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?

I rent out my home which is mortgage free
I decorated it & fixed any issues before I moved out
I could rent it out for free
However, because I don't live locally, I have to pay agents fees, landlord insurance, tax on income, repairs to boiler & other appliances

I rent it out at a reduced rate
I allow a dog

Not all landlords are horrible !

It's manifest from this thread that many landlords are fucking arseholes....from the perspective of the tenant.

It’s also manifest from this thread that many tenants are a pain the arse/ lazy/entitled...,,.from the perspective of the LL who is picking up the bill from their lack of care of someone else’s property. I’ve been a LL and a tenant. When We ended our tenancy we got an email from the agent saying ‘thank you for leaving the property so nicely’. I’ve never had cause to write that about any of my tenants. Even accounting for wear and tear I’ve had to spend £££ to turn any let property back to a marketable state after a tenant has moved out. It’s just a very sad fact of life that most people don’t look after things that don’t belong to them as well as they might if they owned the stuff.

No, thisisacrazyidea some of the landlords on here sound like arseholes to any reasonable person. Like the ones who think people aren’t entitled to stable housing. They sound dreadful.

thezebra you have a special place reserved for you in heaven/the afterlife. You must have had some negative experiences....and I’d genuinely like to know how you deal with them and move on with an overflowing heart of generosity? I’m asking because we may end up as accidental LL again and I’d really like to think that we could use our ‘spare house’ to help people who have fallen on hard times.....but I can just see how this will go.....completely refurbished house that needs redecorating, new carpets, new furniture after the first 6 month tenant who doesn’t appear grateful that you’ve helped them out if a hole....and then I just give up and turn it into air bnb.

I'm going to add
Property not inherited, paid via employment
Example
Electric safety certificate £125
Replacement of broken top cooker & electric £350

CHARIOTS........if you think we are all 'entitled' to stabled housing will you tell me who you think should pay for it?

I pay my mortgage, or l get repossesed, my building society don't think l am 'entitled' to secure housing.....only as long as l pay my bills and abide by their rules...why should tenants be any different?

TheZebraCrosser and TheSameN1ghtAga1n that really is very generous of you and more than anyone could ask from you.
Not sure why your generosity is so upsetting to some other posters

@thedancingbear

*And for all the people saying 'people who haven't managed to buy have made poor choices':

If you look around you, most of the people who have managed to get on the ladder at a reasonable age have had a huge slice of luck, either inheriting the property itself, or getting a deposit-sized chunk of money from their family wealth.*

Um no. Just no. I worked 60 hour weeks until I could afford the deposit. Then I worked 50 hour weeks to afford the mortgage at an interest rate of between 8 and 15 percent. So you make those sacrifices . . . and you might be able to buy a house. You just don't get it do you.

why should tenants be any different?
If you’re mortgage lender is refusing to let you paint and put pictures up you should probably consider changing lender....

Urgh. I haven’t RTFT as the first page alone made me so frustrated!

The level of entitlement is outstanding. It’s landlords faults you can’t get on the property ladder? Maybe you should have studied harder, got a better job, earnt more and not had kids until you owned a home in which they could paint their bedrooms however they liked.

Why is everything somebody else’s fault?

There are ALWAYS a million excuses from those who ‘can’t get on the property ladder’. For every landlord ‘buying up all the houses’ there’s a rent payer winging - yet managing to afford holidays and flash cars 🤔

So let’s no demonise landlords and understand that THEY do not OWE you ANYTHING. Pay the market rate, live by the rules ... or buy your own house!

Not rtft and sorry if bee said but so many brilliant ideas on pinterest/ your home/ style at home magazines/ websites on how to decorate if you rent. Things you love can go with you then and brilliant wall stickers for kids' rooms that peel off with no damage. I own and still like to use those stickers to hang pictures ( name escapes me - they're like velcro for pictures).

I know its frustrating but when I rented my house was funky with lots of soft cushions/ throws/ bedding/large paintings leaning on the wall and stickers/ lighter pictures/ photos stuck up with those things. It can be done.

