To think that, yes, people who rent like nice things too...

[Everythingnotsavedwillbelost]

I rent, I have done for years and at the moment it’s likely to continue. I have lovely furniture, my kids have lovely bedrooms & our life is normal and like everyone else’s.

Parent at the school last week ‘what, you own your own furniture when you rent?’

Aibu to think what the actual fuck? She clearly was amazed that as someone who rents a house, I might own furniture and shock horror, buy nice things?!

I just missed the boat housing wise because I don’t have a deposit & despite trying to save, can’t get a big enough mortgage.

Aibu to also think that this country’s perception of renters is so warped and out of date and actually just bloody rude

I only rented once and it was furnished beautifully so we didn't change anything, but otherwise of course we would've bought our own beautiful furniture. People are so ignorant sometimes

When I was growing up, millions upon millions of people rented their council houses. Of course we had our own furniture.

Perhaps this silly woman has had a rather sheltered upbringing. Either that or she is just a silly cow.

I've always bought my own furniture when renting. Even if furniture has been left with the house. Even white goods.

Like other PP have said, there are a lot of accidental landlords who don't bother to invest the money in the property or remove all their old crap from it. Then wonder why it's not selling and why they are having to rent it out in the first place.

People who say stuff like that are dead inside and looking for ways to make themselves feel better.

Our nicest and best quality furniture is the stuff we got when we bought the furnished house we rented.

I wish it were clearer. My son let his house about 2 years ago and the agent and tenants wanted it to be furnished by and paid for by him.

I have a garage full of one of my chidlren's landlord's furniture as the landlord refused to remove it or pay to store it and that child has their own - so we are 2 or 3 years and counting of my garage being full of it! (I don't charge). My other daughter lets out 2 flats (and is a tenant herself too) and both her flats are furnished - not because she insisted but the tenants seem to want and expect it. So in our experience and when I let 2 flats out in the 1980s - it is 100% furnished then and now! However I am well aware many long term tenants will have their own furniture and it was a bit silly for the friends to put her foot in it by making comments about owning furniture.

Maybe her experience of renting is with shared houses or small flats? When I rented as a student/when I was younger, all the properties were furnished and it made sense for them to be, as I wouldn't have wanted to buy furniture to fit a property I wasn't planning to stay in long term... Obviously renting a family house is different.

People who say stuff like that are dead inside and looking for ways to make themselves feel better.

Not necessarily. I have rented in the past when I was a student, and newly graduated and finding my feet. All the properties I lived in were fully furnished.

If that's her only experience of renting, she may be unaware that you can get unfurnished, part furnished or whatever.

I think it’s also the assumption that people only rent when they are young and until they ‘grow up’- for many of us, renting is being grown up as houses are too expensive (and i have a professional career and was university educated too)

Maybe she cant believe you can afford your own furniture, if you're so poor that you have to rent.

I don't consider 'owning' with a mortgage to be ownership.

I agree. I rent but a friend has a mortgage. She once said "I basically rent it from the bank."

YANBU, but maybe she has only heard of furnished lets (if for example her only experience of it is getting a place with furniture in it for her DC or something). Hence she would have been surprised by you owning furniture - which is normal whether renting or not.

She has probably rented herself and always rented furnished. Maybe she has never looked into alternatives and while it's ignorant to think her experience extrapolates to everyone else you aren't really any better. Just because one person thinks everyone who rents lives in furnished accommodation it doesn't mean every in the country has the same perception.

‘you aren’t as good as us because you rent’

This is simply not true.

Hope that's clear.

YANBU OP. I've seen people on MN who think that "Council houses are free...people who live in them don't pay rent"

I agree. I rent but a friend has a mortgage. She once said "I basically rent it from the bank.

Well not because most people with mortgages have paid some and sometimes most off and are effectively paying the bank very little.

To all those pp who are suggesting you have a chip on the shoulder or similar; I think you are in denial.
The class system in this country is still very strong, albeit naicely cloaked at times.
Many many people still look down on those who rent, unlike, say most of Europe where renting is much more common place and generally a much more stable option than in this country.
I say this, in case anyone think I too have a chip on my shoulder, as someonr who own property outright.

I think it's only very young, single people who rent furnished. What an odd thing for that woman to say. Some folks have no tact and say things off the top of their heads.

Aibu to also think that this country’s perception of renters is so warped and out of date and actually just bloody rude hmm

I've rented, I've own, I have NEVER ever witnessed any negative comments about renters. It's only on MN that I come across such weird experience, I honestly wonder if people have a chip on their shoulder. In real life, never seen it happened.

If people talk about your living arrangements, people might ask where you live, but I don't remember the question if people bought or rented ever coming up for a start! It's the owner/tenant who tends to put that information forward. No one cares.

We rent furnished places then part furnished as we accumulated bit and bobs. Part furnished could be a pain as something there were thing that were suppose to be there - last rented place before buying was unfurnished and we had to buy a sofa everything else we had.

If your friend had a quicker move to buying perhaps she only rented furnished places and hadn't grasped that over time you tend to get your own furniture.

It seems to be more acceptable to rent in big cities - London, Manchester etc because a lot of people rent there as property is so expensive so harder to get on property ladder. But in smaller towns renting isn’t as common. I rented for years in a small town but did find snobbery amongst some parents at DCs school. In the end I just didn’t even mention I rented so lots of people then just thought I owned. Some people can be judgey about renters, but I wouldn’t give it headspace tbh.

I've only once been asked if we rented or had bought - and the person asking wasn't British.

We rent. We also enjoy a lot of luxuries (luxury cars, nice clothes, at least one long haul trip a year, eat out lots etc). Our flat is larger than the average property but Our rent is about half of what a mortgage payment on the same property would be. We also don’t want to take the risk of being tied to a property which is inconvenient to us in the future. A lot of people just don’t want to pay stupid amounts of interest and tie up their capital in an asset which needs maintaining and has a fundamentally unstable value with the added risk of being difficult to dispose of. I would buy a house in cash if I really loved it. I would also consider a mortgage on an investment property if the numbers were right. But I would never have a mortgage on a property that I live in again.

It was one uninformed, thoughtless person. Of course the whole country doesn't think like that.

Exactly. Nobody cares that you rent. Given around 38% of people much also rent. There’s a one in three chance you’re speaking with another renter at any one time.

Seen from the outside, going ONLY by what I have read on MN over the years:
renters and council house inhabitants do seem to be judged - even by themselves.