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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder how the hell anyone can afford to move in private rented.

43 replies

PinanNidan · 08/02/2016 10:11

In a one bed tiny flat private let with children after leaving exh. Hate it here. Been on council list for years with no luck.

Found a small two bed, in an area I know but not posh and up North so no London prices. Just a bog standard terrace in a bog standard ex mining town.

Well over £1200 upfront I work but don't have massive spare income left to save.

How is anyone on normal national minimum wage meant to afford a home.

So frustrating.

OP posts:

Catphrase · 08/02/2016 13:18

It's not just the deposit though, it's getting boxes, bubble wrap, a van, post redirection, curtains because your old ones don't fit (even cheap ones are a lot), moving your gas and electric (having to pay it off in one as your new house is a key meter).
It all adds up

Orda1 · 08/02/2016 13:19

Are you seriously complaining about £300 rent?

timeKeepingOnMars · 08/02/2016 13:19

I remember having to get Banker cheques for rented places - though later on they accepted transfers via internet banking but they had the money before we got the keys.

Could use credit card for months living expenses - and this months work money for rent/deposit if enough - if can't use a credit card directly.

Orda1 · 08/02/2016 13:20

If your rent is only 300, surely even with low pay you have a lot of room to save?

Catphrase · 08/02/2016 13:20

The last agent I rented through we had to pay a non redundable holding deposit for them to put it to our landlord. It was £500, there were three others put to the landlord who wouldn't have got that back. We also had to pay £60 each credit and referencing costs

timeKeepingOnMars · 08/02/2016 13:22

Your right Catphrase - there are a lot of not obvious expenses in moving - we've had cope with tacked fabric round windows for months as we didn't have the cash to sort things.

TitClash · 08/02/2016 13:31

This is why I'm pro council house. they should never have been sold off. It mostly affects the most vulnerable people, who have no safety net

Error404UserNotFound · 08/02/2016 14:06

Are you seriously complaining about £300 rent?

If your rent is only 300, surely even with low pay you have a lot of room to save?

Orda, we have no idea of the OP's income or other outgoings. If you're on a low income then £300 is a lot of money and £1200 is an astronomical figure. The rent on my first flat, pre-DC, was £300 a month. DH and I both worked part time on minimum wage and really struggled some months until we could find decent full time work. Did you mean to sound so rude?

OP, will the letting agent consider flexible options? Someone I know is renting privately and moved recently. They reached an agreement with the letting agent where they paid the first months rent in advance but for the deposit they paid half in advance with a signed agreement that the second half would be paid by the end of the first month of the tenancy. The agent also waived their administration fee as the property had been empty a while and they were ready to move in by the end of that week - a paying tenant being more profitable than an empty house. They got the old deposit back around a fortnight after moving and used it to pay the remainder of the deposit needed on the new house.

It's a shitty situation and I agree with the PP who said that the government should do more to help. The deposit security scheme should be transferable to make it easier. So no actual money would change hands, you'd just sign your securely held deposit over to your new landlord and all that would be payable would be the difference between the two if the new deposit is higher.

Error404UserNotFound · 08/02/2016 14:10

This is why I'm pro council house. they should never have been sold off. It mostly affects the most vulnerable people, who have no safety net

Yes to this. Instead of letting people buy their council houses at a discount they should have given financial incentives for those people to buy private houses (e.g., a grant towards the mortgage deposit). That way the departing tenant gets their discount still, the local economy benefits because that tenant goes off and buys a private house but the council house is retained for the next person who needs it.

Original poster

PinanNidan · 08/02/2016 14:33

Of course I'm not moaning about £300 rent. That is the rent of the one bed tiny flat i am in now with the kids.

For a variety of reasons including leaving an abusive ex who left me with a large repossession mortgage shortfall, a terms fees for two children for childcare after leaving his job and lying about being laid off plus other costs, one of the children having additional needs restricting the hours i can work now as a lone parent we have very little left at the end of the month.

OP posts:

jay55 · 08/02/2016 15:02

It is shit and agency fees are climbing and climbing and half the time I have to chase references myself, the other half I pay but they don't actually check.
No solution, I'm a high earner so put away the costs of a move as soon as I'm in a new place, but know it is beyond many to do this.

Savagebeauty · 08/02/2016 15:04

I'm selling the family home and plan to rent in SW London for 18 months. £1800-2000 for 3 bed house.

Fourormore · 08/02/2016 15:09

If you're wanting to move from a £300/mo place to a £500/mo place then you must have the £200/mo coming in to cover that rent increase? You can use that money to cover the £500 deposit and £200 fees? You'd have enough saved up after 4 months.

Turquoisetamborine · 08/02/2016 15:26

I run a letting agency with my dad. Not a massive one though and we don't charge fees to move into our houses. You'd need one months rent upfront and the bond but the bond can be substituted for a home owner guarantor.

We can pick and choose our tenants as the other big estate agents charge loads of ridiculous fees.

Babyroobs · 08/02/2016 16:12

The housing situation is awful, we need more social housing. Slightly off topic but I was reading an article in the Observer yesterday that was talking about tenants in social housing having to pay full market rates for their social housing if they earn above £30k ( £40k in London). Can't help thinking this is just going to cause even more chaos in the housing market with people in previously secure tenancies now having to find loads more rent or possibly move! People need secure permanent housing to build communities and have stable homes for their kids to grow up in .

Original poster

PinanNidan · 08/02/2016 16:21

Fourormore I get part help with my rent. If the rent was more expensive that help would increase.

OP posts:

notquitehuman · 08/02/2016 16:47

Moving when you're in a private rental is awful. Our LL sold the last place and although we found a house through the same agency, we had to pay them a fresh load of administration and referencing fees. We also had to cough up an extra 500 on the deposit because we have a small cat. We got most of the deposit back from old place, but it took bloody ages with old LL disputing every tiny chip of paint. Rents in the area had also gone up, so our monthly outgoings went up too.

I honestly dread the day that current LL decides to sell. But our area has become so gentrified that property prices are through the roof. We have terrible credit and are only just out of a load of debt, I'd hate to get back into it.

Oh for a secured tenancy of more than a year...

hereiamagain22 · 09/02/2016 07:26

It's awful, isn't it.

I'm in private rented for the first time and although it's not an ideal flat or location, I'm scared to move because of the expense and because I have struck lucky with my landlord so I actually feel very secure here. He owns lots of properties and runs it as a proper business - his interest is to have good, long-term tenants so he has a full-time office, charges reasonable rents, and it was less than £100 in fees to move in (plus deposit/rent of course). It's fair all round. I don't feel he's going to suddenly sell the place or randomly increase the rent. Few landlords are like that.

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