Parents bought me a house to rent and I hate it

[jamjarlife]

Fully prepared to get flamed here, NC for obv reasons.

I have 1 dc and I am married, I have rented my whole life and every year we struggle with rent increases, landlords deciding to sell and having to move etc. My parents have just retired and are fairly well off. They offered to buy a house in my city for me to rent from them. I didn't even know they'd started looking when they presented me with a house to view about 15 miles from where I was currently. I viewed it and liked it, area seemed fine and parents had done their research and decided it was a good area to invest in, good schools for dc etc. They proceeded. They spent 3 months re-decorating and sorting the house out and we moved in just after Christmas.

I hate it. I hate the area, I hate the traffic, I hate the (look) of the school my child would most likely go to, I just hate the whole feel of the place.

What do I do? I know its only been 2 months so perhaps I need to give it a better chance but honestly I miss where we used to live. AIBU?

My PIL did this for us except they didn't ask us for any rent. Now that's a favor.

I would give it 6 months. If you still hate it move.

My aunt and uncle bought a small property outright many years ago. Over the years all their children lived in it rent-free at one time or another - to enable them to save for deposits. Now they all have their own homes, the property is let and managed by an agency and the parents have a nice little pension.

Can’t imagine my parents attempting to profit from me. There is literally nothing for you in this arrangement and everything for them.

Suggest you live there rent-free for a year and use the £11k as a deposit on a starter home.

You mentioned a mortgage in a pp and then contradicted yourself .

They aren't really doing you a good turn at all you know. You're no better off and hate it to boot , wow thanks mum & dad .
If it turns out they purchased the property outright and are still charging you £850 then they are shits.
If they wanted to give you a leg up they should have helped you with a deposit for a mortgage so that at least your £850 or whatever is an investment for you .
Just a thought , are they worried your husband will divorce you and take half ?
It's all so odd .
The obvious explanation is they are pulling a fast one and expecting gratitude for it .
You seem a bit brain washed about it ' bought me a house '

Why did you go ahead, knowing you'd be no better off? There must be some history here.

They can rent it out and you can go back to where you were.

Perhaps the rent is to cover tax bill, renovation/decorating just completed plus future maintenance... doesn't sound like op is clear on how they financed the house purchase, there could be a mortgage.

Gift of a deposit only useful if Op and her DH in a position to get a mortgage. Still would advise seeing a mortgage broker if buying at all a possibility or to find out what you'd need to do to make it possible in the next few years.

Op you have a nearly new, freshly renovated and decorated home which isn't costing you more than the going rate in rent and again, most importantly of all you have long term security.

Compromises on location and house have to be made if you can't afford to buy in your preferred location.

Move, new landlord sells in a year or two, in the mean time your parents let to another tenant or sell, what will you do then?

Of course they're not going to go for 'round 2' on you and your DH's whim. The costs involved in buying and selling are huge. Never mind the emotional strain.

Holy shit, if they really haven’t got a mortgage and bought it outright, they saw you coming OP. The return on their investment is VAST, given how pathetic savings rates are at the moment. Do you know how much the purchase price was?

I just can’t imagine doing this to my children. If I had the sort of money with which to make their lives easier, I would. I’d either buy the house and let them live there for a greatly reduced rent to allow them to save, knowing that when they bought their own house I’d still have a rentable property, or give them some money for a deposit.

I think your parents are weird and controlling they want to keep you in the position of child with them as adults who make all the decisions for you

Can you have an honest chat with them that you are actually no better off? (To be honest I think your parents are awful for promising you would be and then change the rent, ffs, they should charge you significantly less).
Can you tell them you want to save for a deposit for a house of your own liking and so want to save hard for that? Say although they like the area it is not working for you? It’s difficult but you could say it would take a year or two and their investment house would increase in value over that time?? Good luck!

They bought a house as in investment and they rent it out to you, yes they thought it would help you out but at the end of the day it doesn’t make much difference if they rent it out to someone else?

Maybe give it a bit longer? I think it’s pretty normal to have 2nd thoughts when moving to a different area.

If after a few more months it still doesn’t feel right then find somewhere else and you r parents can get new tenants.

Your posts aren't matching up.

First you get to decide what house to buy, then you don't.
Then they have a mortgage for it, then a few pages later they don't have a mortgage.
They must have bought a much bigger house than you are used to as well for the difference in tax band (b to d), considering its in a new build estate.

My thinking is, there are two sides to every story. We are getting yours only, one that I am not believing. I think you are changing details to suit what people are saying to get more sympathy.

If you are telling the truth and somehow getting details mixed up, then leave the house and find your own. Setups like this never work unless there are clear boundaries and priorities.

Is this a reverse?

Oh, it's not. Missed the ops reply

I would give it 6 months. If you still hate it move.

