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?

YABVU.

It’s theirs not yours and they are not a registered Charity.

Op, I hear you. It’s fucking shit.
No pets, no decorating, no pictures. It impacts almost every decision, sofa buying, car buying (electric sockets), plant buying - you won’t see that apple tree fruit so what’s the point. No planning for the future as you don’t know where you’ll be.
It’s really shit with kids, really shit.

and the shit posts just keep on coming!

Any single one of you smug homeowners, it could be you. A drastic change of circumstances could see you lose your home. Will you bleat about priorities and 17k cats and charities then?

It's not difficult to just say if you change things then change them back. I don't understand these arsehole landlords. I'm just glad my house is getting looked after and paid for by nice people.

I'd be annoyed if they got a dog because they are out all day at work. I think they have a cat which I'm not pleased about because cats kill birds, little mammals and lizards and my house is in a nature zone. But as far as the house goes, no problem with a puss.

The less contact I have with our folks, the better. I want to live my life and I want them to live theirs. I don't think I've even seen the house in 3 years - she just sends me photos yearly. It looks fantastic. Plus the neighbours would grass her up to me if they were getting out of line.

We are accidental landlords - i think that makes a big difference in attitude to those who do it as a career.

Some people aren't willing to make those sacrifices and that is their choice, but they should stop complaining
And some people end up with abusive arses who completely ruin their financial future.

That’s before I get onto average earnings vs the cost of average homes. Mortgage companies lend 4-5x your income, home ownership for most is way out of that bracket now

Oh and this shit basically saying that if you can't afford a house it's your own fault for being feckless... that is not true. But Yeah, keep patting yourself on the back that you are so much better than people forced to rent. Disgusting attitude and stupid, frankly.

why not?

Really, you can’t think of why?

Because they’re disabled, get ill, get divorced, have dependents.

But at a very basic level, plenty of people happen to grow up in expensive areas and simply don’t have the capability to get the kind of job that would allow them to buy.

And these people don’t want to move away from their family and friends because that’s no kind of life for them either.

It is clearly ridiculous that tenants can't hang a mirror up or have any pictures or calendars up.

But it possibly comes with a short let mentality. If you expect tenants to have to move on every 6 months, then you don't want them to do anything to the property.

When people fully expected to be renting for life, everyone was much more relaxed about decorating and being allowed full enjoyment of your home. My parents rented the same place for years - they were expected to do all repairs and decorations. And nobody cared about pets.

Uk laws are very renter focused. Friend of mine rented out his property and at the six monthly check found the tenants had drilled holes all over the property and not adhered to the terms to keep the garden tidy. He ended up giving notice and asking them to leave. They left leaving thousands of pounds of damage, including chipping a kitchen worktop, holes in the living room walls, losing the garage key fob, damage to roof (they added 3 satellites even though none were allowed and one was already in place).
My friend recovered what he could from the deposit (only 6 weeks of rent) which didn't go even half way to resolve all the damage this tenant caused.

Rules are there for a reason. If you don't like them, find another landlord. Your situation isn't dictated by what your landlord is doing. It is of your own making. Find a way out of it.

Some people aren't willing to make those sacrifices and that is their choice
I am a smug home owner but even I can see that is bollocks.
What about people like my mum who was left with 2 kids aged 4&6 to raise with no help from my dad. When she did find a good man and remarried he became seriously ill in 5 years and she had to become his carer before his premature death. What could she have sacrificed to put her on the housing ladder. Or how about my sister who has had abusive partners who raped and assaulted her and now works full time with 3 kids and no one will even rent to her how will she give a mortgage, what sacrifice should she be doing here. Maybe my brother in law with a brain tumour who lost his job when the tumour made him blind should just cut back on coffees and avocados or something.
I don’t have my house because I tried harder, I was luckier and so was everyone else.
Yes I do work hard but some people can work hard all their life and still have fuck all to show for it because life dealt them a shit hand.

