To think that if you private rent your life should not be dictated to by the landlord whose mortgage you are paying

[Nursejackie1]

So many of us are stuck in private renting with no choice paying over the odds, while landlords are making a mint. Most landlords have all these rules that you can’t decorate without permission, can’t even put a wall hanging up without asking. Often can’t or need permission to have pets, have regular inspections. I pay loads for my home and due to that cannot save a deposit. My kids have never had their bedrooms decorated in the way I would like.. having to stick with plain magnolia. Why should somebody else decide whether my kids get to grow up with a family pet or not? AIBU to think that if you are paying somebodies mortgage for them then while you are in that house you should be able to treat it as your own within reason and not have your life dictated to and controlled by them?

Ultimately, it is about feeling you have a home, somewhere you feel safe and happy.

It’s such a poor reflection on society that this is denied to people.

The dickish attitude of unbridled capitalism is perfectly illustrated by TheSerenDipitY post above.

Agreed. One investment property maybe. But multiple properties? No. Housing is a basic good, and should not be subject to speculative gains. You can thank maggie thatcher for the shit show that is the UK housing scene. You can also thank all those baby boomers who bought their houses when there were sensible restrictions in place on mortgage lending that limited the ability to speculate... Once those limits were done away with, they benefitted substantially. At the cost of the generations after them.

I think your attitude towards landlords stinks and is irrelevant to what your gripe is.

As a landlord, I am happy for the tenant to make themselves at home as long as it's handed back in the same state as they found it albeit wear and tear. So if you put purple paint or loads of holes in the rooms, that's not normal wear and tear.

To be honest though, you can redecorate. You just have to return the property in it’s original condition, which means decorating twice to return it to magnolia heaven before you leave

I do agree with you OP, your right to enjoy your home actually does allow you to do these things but the problem is controlling landlords who will give you notice to move out for this sort of thing, and there isn’t much you can do.

Mind you when I was renting my house out the tenant fitted a new kitchen and fencing around the whole garden she was mad, but I certainly didn’t complain about it -bathroomnextplease-

I think what this thread shows is both LL and tenants are people. Some people are nice, reasonable and so are not.

Yes, tenants' attitudes to landlords stink. With good reason. Landlords are directly taking wealth away from tenants and putting it into their own pockets. If you don't like it: don't be a landlord.

dont like the rules? move somewhere cheaper and save up a deposit, kinda like the actual home owner did

Seriously? Yes, "just" uproot your family and pay money you may not have in moving costs, it's easy! I would wager most landlords either bought their properties when they were MUCH cheaper than they are now, or own a portfolio of properties. It's not the same thing. There is a serious power differential between landlords and tenants and some shocking attitudes to renters in here.

dont like the rules? move somewhere cheaper and save up a deposit, kinda like the actual home owner did

As if life is that simple.

And not everyone who owns a house saved up and bought it. I inherited the place I let out from my Grandparents who brought me up.

Life isn't black and white and just a case of saving

@BeardyButton One investment property maybe. But multiple properties? No.

Are you serious?

How I spend my hard earned money is my business and if I choose to have multiple properties and rent them out to house people then that's my business.

I just see envy here

No it is not just your business, it is the business of those that you are ripping off bloatedbird. In a society we have to have rule either by consent or by force: for consent to happen we need some kind of equality and justice. There is no equality and no possibility of equality in a landlord - tenant relationship.

'Accidental" landlords are usually no such thing. They have usually made a conscious decision to go down that route. As for whoever included inherited property under 'accidental', that is rubbish - there is always the option to sell. As for those people who 'can't' sell, it's usually because they won't budge from an unrealistically optimistic price.
The only case I can really see where people have little other option, is when they are working abroad or far from home for a certain period. Given the ups and downs of the UK housing market, particularly the ups, nobody wants to sell and then find themselves priced out on their return.

Having said that, I am a LL, and I hope a good one, with very good, long term tenants, who are certainly allowed to put up pictures and keep pets.
But I agree that the private rental sector in the U.K. needs much tighter regulation. There are far too many bad LLs and far too little action taken against them. IMO there should certainly be compulsory registration, which would also help to weed out those who see paying tax on rental income as 'optional'. IMO, from anecdotal evidence, this is rife.

And incidentally, before it's all blamed on the Tories (not that I have any love for them) Labour previously did absolutely sod all to sort out the rental sector, or to ensure a more level playing field for owner occupiers vs. buy to let. It's only recently that unfair tax advantages and e.g. the automatic wear and tear allowance have been, or have begun to be, phased out.

I think the problem is that landlords have usually been stung in the past by ignorant tenants who've left them with dog piss stained carpets, holes in doors from unruly kids and horrendously 'decorated' like green rooms. For every unreasonable landlord, there's probably been a fair few unreasonable tenants before you.

