AIBU unreasonable to be pissed off at my DS's and DIL's judgemental attitude

[lesleyw1953]

My DS and DIL both earn an enormous salary and own a high status high value flat in a very expensive part of London. They repeatedly slag off private landlords - including us - as if we were horrendous social lepers exploiting the downtrodden poor. We own a number of properties. We charge less than the council house rent for all of them. Our properties are all high end - we keep them in a good state of decor and repair. In fact when one becomes free the first to view always signs the lease. Our tenants stay long term and over the past 10 years only one has moved on - and that was because their relationship broke down. Some of our tenants are DSS - some single parents. We take pride in providing quality housing with quality white goods and we act instantly if there are issues. So AIBU to think that they with their combined incomes of 200K and who do nothing concrete to help their fellow man are out of order in their criticism of us?

why are you both not educated to understand that the more you have the more you want.

Probably because the is a sweeping generalisation, based on your prejudices, rather than an actual fact.

I also never understand the LL hate. I've had a few LL in my time who were a b it slack (usually when managed b y an agency rather than LL directly) but that was more in terms of being a bit slow to fix things or whatever. Broadly speaking, most have been good. And as I couldn't afford to buy at the time, nor did I want to for much of that time, it worked well for me.

I didn't' even know that the very act of being a landlord was seen as something akin to being a wife beater until I came on MN!

@chamenanged, genuinely then where are people supposed to live if there are no landlords because I’m honestly confused.

When we were fairly newly married, we rented a tiny cottage from a lovely couple who had inherited it from the woman’s late mother. It was all we could afford, and the only property available where the landlord would accept HB. We lived there for about 8 years in the end. We were great tenants and they were great landlords. They never put the rent up and did repairs, decorating, updates as needed. We weren’t entitled to a council house and had zero chance of getting a mortgage so what would you suggest was the alternative apart from a private landlord, because I feel like I must be missing something obvious.

They repeatedly slag off private landlords - including us - as if we were horrendous social lepers exploiting the downtrodden poor.

They are entitled to their opinions but it's bad manners for them to slag you off.

So AIBU to think that they .. are out of order in their criticism of us?

if you join in the argument then they are not out of order in stating their own views. Instead shut down the discussion- say that they know that you own rental properties and it's not a topic for debate in family company.

There are a lot of good landlords but I’d say they’re still definitely in the minority. Mumsnet expect high standards and I expect the calibre of decent lls is higher on this forum than the general population.

I am also a ll. I tend to keep rents lower to retain tenants longer. What is the point of getting higher rents, which will then in turn lead to higher turn over of tenants? The one offsets the other and is greedy and doesn’t get you more respectful tenants for example. Happy tenants stay longer and feel secure in their homes. I’ve never thrown out tenants to sell a house and don’t intend to either. Most stay at least 5 years.

Chamenanged is clearly a shit stirrer, with nothing to back her insults up with.

This is not some kind of happy clappy hippy society where everything and everybody is equal. Until you can come up with a realistic alternative, landlords will exist in the UK. Not every can or even wants to own a property and theur are nowhere near enough council or HA properties-and as a PP stated having one of them doesnt even guarantee a decent landlord.

But that's OK, we can live under mushrooms with leaves as beds because all private LLs are scum.

whats with all the look how rich we are threads suddenly?

It's certainly no worse than people who buy goods they know are produced by child slave labour - or drive massive emission belching cars - or fly everywhere. We can afford to charge reasonable rents because we do our own repairs , have a modest life style and bought property with a low cash value. (Adding the whole lot together would not buy anything but a garage in London!) But I guess people like chameanged think people in private accommodation should be forced to accept council housing however dire and just suck it up rather than use us? And we can presumably redeem ourselves by evicting them? And yes accommodation is essential - but so is food and clothing. Where are the trolls attacking the profits made by car manufacturers, Primark , the Draconian employment practices by some of the major supermarkets and the "terrible" people who benefit by working for them or buying from them etc? I mean you can't be supporting an unjust oppressive system and not expect to be slagged off...

. "All these threads". Seriously? What percentage of threads currently on Mumsnet concern being rich? Or more exactly, how many do you think are about that due to a failure to understand them? When someone posts about an issue with their husband do you instantly think she is bragging about being married? What's with all these look how married I am threads suddenly!

@chamenanged I've had some awful landlords, but don''t think being a landlord makes someone intrinsically bad. If I could, I'd bloody well do it! I wouldn't charge charity rents either, but would charge the value of what I was offering, if it was done out nicely etc.

I wouldn't charge charity rents either, but would charge the value of what I was offering

Why would you want to be a landlord if you weren't going to make any profit?

YANBU - I don’t understand this attitude at all! I’d never really realised this was a thing tbh. My DH found himself a private landlord for 2 years sort of by mistake as he bought a flat and then he moved into my house, but couldn’t sell his yet without paying a massive early repayment charge on his fixed term mortgage. Surely not a moral decision?!

The main issue with people owning several houses as landlords is that buy to let has seriously inflated the housing market and house prices, vastly outstripping salaries, meaning that people now have to rent when previously on a good salary they could buy. However good a landlord you are, there is still that.

I suppose fundamentally it's "not fair" that some hard working people end up renting properties at extortionate rates (even "cheap" rents tend to be way more than mortgage repayments) and can never have anything to show for it, while other people, often with a bit of luck on their side (inheritance/buying first property at the right time) can end up with extra houses being paid for by renters.

I can see why it upsets people, if you or people you know are stuck renting with no means of saving up enough money to buy anywhere.

I feel lucky to own one home, with not much left on the mortgage. I would hope most people who own several properties would recognise they are in a very privileged position and that there are less fortunate people stuck in dead end rental situations they will never get out of, and which will make their retirement a time of real hardship. It's inevitable this inequality will stir up some ill feeling.

I've seen a lot of "I paid her mortgage" on MN. I'm guessing these are individuals who have never held a mortgage. We are desperate to sell our house, we can't and are reluctantly considering renting out the property to recoup some money. Trust me, the rent any tenant paid would NOT cover my mortgage. In return for paying rent, tenants get a roof over their head, they are not paying money and getting nothing in return.

YABU

I won't, don't worry! But it's important to acknowledge that there are other models of housing.

Yes, including that of several European countries where it is extremely common to rent and no one thinks anything of it. For example, home ownership is 51% in Germany and 60% in Denmark but well into the 90s in Romania and other nations on the outer fringes of Europe. The UK is 63% with renting split pretty evenly between social and private landlords. The difference is the attitude of the country; currently the UK is fixated on owning houses and has been since Thatcher. Social housing is no guarantee of having a decent landlord - look at Grenfell for starters. I don't see what is wrong with a landlord who runs a decent business, providing good quality housing at an acceptable price.

There does seem to be a very strong anti private LL bias on MN, but I've never discovered where all these private LL haters think people who currently rent from private LL would actually live if all private LL were suddenly to disappear overnight.

I have a house that I let out - it used to be my family home.

I charge a fair rent, I keep it well maintained and repair or replace anything that goes wrong immediately.

So what if I make money on a property that I own? Do people expect that I shouldn't charge rent on the house?

Do you go to Tesco or Sainburys and get your groceries free or pay the same price for a loaf of bread as Tesco pay for it? Of course you don't.

Anyone providing a service makes a profit on it. It's called business.

If you're buying a property you pay massive interest rates to borrow the money from a mortgage lender. Is that wrong? Should we all hate mortgage providers because they're making money on people's need to have a roof over their heads? Or is it only private LL who are the spawn of the devil.