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?

in other countries where there is less emphasis on the need to own your own home and far more people rent

Incidentally, this is not true of most countries of Europe. If you google house ownership rates across Europe, there are few countries where far more people rent than in Britain. Specifically, in fact, only in Germany and Austria is that true, where historically there have been high rent controls and low actual rent. Nearly every other European country has higher house ownership and lower private rentals than Britain - and even then, many have much stronger social rental sectors. If you talk to Europeans, they are keenly aware of the financial benefits of buying property for oneself over continuing to pay rent.

Yawn, standard landlords are scum post

Ain't no amount of bunting gonna make these walls a pleasure to look at!

@Foxmuffin Hahha! My "multiple tenants" are all very content and respectful, as am I as landlord.

Cheers!

@BeardyButton lucky? I've been smart and invested well, that's not luck.

From Eurostat website, 2016.

The Scottish system sounds really good, and also a way to help ensure that housing stock in general is properly maintained
I think we could also do with better legislation to ensure that property owners fulfill thier duty to properly maintain the premises that they own

I can see it from both sides, as I am both a tenant and a l/l. We rent out our UK home, whilst dh was first serving, then working abroad. We allow cats, neutral redecoration, and allow things to be hung on walls. The bathroom, having been newly done, was not allowed to be redecorated. We provide and pay for a gardener.

I've had three rental properties abroad. The first was a Married Quarter equivalent, where nothing could be changed, without one being charged for it, so you lived with it. We did put up shelves, and hang pictures, but that was about it.

The second was a private rental, which was someone's home, whilst they were working abroad. We could not redecorate anything, could not hang anything on the walls; had to keep to a strict schedule for the hedges being cut (and pay), and pay for boiler servicing, chimney sweeping, buildings insurance, water softener servicing, etc. Everything I pay for as a l/l in UK, I pay for as a tenant in Belgium. The leaving check out was brutal, under the rims of the toilets, the inside of the window frames etc - if a Belgian l/l can stick you for anything, they will.

The current house (and the last, as we are moving back to the UK, and my tenants have fortuitously given notice), is 245 years old, rented from a member of the local aristocracy, and is white throughout, bar one wall. He has been the best of the l/ls here, as he rents to maintain the house and have it lived in, not gouge a profit. He gets repairs done when needed, and hasn't bothered with the annual indexing increase with the rent.

Yes, one has on paper more security here, as the tenancies are longer, but you can still be given notice, as we were on house 2, as the owners needed to move back in. It is brutal when you leave as well, as there is no concept of wear and tear, so you are liable for any damage, however small.

dontbeadick. That’s a disgrace. I’d have just sorted it out and painted, taking before and after photos. No one is going to allow them to deduct money from your deposit for fixing that.

LL like that are the bane of decent LL’s lives.

I am a private landlord (lady). I rent out two houses and three flats. My tenants are either students looking for temporary accommodation, or professionals who choose not to or are unable to buy. My properties are of a high standard that I would happily live in myself. I am happy to let out longer term, but most rent for a year then renew.
I allow pets if the head lease (in a flat) says I am allowed to. Most often it says no pets. I allow redecoration if the tenant agrees to return it to original condition (though I’d be open to keeping it if I liked it). I don’t make tons of money. I enjoy doing up properties and the return I get is better than many other investments. I believe I am providing a much needed service. It is not me who is driving up prices - I paid the same money for a property as anyone else would plus a 3% stamp duty penalty.
There will always be people who need to or would rather rent. Please don’t tarnish all landlords as greedy. We provide a place for you to live. You pay for this. What is wrong with that?

There is also the law of unintended consequences. We rent out our family home while we are overseas for a few years. So we are both renters and landlords.
We have allowed pets with a larger deposit because we had additional damage from one family with a dog the last time we were in this position. The law in England has recently changed and you are no longer allowed to do this. DH and I were discussing that this wasnt actually very sensible as it would make it less likely that we would agree to a pet in future.
Limiting deposits as an idea has come from a good place I am sure but may actually end up reducing the number of homes that allow animals.

there were no private landlords, you and many others probably would have no place to live. Like it or not, I think you and all other private tenants need to remember that

Yuss sir, I'll remember my place, thank you sir

The other big thing with the Scottish system is that it requires proof from a mortgage provider that permission to let has been given.

That's a massive thing for tenants, and many don't realise how important it is for them in the case of their landlord having the place repossessed. If there's no permission then the mortgage lender don't have to give notice etc where as if they have given permission they become the defacto landlord and the tenant is entitled to the usual notice to leave.

Well, you'll all be glad to know that changes in legislation are happening. Starting June 1st, yes, next week! With more to follow, including axing the no fault s21.

Some areas will find that house poices have something of a slump as, with all of the financial clawbacks the government has already introdiced mean some LLs who just cover their costs can no longer do so.

That means that ALL house prices will fall a little bit... for an unkown period of time. But it is not anticipated that the fall will be big or extended, so no sudden housing jackpot for thoe who feel squeezed out of home owning, so that also means that more and more rentals will be owned by corporations, pension companies etc.

