To wonder how people afford to private rent and think there should be a cap on it

[user1498221998]

From the age of 21 I have rented from Housing Association. When I finished my University studies I was unemployed and didn't want to return to my Parents or house share so I applied for social housing. Got given a HA apartment and when I had my Son at 23 I got given a council house.

I've never had the money to buy or private rent so never got to live somewhere I actually wanted and always felt upset and angry at the fact I lived somewhere I didn't like and couldn't move.

I'm in the process of moving to a smaller house but in an area I prefer. I am moving from a two bed semi detached house to a two up two down terraced house but I will be happier there. When viewing I got speaking to the neighbour who informed me she pays £750 a month to rent her house privately!!!! I was absolutely stunned. This is a fairl;y grotty, tiny two bed terraced house in a rough part of Manchester (Central though which pushes the price up).

Intrigued I went on rightmove and found the house I currently rent for £380 a month is on a street where the houses are £700 a month to rent!!!

I am stunned! I've never private rented so never knew the cost. I will appreciate my HA property so much more now.

Both houses are worth about £120k. That's a lot of rent for 120k house. I can understand high rents in desirable areas but these are not. I earn 29k and couldn't afford to rent privately. How do people afford it?

AIBU to think there should be some cap on how much private landlords can charge?

What baffles me is this. Rent where I live is £650-850 a month for houses worth around £150-180k.

If I wanted to buy a house with a 5% deposit and 95% mortgage in this area but couldn't afford to save for a deposit, it would cost me about £200-250 for a £15,000 personal loan, then around £600-700 a month for a mortgage on the remainder. So not that far off my rent. But I'm not allowed to take a personal loan out for a deposit even though I would be paying almost exactly the same money a month that I've been paying for about 6 years with no issues.

So instead I have to piss money away every month on a house I'm not allowed to own while trying to save money for a deposit.

Put it in context though... if you had a house worth £120k and had bought it with a 10% deposit at 3% per annum (what many of us are on) and set up fees of £1k added to the mortgage (not including any other buying fees), you would be paying £599 per month and on top of that you would also have insurance which could be £50+ per month depending on area etc, so all of a sudden, you're looking at at least £650 a month... and what if something goes wrong? I had to replace my boiler this year as it died catastrophically and cost just over £2k...
That's not to say that some landlords don't take the proverbial... and many have interest only mortgages, rather than the repayment sort you'd have as a home owner... so realistically your HA house is excellent value for money and the HA business model is going to be very different to that of a private landlord...

We have about the same household income as you and pay 1,200p/m rent and about 500p/m travel for DH to get to work. It's extraordinarily expensive, but I don't really think the figures you are quoting are that ridiculous.

DH and I private rented for 8.5 years and spent nearly 100k on rent in that time. Our 2 bed terrace with mouldy walls, next door to students who had parties until 7am 3 nights a week was £1200pcm

Sorry... Unihorn .... my comment was directed at the OP, not you... cross post xx

BTW, I private rented as I had no other options....
But was able to eventually, in my early 30's buy (and no... no parental help etc... it was hard)

I private rent and pay £425pm for a large 2 bedroom flat. Downsides are it's above a takeaway and I don't have a garden, but the area isn't bad and DS and I have a pretty decent lifestyle with the rent being so cheap.

I can't afford to save for a deposit for a mortgage and no way would I qualify for social housing.

Excuse my ignorance- but why are you allowed to continue living in HA/Council properties for such low rent when you earn so much?

I thibk you were unreasonable to get a HA flat as a single graduate which could've gone to someone more in need. Why didn't you house share like other graduates?

I actually agree with you that the housing situation is dire but some of the entitlement I've seen over the years from some social tenants of my acquaintance beggars belief.

Socksey that was good timing though! Yeah the costs associated with homeownership can be high as well of course, although with the amount of new builds available these days there are probably fewer expenses than on older houses. I do think there's an awful cycle of not being able to save for deposits whilst spending more money than a mortgage would be.

From personal experience all I've had to have fixed during my private renting days has been a glass door panel and loose air chute from the boiler.

The price of rental have gone bonkers in the areas where I would like to live. I was lucky being able to find 3/4 bed terraced/semi-detached for £500-£525 over the years that are part or un-furnished. Now the estate agents are asking for £800-£1300. I've now had to live slightly further than I wanted..oh well..at least the savings allows me to buy a monthly bus pass.

I entirely agree with you but housing is worth what people are prepared to pay.
The government supplements salaries for people to pay these private rents when in fact there should be a cap on rents to stop people profiteering from rents.
There needs to be more tenants rights too, e.g. Landlords should have more stringent safety checks on properties and should have to provide 6 months notice to tenants to move.
I am an accidental landlord and would be happy to pay more tax.

Last year husband and I bought our house from someone who was renting it out to students (I'm in York). He took a three bedroom, three bath house, put it as a four bedroom because I guess they don't need a living room. Was getting £100 a month for each room, so £400 rent a week for the house, £1600 rent a month.

