DH and I bought our first house together late last year, after I'd spent 8 years renting and him 7 years (lived together for 6 years). I have just worked out that through those 8 years, we spent over £52,000 in rent, which is pretty sickening. We're near Manchester.
Our last house was a draughty, damp 3.5 bed terrace. It could have been lovely if the landlord had thrown a few grand at it for new windows, external doors and damp-proofing (bearing in mind that he had over £25k of our money while we lived there). We paid £650 per month for it. He had initially wanted £700 but we haggled him down by convincing him to not use an agent and just rent it directly to us.
It's currently still available to rent (according to Rightmove) which is unusual in the area we've moved from - stuff normally gets snapped up really quickly. He's asking £700pcm for it (through an agent) and judging by the photos on Rightmove, he's done absolutely nothing to it since we moved out.
We saved the deposit for our new house through a mixture of mis-sold PPI compensation (got over £6k - the one time being a dick with credit cards has paid off), saving hard, I got a second job, wedding present money (not asked for, I hasten to add!) and a generous lump sum from my parents, who had received an inheritance (again, we didn't ask for this). It wasn't easy, but without the lump sum from my parents, we'd never have been able to do it.
Our new house is a 4 bed semi, new-ish build, and the mortgage is £790 a month, but the extra £140 a month is worth it for the peace of mind of knowing it's ours, and it's a gorgeous house and I love it! 