It also means that some LLs will no longer be able to do as much as often, so, at least fo a while, regardles of the FFHH regs, some hosuing stock wil not be maintained quite as well, rents will increase a little etc etc.

It might be a good thing long term, it isn't quite the same as the Scottish system so we will have to wait and see... but I would like to see how LLs and Ts feel about the changes in 2 years or so! There needs to be some measure of effectiveness!

I don't understand why restricting pet ownership is a bad thing, there are loads of threads complaining about too many dogs too many cats, I think we do need restrictions on the amount of pets per household
dog free zones and cat free zones wouldn't be a bad thing in my view
We need society to work for people 1st
we can worry about dogs and cats when the people are happy

Yuss sir, I'll remember my place, thank you sir Why that? As the government is not investing in housing stock and is pushing what it does have into the private sector, housing associatns etc, why the stupid comment? Someone has to provide housing for people who cannot aord to buy, people who are not in a position to want, let alone need, a home in one place for a long period of time.

Such a weird MN answer, seeming to ignore the fact that many people simply don't want or never will be in a position to buy their own home!

kingslayer 🤣

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

I honestly hope that comments like this are just internet bravado. The idea that a person could really think like this is genuinely upsetting. Can you really be that ill-informed? Have you any idea what it's like for hard working families to be talked down to and treated like second class citizens just because they pay a landlord, rather than Santander? Look outside your bubble for once, why don't you.

I thoroughly hate renting threads on here. It brings some real heartless smug cunts out of the woodwork.

yabu. Someone buying a house and renting it to you is NOT shutting you out of the market. They are actually providing the capital to purchase the property or taking on the mortgage which presumably you cannot afford otherwise you’d buy the place yourself and stop griping about it here.
Landlords actually pay tax on rental income so that’s another positive for the state.

I rented my flat for 10 years and it allowed me the choice of moving if I wanted and not being tied down with a huge mortgage and having any repairs and maintenance handled by the landlord. Also, rent level so are dictated by market demand and supply, so saying rent is a rip off is just stupid.
Unless your landlord doesn’t properly maintain your home as he’s contractually obligated to, then I think u are being massively unreasonable. If your biggest problem is the colour of your children’s bedroom walls, or not being able to hang s picture. Do those things!! Just be prepared to fill the nail holes back and repaint everything to what it is now when you move out. Or buy your own place

Kingslayer I hope you have perfected the art of forelock tugging - it went so well with tithed cottages.
whosorrynow Absolutely - I shall have my elderly rescue cats put down before we end up under a bridge because we can't rent anywhere

Having rented for 10 years, and now taken out a mortgage (used lump sum pension funds for deposit) I’m so glad I’m out of it, but at the same time I’m glad that there are private landlords, or I would have had nowhere to live - not meeting the criteria for council housing. Landlords buying up property don’t stop renters getting on the property ladder. I just didn’t have the deposit to buy, as I suspect many people don’t. Whilst the contracts I’ve signed whilst renting specified no pets and no redecorating, I found that all I had to do was approach the landlords and I was given the go ahead to redecorate, and also have a cat. I think it’s all based on trust which is built up between the renter and landlord.

Wonder when the legislation will become more equal and tenants who refuse to pay rent will be evicted quicker without it costing the LL thousands and months of legal trauma.

I think I'm the opposite from the OP in that I wish my landlord cared more. I'm stuck in renting and paying through the nose for a flat that's really not worth the rent.

We have had damp, a hole in the kitchen floor, the sealing on the windows come off, grout all over the bathroom tiles, the shower broken, the cooker broken, the carpets threadbare, cracks and holes in the walls, half finished dark coloured paint and pen all over the walls, storage heaters and an awful boiler, flooding from upstairs and my landlord has done nothing about any of it.

I'm terrified to take any issues further than I have as if I lost my home I'd have to uproot my whole family- the area I live in is too expensive to rent anywhere else.

But, in turn, I don't worry about 'rules' and don't ask permission for anything as I've spent a small fortune re-doing the house to a live-able standard which has kept him in pocket and added value to his house. I have pets and decorate however I want, have changed the flooring and re-tiled etc. Not that he'd know as he doesn't do home checks either.

Why that? As the government is not investing in housing stock and is pushing what it does have into the private sector, housing associatns etc, why the stupid comment? Someone has to provide housing for people who cannot aord to buy, people who are not in a position to want, let alone need, a home in one place for a long period of time

Well, the comment I was referencing clearly said that I should be thankful to private landlords, like their doing me some kind of favour by making money out of me??

Lets be real here. No private landlord is providing rentals out of the kindness of their hearts. It's to provide income, whether that be Instant or years down the line when they are mortgage free.
It's the good tenants that make that happen. Quite frankly, I think they need to remember that.

Personally I don't agree with anyone making money out of housing.

I do feel for you OP, I rented for 20 years before buying a little place last summer. Saved for a house deposit for 7 years. Had to live in some shoddy accommodation to be able to save that. 7 years in a house with awful damp and no central heating for 5 of those years. Chose because it was cheap and in a fab area for school.