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Original poster

to think jealousy in endemic in the UK

77 replies

groovyrose · 26/04/2015 19:40

It used to be if someone wanted something they worked hard for it to get it. Now people rather than working just look and moan at what others have and blame others for their shortcomings. The amount of anger I get thrown at me sometimes for being a professional buy to let landlord and born in the post war boom is disgusting.

OP posts:
KiaOraOAotearoa · 26/04/2015 22:20

Is it jealousy or entitlement?

Taliesinwest · 26/04/2015 22:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheSultanofPing · 26/04/2015 22:28

Maybe it's frustration at the extortionate cost of housing Kia

Yabu Op.

PtolemysNeedle · 26/04/2015 22:29

Do you really get anger thrown at you for being a BTL LL, or have you just been reading too many ll bashing threads on here? There's lots of it here, but never in real life.

Leaving the ll thing aside, there does seem to be a lot of jealousy around lately.

thecatfromjapan · 26/04/2015 22:32

A righteous expression of fucked-offness at the unfairness of the world .

I love that.

However, I think mrsdevere is right. I pretty much only see jealousy expressed by those with quite a lot towards those with less- but the jealous haves begrudge them even the little they have.

As for the whole property-owning thug: the situation we are in is beyond a disgrace.

OP, you are mistaking anger for jealousy.

I'm very, very Angry about the way things have gone. Personally, I'm of the generation that had grants to go to university. But I have children. Fucking hell, it's a lot of money. And they are never going to own their own homes.

It's outrageous. I feel so, so angry about it all. And I feel utterly powerless to express my fury.

stubbornstains · 26/04/2015 22:32

I think using the word "jealousy" is a way of trying to belittle peoples' genuine grievances with the rampant inequality endemic in our society.

If you're working your arse off, still can't afford to get a secure roof over your head, and are having to pay an enormous proportion of your income to a BTL landlord for substandard housing with no security of tenure, I wouldn't call you "jealous". More like "legitimately pissed off".

pixienott · 26/04/2015 22:37

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2364085-to-have-upset-a-friend-over-her-investment-decision

The inspiration for this thread clearly. OP, I replied to you on mine after you put it, but it seems immediately creating another one suited you better. Here's my reply:

groovyrose - I'm sorry that you feel angered by this thread, but please understand what you were doing 40 years ago was happening in a substantially different time and the circumstances were very different. Housebuilding was happening on a scale far greater relative to today, people on one modest income could afford a family home and there wasn't the proliferation of media brainwashing that happens today convincing people that residential property is an asset, rather than a home.

Today, where I work I know couples who are both high earners who can barely afford a starter home. They have substantial savings and are in their early to mid thirties. They should be looking to start a family, not pledge a high proportion of their future incomes (which have completely stagnated now) to borrow for a 1 or 2 bed flat.

This is a section of society that is becoming completely disenfranchised - and I'm talking about people who in relative terms to the past, are really, really well off in comparison to the rest of their peers - for whom the situation is even more distressing.

So please, please - consider it not as an attack on what you did years ago, but an uncomfortable truth of the reality of today's housing market. By continuing this trend, where people who lived in a time of fantasy pensions and economics can effectively bully and abuse their positions, we're setting up a disaster.

SorryToDisturbYou · 26/04/2015 22:38

Ah, you gave it away too soon, mumoftwoyoungkids, I was going to guess '77 and '79 so not a million miles off.

pixienott · 26/04/2015 22:38

Oh an in case you didn't read my thread in full, I can absolutely afford to do what you have done, but I have a moral objection to doing so. That isn't jealousy, it's a personal code of ethics.

Schnullerbacke · 26/04/2015 22:40

There is nothing wrong with BTL landlords but the UK's rental laws!

pixienott · 26/04/2015 22:42

There's plenty wrong with Borrow to Let landlords. We went over this on the other thread, which was much, much better than this deliberate goading and wimpy running away and crying on this one.

Mintyy · 26/04/2015 22:43

What an interesting set of posts you have made on your first day on Mumsnet op. And this BTL thing is so topical!

LineRunner · 26/04/2015 23:10

Goad to Let is a thing now on MN.

VoteForAlanBstard · 27/04/2015 08:09

The inequality between the haves and have-nots is fuelling the 'jealousy', especially when it comes to housing.