Its a nice, three story townhouse, quite large, and in the city centre. But he was getting £1600 a month in rent. Our mortgage is £600 a month, as we had a high deposit (100K on a 250K house, hubby sold his flat, received an inheritance of 50K, so we used it on the house). Former owner's mortgage was even lower because he bought it for a lower price (bought for £199K, put down 100K). He was truly taking the piss. It needs so many internal repairs because he didn't take care of it. Carpets need replacing, new bannister, kitchen needs a refurb, garden was horrific, new pipes, boiler, etc..When we moved in, the pipes in the ensuite were so blocked, you couldn't use the bathroom. Its more than liveable, but its not in its best shape. We've replaced the bannister, new garden (thanks to his mum coming up from London and helping us), new pipes in a year. But the bigger items will take a long time. We're also replacing all of the windows, and have replaced the front door as we're certain it was a fire hazard.

He was pocketing over £1000 a month and doing nothing to keep the house in good shape.

Shoxfordian: 29k runs to around 1800 net a month I think so rent of 750 is affordable
^^this

Its called cutting your cloth accordingly.

Sorry, that should be £100 a week per room, not a month.

One of the big problems is the lack of private landlords willing to rent to anyone that gets any HB.

Landlords should have more stringent safety checks on properties and should have to provide 6 months notice to tenants to move

And should the tenant do the same?

Landlords should have more stringent safety checks on properties and should have to provide 6 months notice to tenants to move

but they should also be able to get rid of tenants who don't pay their rent, and tenants should not be able to refuse regular visits of the properties or necessary work to be done.

I would have really struggled to give 6 months notice to my landlord, the whole point of renting was the flexibility.

We lived in a HA property for about eight years, it was a two bed first floor flat in a bit of an iffy area - it was around £300/350 a month in rent. Private rent in the area for like for like was probably £500.

We gave up the HA flat when we bought our shared ownership house, we own most of it and rent the remaining % from the HA until we buy the rest and own 100%. The mortgage and rent on our house now works out about £700, which is actually a bit less than what private renting would cost. I think private rent would be about £800.

I thought something was coming in that said if you worked and lived in a HA property, you would start having to pay market rent? Did I imagine that or have they decided not to do this now?

Excuse my ignorance- but why are you allowed to continue living in HA/Council properties for such low rent when you earn so much?

I'm struggling to understand this too.

Tenancy type at a guess. I'm not sure how much checking of wages there is and what clauses there are for ending a tenancy based on income. Where I worked there was nothing in re salary, just saving if you were coming from an owned property

I've rented in and around Manchester for years.

Flat 1 (on my own): nice flat in classic student area. Actually a shared house but had my own bedroom/living room/bathroom.
£400 per month, 2004.

Flat 2 (then partner moved up here): very naice flat in converted Victorian villa in young professional area. 1.5 bedrooms, massive living room, high ceilings etc.
£700 per month, 2006.

House 3: "two up, two down" and "walk into the living room from the front door" terrace in suburb city of Greater Manchester, traditional red brick terrace area.
£600 per month, 2009.

House 4: three bed/three bath detached on the edge of the Peak District, semi-rural market town 30 min train to Manchester.
£750 per month, 2012.

Rental prices in Manchester are high (though not as high a London). The rental market is strong, given massive student numbers (who are increasing non-UK and well-funded) and influx of finance/media businesses.

I've had a similar experience OP except I had a child later and have only had HA flats as available HA houses are generally 3 bed not 2 bed. I've been through some really rough times renting HA in areas I would never choose to live in if I had a choice, but that were the best of a bad bunch. I've had my tyres slashed, ASB neighbours in every HA property I've rented. There isn't enough housing and overseas investors are allowed to buy so much UK property for private rent, which helps prop up our housing economy. One massive bugbear for me is there is no legislation where HA are required to disclose previous ASB to a prospective new tenant. If asked outright they can and do lie (my current HA lied about my downstairs neighbours being fine when they drove the previous tenants out). I've been caught in the loop of moving from one ASB housing situation to another as the properties that come up are generally places people want to move away from for a reason... Rents in this country should be capped- or controlled? - so they can't be set extortionately. Private landlords are getting away with charging outrageous rents... And if you can't afford them you take your chances with a big risk of NFH in HA. I'm grateful for HA housing, but they don't deal with ASB effectively and the law needs changing to protect tenants better from ASB. Slight tangent, but I feel relevant points.

But with all dues respect, OP is living in an HA property despite earning 29k because she obtained it under different circumstances so technically is getting away with paying far less rent than jo bloggs BUT is complaining about private rental being too high. Seems a bit unfair to me. How is living in an HA property that you do not really qualify any morally better than a private LL charging the market price. Sorry, not being rude, I just genuinely don't understand how one is ok and yet the other isnt.