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 think people who have done well out of the system need to feel that it’s their own efforts that have resulted in their success. That’s only part of the picture and it’s very damaging to give it much weight because it limits empathy for those who are not so lucky.

The bottom line is that it’s very difficult (if not impossible) for those in expensive areas who aren’t earning the big bucks (and that includes lots of very important professions like nurses, teachers, care workers) who don’t have family money behind them.

And as for the ‘just move’ point, well I don’t see the merits of distancing yourself from your family, friends, support network, schools to go somewhere where the jobs market might be dreadful. That doesn’t strike me as smart. They could end up isolated and struggling for work. Cheap areas are cheap for a reason.

Expensive parts of the country need nurses/care workers too. Given some of them will never be able to buy, it’s beyond shitty that they’re denied their own paint colour, pictures on the wall, a pet if they want one. They’re being treated like second class citizens and that’s downright appalling.

It’s the blame and point the finger attitude that makes me sick tbh. Anyone with half a brain knows you don’t get pregnant until your situation is secure. They don’t teach it at school because it’s common sense not s super power. These people get themselves into these messes probably told by their parents don’t worry the council will sort you out and then discover there is no council safety net any more, it’s gone. I’ve made shit loads of mistakes in my life, lots and lots but the mortgage gets paid before I buy food. I don’t earn a lot of money at all, £25000 as a single mum, my mortgage is£950 a month we aren’t using good banks so you’ve got to wonder wtf these people are doing with their money.

So to summarise, livelovebehappy, if life deals you a crap hand, it's entirely legitimate from BTL landlords to financially capitalise on your misfortune?

Thanks for clearing that up.

So Inliverpool1 women need to keep their knees together?

Assuming you live on Merseyside, with property and a 25k income, you're pretty well off.

And your 'if you're poor, it's your own fault for mismanaging your money' attitude is grim.

I agree that the vitriol is misdirected, but I wouldn't put it all on the government for those reasons, much as I also agree that they should provide more housing stock.

The government should be blamed for providing landlords with so little support and protection that landlords have to take sensible precautions to protect themselves. It's government policy that makes renting to people on HB so unattractive, and that makes LLs have to stipulate things like no pets or redecorating.

It's funny how tenants never seem to want to blame other tenants, despite them being the real reason why we have this problem. If it weren't for other tenants damaging property or failing to pay rent on time, this problem would barely even exist because landlords should be able to trust that they won't be screwed over by non paying or damaging tenants. But they can't, so it's the bad tenants that have ruined things for the good ones, not the landlords.

Inliverpool1 so please answer, if a couple meet eachother, just say they can't live at their parents for years on end to save and are pushed to leave what are they supposed to do where are they supposed to live? Or what if a couple put their plans on hold to have a baby so they can do the life rule of buying a house first but they can't live at home (or even if they can) they save and save, meanwhile they are getting older, meanwhile the deposit threshold is getting higher and higher, wages arent getting higher so they then finally manage to save £10,000 for a deposit and are now 35years old after trying to juggle paying rent at the same time as saving because not everyone can live at home so it's took a while, then what? Their fertility rate will have dropped from getting older and guess what the 10k deposit that used to be all people needed now has turned into 20k as house prices are so high. Then what? They've put their life on hold, put off having babies and for what, still not being able to afford a house! Just because you earn loads you could at least put yourself in someone else's shoes. It's not just common sense that you should know to buy a house first, if you haven't come from a wealthy background who's parents also struggled then this stuff isn't engrained in you when buying a house has always been a thing so out of reach growing up as a child and through circumstances not because everyone is a council house benefit person has you almost suggested

Inheritance keeps being mentioned as a way people have been able to btl, but for that to happen, someone has had to lose their parent at a much earlier age than they would have expected.

Lots of people lose their parents at a much earlier age than expected but not all of them inherit a house as a result.

Anyone with half a brain knows you don’t get pregnant until your situation is secure

What if you are fairly sure that your situation won't be secure even 10 years from now? Do poor people not deserve to have children?

btw I am saying that as someone who has lost a parent at a young age

In my experience, the inheritance that gets people on the housing ladder is usually £20k or £30k from the death of a grandparent. Or a gift from the parents made with a view to avoiding inheritance tax.

What if you are fairly sure that your situation won't be secure even 10 years from now? Do poor people not deserve to have children?

Doesn't sound like it. Working class people are feckless and wasteful, with their promiscuity, kids, transport and white goods. You know if you let them in one of your houses, they literally smear their own shit on the walls?