Yes, it's a real shame that we can't all live respectfully to our liking but it's not the fault of landlords, it's the fault of dirty, disrespectful turds who have rented before you.

@bloated apt name. What I see is 'Im alright Jack', who gives two hoots about others, so long as im rich attitude. Social justice is about organising society fairly. Capping lending to decrease speculation on the property market would mean that people with multipke properties would be less likely to get rich off the back of them. Yet more people would be able to own their own home. Your right to own multiple properties because you have earned your money? not envy!!!! Its so easy to think you have earned your goods, rather than jst benefitted from the way society is organised. Fact is, lots of people work hard. You have been lucky.

*lime green

We should not be surprised that landlords are in it for the money, after all it is a commercial enterprise, the objective is to make a profit, what we need is proper regulation so that the relationship between landlords and tenants is mutually beneficial

but it's not the fault of landlords, it's the fault of dirty, disrespectful turds who have rented before you.

Wow. People’s inability to take responsibility for their own actions is truly appalling.

Its so easy to think you have earned your goods, rather than jst benefitted from the way society is organised. Fact is, lots of people work hard. You have been lucky
Word!

We were accidental landlords for one year. What an absolute nightmare that was.
Sorry OP but I would never allow a tenant to redecorate again and I would never allow pets if we were ever unfortunate enough to have to rent it out again.

The rent was way above the mortgage. However we lost £10 a month on the payments.
Taken into account was the letting agency management fees, insurance, a repair that never needed doing, etc

I'm also on a landlords page on Facebook still and the horror stories from there are enough to put anyone off giving an inch.

My deposit was paid by the local authority and, if I move, will go back to them, not me. They discharged their duty (we were in DV refuge) by nominating us for this private rental and paying the deposit.

So, in order to move I need to raise a new deposit, rent in advance, admin/reference fees as well as moving fees. That's IF I could find a landlord/agency willing to rent to me (lone parent, low wage requiring UC top up, poor credit rating).

There are thousands of families in my situation. Choice just doesn't come in to it - not when that choice is 'take this shitty flat or we will take your children in to care because you will be homeless!' Believe me, the landlords willing to let to desperate families via LA's are not those with 'professional couples' queuing up to rent their modern, well appointed properties in sought after areas!

Yanbu, in other countries where there is less emphasis on the need to own your own home and far more people rent, you are given a lot more freedom over things like decorating. I think especially if you have a long lease, landlords should be far more flexible about letting you actually make the house you rent into a home. They could even stipulate that people return it to white when they move out, and then it wouldn’t impact on them at all (and might even save them routine painting costs).

Well @Gamerwidow of the high horse, yes I have, but I am also a renter. And actually I haven't had any of the problems with my LL described here. But then I like 25 shades of white walls and bunting is pretty removable
My point was that I didn't start off choosing to make a business decision, I bought a home. Where I merrily lived "frugally" ie month to month with a series of lodgers for many years. So actually, my home ownership had to be a business decision from the very start so I could afford it. You can't separate home ownership from business/financial decisions around work and family as easily as you seem to assume.

dont like the rules? move somewhere cheaper and save up a deposit, kinda like the actual home owner did

Yeah, because this is so much easier than a landlord just not being an arsehole about a coat of paint, isn’t it?

@bloatedbird

I’ve learnt you're not allowed to be a content landlord with equally content tenants on munsnet

We must suffer somehow.

Accidental landlord is a misnomer, unplanned landlord might be a better term

They should bring in the Scottish system at a minimum. Good LL's (like me I hope) have absolutely nothing to fear from it.

Your local authority then checks to ensure you are a suitable person to let property. To establish that you are “fit and proper”, it takes account of any evidence that you have:

• Committed some serious offences (including fraud, dishonesty, violence, drugs, firearms and sexual)
• Practiced unlawful discrimination in connection to any business
• Contravened any law relating to housing, or landlord and tenant law, and your actions (or your failure to act) in relation to any antisocial behaviour affecting a property you already let.

These checks are designed to remove bad landlords from the private letting system.

Then for the property...

The repairing standard is simply a basic level of repair:

• Your property must be wind and watertight
• It must be fit to live in (meeting the 'tolerable standard')
• The structure and exterior (e.g. walls and roof) must be in reasonable condition
• Installations for the supply of water, gas, electricity, sanitation, space heating and heating water must be in a reasonable state of repair and in proper working order (including external items, like drains)
• Fixtures, fittings or appliances that you provide (e.g. carpets, white goods and household equipment) must be in a reasonable state of repair and in proper working order
• Any furnishings you provide must be capable of being used safely for the purpose for which they are designed
• Your property must be fitted with suitable fire detection devices.

The tolerable standard includes things like heating and ventilation, no damp etc.

And It's not ridiculously expensive to register either