton · 10/02/2011 08:12

we rent and have never done anything beyond a bit of paint for the nursery (which never got used) and putting curtain rails up.

we are going to put new carpet in the front room in this house but only because it is horrible sisal stuff that ds has ruined by mashing banana into it and then vomiting on. would rather pay for cheap £6 a metre carpet and cheap underlay from B&Q and get a fitter ourselves than risk the LL take ££££ out of our deposit for carpet from carpetright, who quoted us £260 for £6 a metre carpet and fitting, it's only 3x4m!!!Shock.

if i knew we were going to be in the house for more than a few years i would definitly nest and make it a homely home.

SkylineDrifter · 10/02/2011 08:48

We had to start renting a few years ago when DH lost his job, and we ended up losing our family home. For the first couple of years we were in three different places, the first just to give us a place to stay and the next two - well one was getting sold, and the next one the LL didn't pay his mortage so he was repossessed. I can't say I nested in any of these places. Just made them comfortable.

However, we now live in a nice area in the country, we have a pretty good landlord, and we feel very settled here, so, yes, I'm nesting. For a long time I was quite sad that we'd lost the home where we brought up our children (we have grandchildren now) but I have to admit, this feels like home, and yes, I will do whatever is required to make it feel like home. We've put in a shower, I've made curtains and soft furnishings, etc, and, of course, we have the furniture we've always had, some very good quality stuff that was bought when times were good to us.

Visitors here always just assume that, after the upheaval of the early couple of years after 'the great disaster' we've bought this place. I wish we could, but we'll never be able to get another mortgage, so I have come to realise that we won't ever own our own property again, so feel it's only right that we make where we live 'Our Home'.

expatinscotland · 10/02/2011 09:20

'I loathe renting - being at the mercy of landlords who do nothing to their properties and seem to think they're letting you live in a palace.

If I ever rented again I would not want to rent a home that the landlord was emotionally attached to - way too difficult for all concerned.'

I agree and I will not a rent such a place, tbh.

bubbleandsqueaks · 10/02/2011 09:45

How do you know though?

expatinscotland · 10/02/2011 09:49

You get places through other means than agents (who are always a rip off), bubble - gumtree, local papers, that sort of thing.

Then you find out if it's one of those people who has the potential for being a nightmare landlord, people who 'might' come back to the UK or people with an actual property portfolio who don't want to ever live in the place you're renting.

I avoid people who 'might' move back or are 'just renting out whilst hubby works abroad' in general.

bubbleandsqueaks · 10/02/2011 09:51

Thanks expat - do you always ask for a long term lease?

expatinscotland · 10/02/2011 09:55

It doesn't matter with most, bubble, if there's still a 2-month get-out clause in them.

We live in the country/rural area, so it's easier to negotiate things as a lot of these places have about a snowball's chance in hell of getting any tenant at all in this economy, especially with petrol prices rising.

memphis83 · 10/02/2011 11:47

we rent long term so have done things to make it a home shelves and radiator covers, crtain pooes etc can be taken with you, before i had a baby i had a shitty cheap cream carpet that all rentals seem to have, got a good deal on a fab carpet, when we leave next year as we will need a bigger house if i dont get my deposit back when we have done jobs on property to add value then i will rip up carpet and take it with me, it would cost price of deposit to replace it!!
it may not be owned by you but it is your home, you have the right to make it a home

bamboobutton · 10/02/2011 11:49

agree with not renting a house with emotionally attached LLs.

my sister does, it's her LLs retirement nestegg, and her LL is always raging at her because they don't keep their crappy 'landscaped' garden up to their standards, always popping round demanding access. allsorts of crap she has from them.

traceybath · 10/02/2011 12:02

Yes our current home was the house the LL grew up in and she is ridiculously attached to it.

Although not enough to actually spend any money on it.

I am so looking forward to handing in our notice as they will really really struggle to find any other tenants for it without spending a substantial amount on updating it.

twopeople · 10/02/2011 12:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Annpan88 · 10/02/2011 13:58

DP and I painted the bathroom (was grim and a proper bathroom paint was never used which meant drips showed on walls) and a bit in the bedroom as well and doing minor repairs in bathroom. When asking to renew our contract landlords (who are lovely and have good reasons for doing so) told us that they have to sell the house. I'm due to have my baby in 3 and a half weeks. Would I of done it if I hadn't known? probably as you've got to do what you need to do to feel comfortable in the house, even if your only there for a year. looking at houses tomorrow, fingers crossed it'll be something more long term!

superv1xen · 10/02/2011 15:30

i have always lived in private rented houses and never did anything to them, other than keep them clean and tidy-ish :) i never felt secure in rented, and always had terrible, greedy cunts people for landlords, who charged the earth but would never fix anything etc.

however i am now lucky enough to have a housing association house which i actually feel like its my home and have probably spent about £4k on it, painting, carpeting, laying tiles and wooden floors etc.

i hate the whole business of renting, it all needs a big shake up, rents need to be more affordable and houses need to be more realistically priced as the way it is at the moment just is not fair.

traceybath · 10/02/2011 16:06

Ohhhh Super - how was the wedding?

I did start a thread asking how it went but its vanished into the ether now.

dementedma · 10/02/2011 16:07

bubble - I'm in a similar situation to you, and thinking of selling our flat and moving into rented. Can't afford repairs to own flat, neighbours a problem....having second thoughts after reading all this....

superv1xen · 10/02/2011 16:15

awwww did you tracey? thank you :) sorry i didn't see it!

but it was absolutely lovely thank you, a brilliant day and a lovely relaxing mini honeymoon, back down to earth now though!

traceybath · 10/02/2011 19:19

Oh I'm so glad! I was hoping the stuff with your friend wouldn't have ruined things.

ijudge · 10/02/2011 20:21

It's so hard to know what to do for the best isn't it demented.

ijudge · 10/02/2011 20:24

I pressed post before finishing, I'm in the same position - bad neighbours.

Everything in my heart screams get out and be happy, my head says stay and be stable.

I spend the days going round in circles in my head

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