I do feel for the OP. You should be able to do normal things like own a cat or decorate your children's bedrooms.

The issue is, as others have pointed out that as many people there are who look after their rented home, there are just as many who don't.

Landlords who have been burned in the past simply won't want to take the risk again.

If you've genuinely looked after the house, paid the rent on time and been a good tenant, it's not unreasonable to ask if you can do the things you've asked. But on the flip side, would you be prepared to sign a longer lease, say 2 or 3 years? Another hesitancy from a landlords view is having to repaint every time tenants move on and of that's every 6 months, that's a lot of hassle.

It's just a negotiation really. My tenants are great, they look after the house so when they asked if they could have a cat I said no problem, as long as they repair any damage if it makes any. I also haven't raised the rent since they moved in because id rather keep good tenants happy than have to find new ones frequently.

Re garden. The place we rent was a previous farmhouse. When we viewed it had been completely overrun with brambles (judging by the stem thickness at least 10 years) and nettles, other weeds. The agents said 'it is what it is'. No gardener included in the rent.

We bought a John Deere lawn tractor and hacked. It is now beautiful but what we have done is not in the contract. It is free giving to the environment.

I do find unprofessional landlords expectations a bit odd tbh. The biggest one being why they expect to get back an untouched house after renting it out for a monthly income for months or years. It’s used. What other product would you expect someone to rent that would be returned in great condition? People have lived there, that’s what they paid for. If they didn’t fancy hoovering that’s their choice. All they have to do is return it in the condition it was let in, or you deduct as much cost as you can from their security deposit. Otherwise, suck it up, it’s part of business.

And I say that as a landlord (I would call myself an accidental one )

KeepOnKeepingOnAgainandAgain that's beautiful, what a great job you've done.

I hated renting. It's a lovely feeling to finally be able to knock down a wall if you feel like it. (I never will, realistically!)

But I can see both sides. It's a business transaction. There's no reason a private landlord shouldn't charge the going rates. And our friends have just finished letting theirs out for a couple of years. The cost to put right the damage is a lot more than the bond!

Flip side, I've just won a dps case where the landlord tried to charge me for pre-existing damage. Thankfully I photographed when we moved in and sent to LA.

But, within reason, you should be able to hang a picture as long as you're happy to fill the holes when you move out. I have always hung pictures.

Sadly, I think the "it's not mine, I'm only here for a year so f€ck it" brigade spoil it for good tennants.

Yanbu and we are landlords but have previously been renters for many years. I think if you're longer term tenants then it's worth speaking to the landlord, if you've looked after the house and been good tenants they may be more willing to be flexible. If a long term tenant moves out chances safe they will need to repaint anyway. We allow tenants to decorate, hang pictures (provided they make good any holes) and have pets, we've also previously asked landlords if we could decorate and they've been okay with it. Bit of quid pro quo goes a long way.

I have just taken more photos.

It really doesn't matter that I don't 'own' the land.

I'm in the really fortunate position of having a BTL property as a result of inheritance following the death of my parents. I wanted to invest their money and figured property was a fairly safe bet.

The small house I bought had been on the market for about a year, and the owner was himself just about to put it on the rental market for £650 a month and had lots of potential interested tenants. Honestly when I bought it there was damp on the bedroom ceiling and in the kitchen walls, it had a boiler that was 20 years old and would have cost a fortune in heating bills, a bath with a huge crack in it that would have broken as soon as someone sat in it, and most worrying no means of escape upstairs in the case of a fire.

I spent about 8k of my savings (totally wiping them out in the process) fixing all the issues and making it into somewhere I would have been happy living. After 8 months of a friend living there, I touched it up again and went to a reputable estate agent to find tenants.

My tenants now live happily in the house with their 2 little dogs, paying £100 less than the previous owner was going to charge. They describe it as perfect and if they wanted to decorate they could, and they most certainly can hang pictures etc on the walls. The reason being it is my house but their home. I want them to be happy because I value people that will look after my investment and I want them to stay for as long as they wish to.

