To be SO fed up with not having a home?!

[missyelloww]

I'll keep this as short as possible but it has been a few years in the making!

DP and I lived in Cornwall when we found out we we're expecting DD. In December 2018 we moved in with DP's parents (approx 150 miles from Cornwall) temporarily as we wanted to be closer to family when DD was born. The plan was to wait until she was a few months old and then find somewhere of our own to rent.

We have now been looking for over a year and I am absolutely at my wits ends with the constant let-downs and rejections. Living with PIL has always been temporary (we thought we would be out by Christmas 2019 at the latest!) so we are crammed into one room with most of our belongings in the garage. Whilst I am so grateful that PIL are letting us stay here, we are all in need of a bit of space, and DP and I are so desperate to have a home of our own again. We must have enquired about hundreds of properties and gotten absolutely no where. Either they're already gone by the time we ring up or there are no agents to take us for a viewing.

We have put offers in on 4 out of the 5 properties we have managed to view, and they have all been turned down. 2 of those properties are still on the market 3 months later!

Since Covid we have stopped looking due to viewings being stopped (understandable, obviously!) On a whim, I looked on Rightmove yesterday afternoon. Found a beautiful property - well within our budget, exactly what we are looking for. It had only been added on Rightmove 12 hours before. Rang and asked about a virtual tour, and they said they would get back to us within 24 hours. We said that as long as we could have some more pictures of specific things we would happily put a deposit down without an in person viewing.

Just received a voicemail saying that as they can't do viewings the property has been taken off of the market until at least July. I am so frustrated! We are SO desperate to move, but it seems that no one wants to take our money?! Has anyone been in a similar situation before? Is there anyway we can make ourselves more appealing to landlords?

@Zaphodsotherhead your poor friend, I bet that must have been awful for him!

We did stop looking at the beginning of March when it became apparent that some kind of lockdown was imminent. Didn't plan on doing anything until things were getting back to normal, until I looked on Rightmove in a moment of boredom and absolutely fell in love with a little flat!

Ah I wonder if it's your age. I know it's not fair but I would imagine some landlords have fixed ideas about young people being less reliable.

Could you look for a one bedroom? Your DC is quite young, you could probably manage for a year and then try to upgrade. You'd be competing against a different crowd for a one bed, you might look more positive in comparison.

Have you tried Open Rent and Spare Room (Spare Room do have whole properties as well as rooms/annexes)? Maybe you'd have more luck dealing directly with the landlord.

Are the places not advertised S day £1000 a month , really strange to be offers on renting
Normally a set amount , occasionally I've heard of people maybe offering a little more if they really want a place but it's strange you said some are still up for rent
Why would a landlord want a place empty if tenants have offered the going rate ? Have you asked the agents why surely they must have an idea

Have you looked into government help to buy scheme on new builds ?
Not ideal for everyone but I know some find it helpful as you need a smaller deposit but obviously have to pay back the loan part after so long as well

Some people are looking. My daughter's boyfriend's flat is looking for tenants (London).

Easily, when my son let his house last Autumn it was empty a month as the agents in my view were asking too much rent and we did find someone a few weeks before Christmas who offered about 200 a month less than advertised and we took it as that was better than its being empty. So I will depend on the place I suppose and market forces - this was the outer reaches of a tube line - not really London but SE.

It will be
A) your age
B) the fact that you have a baby
C) your income - are you paying childcare bills out of it?
D) even if in work - would you be receiving any universal credit? Landlords/agents aren't stupid. They can do the maths and guess based on your income whether you would be receiving benefits. They don't like people who are & mortgages/rental property insurance often prevents landlords to tenants receiving even in-work benefits.

Are the places not advertised S day £1000 a month , really strange to be offers on renting

They set up viewings for a week or so, and then everyone interested puts forward an "offer." You fill out a form with your details, income, info about everyone who will be living in the house, whether you have any pets etc. Any adjustments you want to be made to the property, when you want to move in, and can choose to offer a different rental price. These are all sent to the landlord to consider.

It will be
A) your age
B) the fact that you have a baby
C) your income - are you paying childcare bills out of it?
D) even if in work - would you be receiving any universal credit? Landlords/agents aren't stupid. They can do the maths and guess based on your income whether you would be receiving benefits. They don't like people who are & mortgages/rental property insurance often prevents landlords to tenants receiving even in-work benefits.

We pay £120 childcare/month and of course have factored this in when considering what we can afford. Don't receive any benefits!

If you are only paying 120 pcm childcare how many hours are you working OP?

They won't like it if you are mainly relying on one main salary.

Ps what you think you can afford and the amount of spare income headroom a landlord wants you to have may not lead you to the same answer. Landlords like people who are well off, can comfortably afford the rent with plenty left over, and have few other costs, so that if anything bad happens, the chance of missing rent is lower.

*If you are only paying 120 pcm childcare how many hours are you working OP?

They won't like it if you are mainly relying on one main salary.*

DD often comes to work with me, or I WFH.

Ps what you think you can afford and the amount of spare income headroom a landlord wants you to have may not lead you to the same answer. Landlords like people who are well off, can comfortably afford the rent with plenty left over, and have few other costs, so that if anything bad happens, the chance of missing rent is lower.

Yes of course I understand this - and I don't blame any landlord for choosing someone with a higher income over us. I'm sure I'd do the same! But our childcare costs aren't relevant (yet!) we've never got as far as discussing our outgoings as none of our offers have ever been accepted!

Ace you approached the local council? Lots are now offering homes at an ‘affordable rent’ which are designed for working families. It might be worth looking at housing associations too.
We had exactly the same situation when dd was a baby (now 17) but we’re lucky enough to get a council property in the end hinch has been great for us

Also if your parents in law want you to move on they could have 34 bedrooms and it makes no difference in terms of your council eligibility. It’s their house and as far as the council are concerned they have no obligation to you. Keep a diary of the private rentals you have approached and ask the council if you can at least join the list

Have you looked to see if DIY shared ownership exists in your area?

Back when I did this I had to apply for social housing, then they offered if you wanted to move onto the shared ownership list instead. I found the property and the SO company bought half and me the other half.

My landlords insurance prohibits tenants under 25. It's a higher risk group.

I looked at renting in the Bristol area about 5 years ago. The agency's wouldn't even pass my details on to the landlords as they said there wasn't any point. They said I would be competing with lawyers and doctors etc.

I don't know if that's where you are looking but I know someone who has a couple of properties there and she says it's very difficult to get accepted for a rental. I ended up moving further north and commuting.

Have you checked your own credit files? There can be mistakes.

@WhenTheDragonsCame Yes that’s where we are, although very north. DP works in Aust and I work in Bath so we have limited wriggle room, our commutes are already quite long.

Definitely no mistakes on our credit files, we checked at the beginning of the year when we were looking at shared ownership. I’m not sure what DIY shared ownership is, I will look into it and all the websites mentioned!!

Do it yourself shared ownership, so not just about new builds just buying a house in the usual way.

I hope your area does it, sounds bizarre but the only way to access some schemes was to be on the social housing waiting list so definitely do that ASAP.

From experience i'd say don't rent. I refuse to think of how much money we threw away by renting. We couldn't get a mortgage for a whole house so went down the SO route and although the rent increases by £100 per annum we finally have some security and are no longer made to feel bad for having a child which frankly is against human rights.
Good luck op

Hi OP,
When I put "shared ownership" in as a filter with area Bristol/Bath (within 10 miles) there are lots of results - cheapest I saw was 48k for the share (then plus rent). Lots under 100k for the share. Have you had a look at these?

sorry put that filter into "right move"