Marmaladedandelions · 27/04/2015 08:12

Mum - how funny as my brother was born December 1978 and I was born at the very end of November 1981! Didn't pick up on that at all Blush

suzannecanthecan · 27/04/2015 08:16

?Jealousy goes way back, thou shalt not covet thy neighbors ass, etc ?

finnbarrcar · 27/04/2015 08:32

Easy if you live next door to a kardashian or a minage....i wouldn't want an ass like that.

likalixer · 27/04/2015 08:34

There have always been people who have had things handed to them on a plate. I know four people who have been bought a property outright by their parents.

I agree.
Not everything comes to those who work hard.

It's easy to get on the right track in life if you've been given huge (compared to some) hand outs and leg-ups by your parents.
It can set you up for life.

My son is really hard working, never takes a day off work and tries to save.
He has a car, but finds it really costly to run. At the moment he hasn't a hope in hell of owning his own property. Renting a place is ridiculous money.
Most of his friends the same age are in the same boat.
It's extremely difficult for them to get their feet off the ground and make anything of their lives like you and yet - They are working hard

Two of their friends, on the other hand, have had houses bought out for them, outright - by their parents. The one friend has, as well as being given huge help with a house, been handed the family business business on a plate! (even though the lazy fecker doesn't really want it)
Neither are what I would call grafters
The others would give their right arms to be given those same strong starts in life I would give my right arm to be in a position to help them in the same way

Ten/twenty years down the line, which boys do you think will be earning all the money and complaining that some people are just 'jealous'?

likalixer · 27/04/2015 08:42

^Too many people I know are working themselves into the ground just to stay afloat and pay rent to people like you . Then you post on here about their perceived shortcomings and lack of work ethic.
Huge numbers of people now will never own their own home despite working for decades. instead they are paying your mortgages^.

OP's post should take out the word Jealous and replace it with Anger.

OP, people like you are making money out of other people's misery.

Of course people will be angry.

suzannecanthecan · 27/04/2015 08:51

Id feel a right donkey with an ass like kashcardigan

likalixer · 27/04/2015 08:58

To people outside the UK who are wondering why people dislike BuytoLet landlords in this country, this might explain it:

www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2014/may/23/buy-to-let-landlords-disaster-economy

finnbarrcar · 27/04/2015 09:02

Hee haw Suzanne Grin

TheChandler · 27/04/2015 09:04

More and more I think the problem is taking the internet as representative of society as a whole, when in fact it probably contains a far higher element of those with too.much time on their hands, personal vendettas, axes to grind, etc and a far lower proportion of people who work in good jobs - simply because the latter will not have as much time to access it.

Disclaimer - I work part time.

suzannecanthecan · 27/04/2015 09:14

But according to economic theory a rentier economy is a bad thing, so a landlord is not as valuable to society as someone who actually does something socially useful ?

likalixer · 27/04/2015 09:15

Found these comment, which also explains, in some way, why people get 'jealous' angry about buytolet:

I used to work in an estate agents and saw that happen all the time. Young couples wanting to buy their first propery, getting their offers accepted and then some greedy landlord comes along and gazumps them. It used to really annoy us all.
I think people should be taxed if they own more than one property. That would make it fairer.
-

I hate MY landlord. Haven't seen him for over a year.
BTL may provide accomodation to those who can't afford to buy anywhere, but they do push up house prices. Only in Cambridge could a 2up2down go for £250,000. Why? Because landlords buy them and rent them out to students for £800 a month. You want a 3bed house? Well - that'll be £900-£1000 a month.
--

Hate them. Waited 3 months for flat sale to complete and the "buy to let" landlord (actually landlady) pulled out at the END of the week when contracts were due to be exchanged. Of course, I could no longer move, could not recover survey (and other upfront) fees on proposed purchase etc. I guess she was OK, since (apparently) she still lives with her parents. Of course the estate agents "solution" was to provide a bunch of further buy to let (cash!) types offering 80-90% of the market value. As these sharks circled, I took my flat off the market...
---

As for 'buy to let' many young people are being forced out of their home towns/villages as exorbitant prices are paid for houses which are then used as holiday homes, student accommodation etc. I think it's immoral - and yes if the property market crashes I won't be able to resist a small smile as these people fall over themselves to get rid.
---

Not a lorra love out there! Shock