Agree with OP
I lived in a rental property where i couldn't even put a family photo on the wall , decorate or do anything else to make it my home not just a house we happened to live in
But the landlord wasn't keen on coming round and paying for the maintenance that needed doing ,
Basically unless you want to knock walls down or do something to damage the property , and the landlord is informed why shouldn't you make your home more comfortable

You know if you let them in one of your houses, they literally smear their own shit on the walls? that literally made me laugh out loud!

Whilst you pay rent to live in another persons home. This does not give you the right to think you can do what you like inside the property. Yes it would be nice to have a pet but your landlord says no. Yes it would be nice to decorate but again your landlord says “NO” The same can be said for council rented homes. The same applies to these rentals. You still need permission to have a pet, you still have to ask permission to make alterations or decorate under certain councils. Each council has its own set of rules. They make just as much money on properties than private landlords. I grew up in private and council. So know it’s the same. Just a different set of rules. It they are still there. The only way out of this is buy your own home. These people renting property have a right to have it preserved and maintained whilst you live in their homes.

The only time i didn't pay my rent on time was when i was moved onto universal credit. I can now pay 4 months in advance...with my student loan. So the goverment should pay housing benefit/ universal credit straight to the landlord.

Lots of people lose their parents at a much earlier age than expected but not all of them inherit a house as a result.

Of course and I do get that. Just trying to point out that on the whole, landlords are only trying to do their best in life to be as successful as they can be with the cards they've been dealt, exactly the same way everyone else is.

Yes we know the only way out of hanging a picture up is to buy your own home! Plenty of people have said it jules310766 I really can't believe I didn't think to work and save a deposit and have zero kids to hang up a photo, let me just pull 20k out of my pocket because obviously us renters have been sat around watching Jeremy Kyle, jobless only hoping to aspire to those that worked much harder than us and brought a house

See what you’re saying jules is that the owners rights to take no risks around their houses being ‘maintained’ trump a renters right to treat the place like a home.

I profoundly disagree with that.

The upshot is that lifelong renters (and I’m not one of them thank the Lord) will never have a place they can genuinely call their own home (decorate, have pets).

I think that’s tragic frankly.

So the goverment should pay housing benefit/ universal credit straight to the landlord.

Apparently this used to happen more frequently, but when it turned out that tenants were claiming fraudulently, it was the landlords that were made to pay the money back, despite the fact that they'd donenothing wrong and had provided exactly what they were supposed to. The tenants in these situations got away with nothing but free rent.

So again, blame other tenants for the problem, don't blame the landlords for making a sensible response to the issues created by tenants.

@thedancingbear my house was last valued at £350,000 we aren’t all still covered in coal dust and walking whippets around the moors up north you know 🙄 as I said my mortgage is over 50% of my income but it’s important I’m sorry but every one knows that.

@nursejackie you come across as entitled as you are bemoaning the life of a renter but admit you could buy in another area but you don’t consider that area up to your standards! You can’t just expect to be given a property in the area of your choice. If it wasn’t for private rented accommodation you couldn’t live in the area you want. Why should you have the rights of a home owner when you have chosen not to be.

You’ve made a choice to rent so you can live in a particular area. You can’t really complain about that when it’s your choice. I grew up in an area that was cheaper to buy and it did me no harm. If you want to buy, you need to adjust your attitude and consider the area you said you can afford.

I have family like you- renting in one area for decades and looking down on people who live 5 miles away (where they could afford to buy). Now their dcs are leaving home they can’t afford to rent there anymore (benefits getting reduced) and it’s everyone else’s fault. They somehow have some divine right to live exactly where they want.

As for personalising the decor, can’t see why a landlord wouldn’t agree to that within reason if you put it back to neutral when you leave. If they really are refusing that, find another rental.

@Tobe123 without giving you war and peace and my life story I was single, pregnant at 23 with nothing, no supportive parents, no inheritance, sharing a house. You know what I did ? Spent the 9 months earning I had before the baby came saving a deposit and bought a house.

And that was in Birmingham not Liverpool

I think those that bought their first property in their ideal area and it was exactly what they were hoping for are very very few and far between.

Our first property was the cheapest grottiest flat on the market in a seedy location. But it was ours and we could afford it.
It wasn’t going to be a forever home it was a home for now.

If you can afford a place but the only reason you are not buying is because it isn’t perfect then you will never buy because unless you win the lottery on a treble roll over then nothing will be perfect

That is true Oliver. I’m not saying that directed to the op or anyone on this thread but I do agree that’s true in principle. When I bought my flat it was a huge compromise in terms of location, size, fixtures, but it was all I could afford

inliverpool1 so you saved for a deposit in the 9months you were pregnant, that clearly says to me this was a while back when house prices were lower, had you tried to save for a deposit now you wouldn't be able to do it on your wage so guess what you would have been one of this people that had a baby before buying a house you just got lucky for the era you were brought up in to be able to save a deposit so fast