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?

Lolasmiles but what about people who know it will take years and years to save for a deposit or those that will never have a deposit or those who decide for whatever reason just to rent? It’s not realistic to assume that everyone who rents is able or has a plan to buy. Many people are in private rent for the long run. Therefore it’s reasonable for them to be able to live and make choices within reason. Such as being able to hang a picture or mirror or paint a wall without asking for permission!

We live in a wealthy modern democracy, in order to have a full life we need access to certain basic things, eg education, healthcare, a secure and affordable home
it is the responsibility of government to properly regulate the housing market so that people can have access to secure and affordable homes

There are some short sighted people here. The private letting sector has obviously been a major factor in inflating property prices, as well as making many ftb properties unavailable for buyers. It used to be encouraged by the government with tax relief on interest payments, wear and tear allowance, etc. I bet the rental market’s slowed down with those allowances abolished and the extra 3% stamp duty and quite rightly. Landlords are going to get a shock when they sell and find themselves facing a CGT bill.

Why are so many people convinced that they're making landlords rich by renting houses from them? And that they're "paying their mortgage for them".

Some will be wealthy - sounds like OP's may be - but many are not. And BTL mortgage rates are not very attractive.

If someone bought a 300k house to rent out, with a £10k deposit they would likely be paying £1500 per month in repayments.

Not many (any?) £300k houses will rent at £1500 per month.

I get what you're saying, rent is too high and getting on the property ladder is too difficult. I agree.

But landlords have to exist, some people want to rent. There is a market for that and I doubt that will change. Some people buy a second property for their future and retirement. They're not living the high life, it's a financial investment.

I know people who would love to decorate and have more kids or have pets but they can't afford to because their mortgage is too high. They're literally living on the breadline because they've saved and sacrificed and lived on the breadline for years just to afford a studio flat just to get on the ladder. (

Sometimes it's about priorities. Some prioritise getting a mortgage over everything else and we can't criticise them for that.

the government wouldn't allow private citizens to buy up all the schools or all the hospitals and increase prices so no one could afford to access health care or education

Yet we have a situation where investment into property has inflated prices such that ordinary working people struggle to access affordable and adequate housing

OP l am a LL an l have lost count of the number of tenants who if l agree to let them decorate (and l used to often) fail to repaint before haning the property back despite that being the agreement.

I have had black ceilings, and entire flat painted sugar pink and all sorts each of which cost me thousands to rectify (it takes many, many coats to restore black to white!)

So now l don't allow decorating

The property price problem is driven by London. The government has encouraged very wealthy people from the U.K. and elsewhere to buy expensive property and as we know many developments of multi £million flats are going up all over London and further afield. The government has done well out of stamp duty.

This has the effect of pushing ordinary people into previously ‘cheap’ areas inflating prices and causing people to leave London pushing up prices elsewhere.

300,000 immigrants a year adds the problem, time to massively reduce immigration - which was promised then ignored - which lead to the Brexit vote.

Dragongirl10. So why punish everybody? Why not have it in the contract as negotiable - discuss the decorating plan and if it’s acceptable to all of you allow it? Not an outright ban. That would be the reasonable thing to do.

Laurie

OP’s opening gambit was that all landlords are making a mint.
I’m pointing out they don’t, we lost money (partly our own fault for being naive, but the £2,300 we had to pay (and that was many years ago) to clear up the state they left, replace carpets and curtains to get rid of the stench of smoke in our contractually non-smoking house and have the disgusting trash removed from the courtyard was very definitely not. Throw in the last 2 month’s unpaid rent and we certainly didn’t rake it in.

As I said, would never do it again in the same position which is a shame because most people aren’t like that but once bitten twice shy. The experience just made a difficult situation worse.

Some of the attitudes on here are part of what's wrong with the housing market in the UK.

Where I am, it's entirely normal to decorate - in fact, tenants are contractually obliged to every 5 years or so. (And it's common to be in a property for decades because there are none of these ridiculous time-limited leases which the tenant is stuck in for a year at a time but the landlord can break pretty much whenever they want). They can do what they like, decorate in any colour, replace the flooring, kitchen, bathroom etc, on condition that any wildly unconventional colour schemes etc are removed when they move out. Often a departing tenant will negotiate directly with the next one re taking over any fixtures and fittings (fitted kitchen etc.).

There are plenty of private landlords here, and they don't seem to feel particularly hard done by.

(FWIW, I see both extreme belittling of tenants and demonisation of landlords on here, and I think both are unfair and a product of UK culture. Less fetishisation of property ownership and more reasonable and equitable tenancy laws would sort that)

OP I think landlords should be more flexible and realise that yes its their house but it's your home. All tenants should be able to decorate as they like as long as they don't make structural changes on the understanding that they make the changes good if they leave within a certain period (e.g. less than 5 years).