Same. I don’t see why you should suffer because your parents decided to buy in the ‘wrong’ area, but you could have said no! Looks like you could use the finance as an excuse. You’re no better off. Did they not do their sums before buying? I mean, I knew what I needed to get rent wise when I rented out a house, well in advance of completing.

Are your expenses less?

Can you look on it as being a home where you know you aren’t going to be moved on and you can plan for the future.

Long term can you save and earn as much as you can. Then when you can buy a place of your own. Even if it is a 1 bed flat in an area you don’t particularly want to end up it will be a start.

They've put you in a worse financial situation than where you started. They're getting an income of over £10,000 from you. It would have been far cheaper, more helpful, and thoughtful of them to offer you a loan to put a deposit on a house.

Hardly zombie.The OP now has secure housing, is unlikely to get a sudden hitch in rent and can leave if she wants to. Noone forced her to move in at gunpoint.

Just been back to read your up date.

So this favour is actually costing you money.

OP, you might want to get Mumsnet HQ to change your title. Your parents haven’t bought you a house but posters are responding as though they have. It’s very misleading and that’s why you’re getting a hard time.

Yep RTFT and think OP is VU

Well, if it were my parents, I would tell them kindly that actually it's very noisy, amenities are a bit of a hike, what with Council Tax being much higher you're not saving any money, I missed my old place and area; I'd just drop stuff like that into conversation when the opportunity presents itself.

I would also give it a bit longer before I decided once and for all that I hated it.

none of this makes sense - your messages as pp states seem to change
versions.
If you don't like the place give notice & move-simples - you had to move from last place - so move again to wherever you want to.
My suspicions? I think the house your in is on a newish estate in a decent area - your parents got a mortgage not realizing how much it would cost & that they couldn't claim tax back on mortgage. They are probably paying your council tax -I bet>
It cost about £10k to buy house (I wonder if you live in expensive part of country. like SE somewhere? That rent would be cheap in many towns there)
Nobody is stopping you move - that's the advantage of renting - even if you have a six month contract with a mainstream LL you give notice at 4 months & leave at 6. I bet you were expecting parents to buy & let you have rent free - newsflash they don't owe you a living.

At the end of the day, your parents own a rental property which they can let out. It can be let to you or it can be let to others. It sounds like they bought it with you in mind, but also the wider rental market.

I think I would give it another 6 months. 8 weeks isn't lomg at all. I would get a better feel for the area. I'd also consider carefully if it's the fact you don't like renting off your parents rather than the area that you don't like. Be honest about what the issues are.

If you decide you really do t want to be in the area or ro rent from your parents, then I would make sure I gave them really good notice and was careful to talk it all through with them. It sounds like honest communication hasn't really been your strong points.

In the end, as a renter, you can give notice and move elsewhere. You will return to the instability of not knowing if a landlord will give notice or sell-up, but you will be free to move as you like and be able to maintain a professional rather than personal relationship. It might be that you need that more than the security of the property.

If I were your parents, I'd be rather surprised and probably a bit disappointed, especially if this all comes out of the blue. Nth at why communication will be very important. However, your parents will need to understand that you are their tenant and as such can give notice and leave. You leaving does not mean they need to sell up and buy you another house...they can let to other tenants.

I certainly don't think there will be another house for you and that if you choose to move out you accept you are returning to the commercial rental market.

So move out. You arent obliged to stay there and presumably they bought the house as an investment for the future? well its still an investment isn't it? you moving out doesnt change the value of the house, it simply means they'll have to find new tenants. Hardly a big deal.
Next time, make your own choices and you'll avoid this scenario happening again. Always best to stand on your own two feet (if you can) than rely on parents to provide everything for you on a plate

Op, can you clarify a bit more about exactly how the house purchase was funded and what was agreed before You moved in?

• Did your parents say you would get less than market rate rents?
• Was the rent level and term of it confirmed for the longer term?

-Did you know how the property was being financed or any mortgage costs or other costs your parents would incur in running the property?

• Was it clarified what bills or running expenses you would incur once in and what they would pay for?

-Did you discuss how long you would stay and how you would give notice and what would happen if you wanted to move or buy your own house?

To be honest, if these things weren't fully discussed along with lots of others, you were opening yourselves up to miscommunication and potential problems. Tenants normally sign detailed contracts which spell everything out to avoid conflicts and confusions and when families are involved this level of detail at least needs discussing. Without it, later it emerged that the 2 parties have different understandings of the costs to be incurred or commitments and because of the personal relationship these issues are strained. Perhaps one feels the other should be doing a financial favour whilst the other didn't see the issue like this at all.

In the end, there were lots of ways this could work and measures that could be put in place to enable it to happen over the short, medium and longer terms so every knew the score and it could work for all. Lack of clarity is likely to be the issue here and root of all the problems. Unfortunately I suspect clear communication might not be forthcoming and difficulties might just be starting.