I'm under no illusion that they are paying me far more than I would gain in interest at the bank, but more importantly to me, they are protecting the investment of my parents' money. They both worked really hard for it and scrimped and saved every last penny, and I would hate to have frittered it away.

I'm very lucky, I know this, but I don't want to take the money my tenants pay and not give them a house that is worth their hard-earned money either. I hate the fact that some landlords don't look after their properties and are willing to let people live in a house full of damp or rotting floors; whether you've had shitty tenants before or not, you're providing a house for someone - either pay the money to maintain it or sell it.

I am so fortunate that we got on the property ladder before the stupid increases happened, I honestly despair of how people are supposed to manage it today. We were lucky that our first house was a part rent/part buy so it was really easy to sell once the time came. I hope I haven't contributed to pushing anyone out of the market and I sort of take comfort that the BTL had been for sale for such a long time without any buyers, but acknowledge that I may be kidding myself.

I'm not rolling in money, lying on the beach in Barbados (I wish); I work part-time because of disability and view the BTL as a pension pot for me when I'm older, or as a potential house for my children. I am grateful of the opportunity I've had, albeit tinged with the wish that I could hand it all back for extra time with my mum and dad truth be told.

This talk of people in rental not prioritising properly is just stupid; can anyone tell me that carers or nurses don't deserve a proper wage that would mean they could afford their own property?! It's a fecked up system. And anybody could be flat on their arse tomorrow, next week, next year - nobody knows what's around the corner and to assume that it could never happen to you is just foolish.

Depends on the lanord really.

We private rent and have been allowed to redecorate. We just have to paint it all back when we leave (which if do anyway as everyone's taste is different).

As for pets, I don't want them or like them so my children can have them in their own homes when they move out 😂

Your making a big deal out of nothing.

Snap, KeepOnKeepingOnAgainandAgain. When we rented our cottage fifteen years ago we took over a huge garden that had been neglected for years. It was full of nettles, dock and hemlock, all about seven feet high. It took time. Years! But now people stop in front of our garden and take pictures. I work part time and make very little money (obvs, renting...) but part of my pay goes to a gardener who helps me with the heavy stuff. And I have bought all of the gardening tools because we don't intend to move on for a while, and gardening is my heaven.

Not all renters are untrustworthy and lazy.

(And sorry about assuming you could just up and move, KeepOnKeepingOnAgainandAgain)

The garden and surroundings are mine - they are a reflection of me. I want them to thrive. Why would I not?

I could own the place and do nothing because I own it, I could rent the place and do nothing because it's not in the contract. (Death of the soul).

I own our rental property outright - I do not have a mortgage on it. If my tenants contact me and ask to decorate I'd let them no problem. If they decide to paint the whole place black I'd expect them to put it back before they leave but not bothered if someone wants to make it their home. Have you asked your landlord?
Alternatively get a mortgage and buy a house yourself, there are a few more 95% mortgages available now.

Some people aren't willing to make those sacrifices and that is their choice

Housing bingo. "Choices" and "sacrifice".
Smug people who don't understand that those sacrifices that used to get you a house of your own get you a rented property with mould up the walls if you're lucky, if you can pay the fees and rental deposit upfront.

The main difference between the ability to buy a house and rent is the ability to provide a deposit up front. That is all. The regular monthly payments in most parts of the country are similar, or less with a mortgage. The kicker is that you cannot save for that deposit while you are renting. Can most people save for a second deposit while paying a mortgage?
And some of us get into private renting in the first place because we don't have mummy and daddy to back us up in life, for a variety of reasons, and we cannot stay in mummy's and daddy's house until we have saved a deposit, yet we actually have jobs and earn our own livings. It's not bad choices, it's not failing at life: it is starting with nothing and having to make silk purses out of thin air.

If you want to hang a mirror...buy your own home or move.

Congratulations. This is the dumbest, shittiest thing I've read in quite some time.

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