Why are so many people convinced that they're making landlords rich by renting houses from them?
No ones renting these house out at a loss for anything other than teir own benefit.
Even in the unlikely even the renters don't cover the mortgage costs their funding the vast majority and allowing the owners to cheaply acquire a value asset that will likely appreciate in value.

Nothing wrong with running a business for profit but don't insult peoples intelligence by pretending it's anything other than a money maker. Who the hell would do it if it wasn't.

Here we have a situation where landlords and tenants have been pitted against each other, those with money to invest went for the most attractive option i.e. property they just responded to economic incentives
this fed into the increase in property prices leading to a situation where tenants are forced to pay unsustainably high rents and understandably feel resentment towards the landlord's whom they feel are exploiting
them there is bound to be some push back when people at the bottom of society feel as if those with wealth and power are taking the piss, they retaliate or at least some of them do by trashing properties
please note I do not seek to exonerate this behaviour!

Well Gamerwidow, people who could get jobs away from where they'd bought but not permanently. Me, frinstance.

It's a pain but you can get creative. In the past we hung huge prints in very light weight frames with command strips so they didnt mark. We have used removable stickers in kids room. We have given landlord a seperate amount from our deposit to allow the house to be repainted

@Nursejackie1

I agree some leeway sounds appropriate here.

Somebody upthread stated that just because I am alive I shouldn’t feel entitled to a standard of living.

Well, I suggest you read it again, because that's absolutely NOT what she said. You have paraphrased and shifted the emphasis.

I’ve seen both sides currently rent and previously let out my house and my parents house. Tennant’s can be both lovely and a fucking nightmare. And as with everything in the Uk we work to the lowest common denominator and all get tarred with the same brush.

Would I be a landlord again hell no too many fuck wit Tennant’s.

We choose to rent to give us flexibility and our landlord is ace but also lucky to have sold and sat on a pile of cash. But then again I bought at 21 and had a camp chair and sleeping bag for a couple of years before I could afford furniture. We all make some choices in life.

But I do think if DS grows up wanting superhero’s on his bedroom wall he better be good with a paintbrush...

It's not your property so you need to live by their rules. Perhaps some landlords could do with a dose of compassion but for every good tenant there's another who wrecks the house or doesn't pay rent on time, by friend owns two houses and she's gone to court multiple times for non payment of rent, it's only £500 a month here do hardly making a huge income, she's a single mum and these are her income (inheritance)

If 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. The property you live in will never belong to you so you cannot choose what to do with it. No one made you have children before you had saved up enough to buy a place of your own. Your landlord may have had to do it; you have no idea of their circumstances. They may also be renting themselves and your rent pays their rent for all you know!

Throw in the last 2 month’s unpaid rent and we certainly didn’t rake it in.

How much is your asset worth and how much of your mortgage did you pay down out of your own income? Take one from the other and reflect on that figure.

This thread has made me so sad.
So many people thinking that renting makes you an inferior human being with no rights and deserving of no respect - and that you rightly deserve to be treated with the utmost contempt.
The kind of contempt posters are showing on this thread.
The OP post goes so much deeper than redecorating (although that is the visible sign of inequality). It isn't about the colour of the walls. Ultimately, it is about feeling you have a home, somewhere you feel safe and happy.
I rented for many many years in countries in continental Europe and felt that every place I rented was my home.
When I bought, I did not suddenly feel I and my children had become a human beings.
Renting here in England (don't know about the rest of the UK) that feeling of being human is just not there. I feel insecure, unprotected and unhappy.
I am an excellent tenant and my landlord loves me - that is not the problem - it is the whole ethos of renters being subhuman.

Sorry OP but your posts are full of resentment towards your LL and you are equally making sweeping statement s about landlords.

Why? How do you know what goes on behind the scenes and what her finances are? I would imagine communication could be problem here.

We rent our old house. It used to be our home. We are reasonable people, as are our tenants. This is based on mutual respect not a them-and-us scenario.

We have been asked by our tenants over the years if they can decorate, put pictures up, add plants to the garden, have a cat and even just recently our current tenant has asked to install a water-butt.

This is all agreeable as long as it's returned as it was when they moved in and carpets/curtains professionally cleaned in the case of cat requests incase the following tenant has allergies.

In return we fix any problems quickly, are respectful of their privacy, specifically ask if it's ok to give the plumber a key etc. We also, like other poster's here, charge below the market rent in order to keep good tenants.

This respect works both ways and communication is key. Perhaps we have been lucky but we've never had to deduct a deposit.

Perhaps ask for the things you want with an assurance that you'll leave it in it's original condition and you may be surprised at the answer.