Darkatendoftunnel Yes! Completely agree with everything you've said!! It's not the monthly payments it's the deposit! And yes if it is from mummy and daddy then you just got lucky and yes not everyone can live at home and save

Like the ones who think people aren’t entitled to stable housing aimed at me, I assume. My last tenant’s cat (that they weren’t allowed), destroyed the carpets, the smoking (that they weren’t allowed to do) made the house stink like an ashtray and the garden looked like a jungle. They’d still be in their ‘stable’ housing if they hadn’t willfully ignored their LLs requests. Furthermore, as a couple they chose to rent a 3 bed house. They could have rented 1 bed, not had the cat and stopped smoking and bingo, they’d have had a deposit within 4 years. But how dare I suggest that they spend THEIR money differently so that they could afford their own ‘stable’ home. Doesn’t matter whether you own or buy....there are some rules for both sets of people. People who own have to pay their mortgage, keep their house in good repair (or loose value) and many houses (listed ones, ones with leaseholds and ones in conservation areas) come with restrictions and consequences if you don’t comply. We are just selling, we have spent A LOT on our property to make sure it sells. A tenant doesn’t have to do that, they just walk out with ‘wear and tear’ and let someone else pick up the bill.

Move house if you don't like living by their rules. You accepted the terms of the tenancy agreement when you signed it. Not all landlords are making a mint. When we rented our property out it was because we moved house and it didn't sell in time so we couldn't afford to pay for the mortgage and our rent at the new house. We sold eventually after having a nightmare tenant who did break the terms of the tenancy agreement and ruined our house in the process.

@DarkAtEndOfTunnel I left home at 17 with a suitcase and never went back. I made sacrifices, see my earlier posts, I chose not to have children until I could give them a settled life in my own house, I chose not to have a car, I still choose not to spend 30k on a new car because if something goes wrong in my life I need some money set aside just in case. I don't spend hundreds on clothes, or holidays, because I want something in the bank in case something goes wrong in my life. It really is about the choices you make and how hard you are prepared to work to get those things you want. I know disabled people don't have those choices, and there would be a lot more social housing available for them if able bodied adults started making better choices instead of . . . etc etc. It's harsh but there you go.

Instead of landlords spending loads of money on rental properties, why don't they go back to how they were in the 1960's? A kitchen, bathroom & heating provided by the landlord, tenants provide decoration & carpets, make rents affordable & offer longer tenancies to give tenants security. My parents rented when they first got married as they couldn't afford a mortgage, the landlady owned hundreds of properties, which were very basic but tenants were able to do them up to their own standards, my dad rewired & put a new bathroom with inside toilet in ours, when the landlady died all the tenants were able to buy as sitting tenants & get themselves on the property ladder.

I'm not a landlord or anything but if I were to rent my property out I wouldn't want someone to come in and do what ever they want to the property.

I don't think it's the landlords who are making it harder for people to but their own homes. The government have sold all the social housing which is ultimately where the problem lies. Landlords are just taking advantage of the situation quite rightly so, you would do the same if you had the opportunity I'm sure.

@Tobe123 take a bit more notice of the law and you would know that lls cannot unreasonably withold permission for tenants to decorate or put up pictures. The legislation is there in place but that doesn't fit this ops agenda!

Just google ‘mortgage free by 30’ and there are plenty of examples of people who have chosen to prioritise buying a house AND paying it off. These aren’t people who been given a huge deposit by parents or been lucky, these are people in essential services jobs who have chosen to over pay into a mortgage by buying in charity shops, second hand furniture, no luxuries/ holidays/children until they have secured a place in the property ladder. I take my hat off to them.....sounds like a few really lean years. Then I have my friend who goes on and on about how they can’t upsize from their 2 bed terrace, which is far too small......she chose to have 3 children 🤔

As per usual, the sneeriness at renters has come to the fore....

CanoninD don’t piss off. No-one like home truths.....esp on MN. (And I’m sure you are savvy enough to have insurances in place for life’s inevitable dramas).

YANBU. Tenants ought to have the same rights and freedoms and security as home owners. Tenants' rights in this embarrassing country are appalling.

You're technically borrowing someone else's property though. If you borrowed a dress you'd take care of it

Just had to laugh about this one...

Borrowing and renting are completely different... what with the large chunk of money paid every month and all.

I have not rtft, and don’t intend to, there is way too much ‘your life choices have cost you the ability to be a home owner’ crap. It is not down the the individual all the time, people. There is something called a SYSTEM, which we are part of. Some people will successfully work the system to their advantage. Some people will try, and not succeed. So much depends on to whom and where you are born, and a lot of the ‘haves’ out there seem to think the accident of their birth in a fortunate position is something they somehow deserve.

I didn't actively choose to become a LL. Something happened in my life, with tight timescales
I anticipate that I will be selling in the next few years

I've rented & moved around in the past. I do have some sympathy with people that rent.

Which is why I try to be a good landlord