"generation rent" is very divisive

[nettlewine]

Im hearing this term a lot at the moment. I don't think its very helpful or accurate. Over the years people do mainly rent and house prices were not reachable by most. It just happens we've had one very lucky generation but now things are going back to the norm. Its no bad thing to rent and people that rent should not be looked down upon.

Just read this from the telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11566824/Only-one-lucky-generation-ever-struck-housing-gold.html

It's no bad thing if the culture is set up for renting. Our culture is set up for ownership and that means that renting is insecure, short term, expensive and worrying. Why don't we have rent control, long term lets as standard, landlord-tenant court (quick and specialized)? Just some of the ideas that work in other countries.

I am an expert in BC Canadian tenancy law and am now really shocked at the shitty way UK tenancies are conducted.

MrsTP has summed it up perfectly I think.

Well then what's the alternative - should we refer to this one lucky generation as "generation own"? Equally divisive, surely? It's a divisive subject by it's very nature, can't see any way that's going to change.

We're in one of the richest countries in the world in the 21st century.

Do you really think it's no bad thing that we haven't advanced much beyond the feudal system?

Mrs TP is absolutely right. Well put.

Mrs tp what is so bad about renting in the UK compared with Canada?

What rules could be better? Ast?

DS1 and his partner choose to rent. He moves around a lot for work and it's easier.

It would be no bad thing to rent if renting was a secure option. If I knew there was no chnace of me being chucked out with a few weeks' notice whenever my ll wanted.

If it was genuinely affordable, if rental accommodation was guaranteed to be of high quality, if repairs were always done in a timely manner.

It would be no bad thing if, while paying over a thousand pounds a month for a small two-bed property, I would be given the right to put up a few pictures, or put plants on a balcony.

It would be ok if I knew that, after renting all my life, I would still have a decent roof over my head come retirement.

I agree that people who rent should not be looked down upon. But our system is screwed in this country. Private renters are third-class citizens, not even as interesting to the govt as HA or council occupants. We're just handy disposable mechanisms by which someone else can pay off their mortgage. I like Labour's proposed reforms but I don't think they go far enough, tbh.