Renting

[Twogirlsonemom]

Am i being unreasonable to be disgusted in the renting prices? I really dont want to private rent as they are charging way too much..... i am waiting for a council property, although i am getting fed up with waiting. I just dont know how ill realistically afford to private rent and i definitely can't afford to buy. What can i do apart from actually really consider private renting and struggling to get through each month. I have private rented before but was struggling so i am currently living with my parents and 2 small children. I just really want my own space to bring up my kids without having to worry about getting rent paid.

YABU. Private landlords aren’t charities, they need to maintain the home, adhere to legal H&S requirements, the tax breaks are disappearing. There’s not much profit in it short term.

If your parents decided you could no longer stay with them (due to overcrowding or whatever) you could probably go down the homeless route. You would have to take whatever temporary option is provided but it may in turn push you up the wait list for a permanent property or putting you into a higher bidding category depending on what the council does to manage thieir allocations in your area. Another option would be to claim housing benefit if you were eligible and then you top it up? Or move to a cheaper area?

My house rents out for £625. The estate agent charges of 12 % leave me with £550, and once I’ve paid tax of 20 % I am left with £440. My current rent costs me £330 a month, so that leaves £90 a month to put towards repairs, repainting between tenants and to pay for the fee of £360 each time the tenant changes.

It really isn’t the cash cow rip-off that some renters think it is!

Housing Benefit? Might make a private rent affordable.

Apologies, current rent of £350 a month.

YANBU
near me average for a small 3 bed house is £1350pm

I honestly don't know how people are affording it

YANBU, our small house would cost £1200 to rent. It is insane.

YANBU. It's awful how high rent is these days.

I just about break even with renting my flat out (I rent the flat we live in)

But the value has increased (recently dropped) but will over time increase so I see it as a savings pot

If my situation was different I would sell my flat and buy again but I can’t afford to anywhere close to ds school (and they are not quite so generous with mortgages now)

Rents are high for the minimum wage. BUT there's nothing I can do so I just had to live within my means and that included paying rent. Thank goodness my family helped me with a deposit otherwise I would have to live on £300 for food (and clothes emergencies, etc... for a family of 6).

I rent and I'm a single parent. I think rent prices are high. But it's all my own doing. I have to change my life so I can afford my own home, it's nobody's fault but my own

The private rental sector is going to go awry for landlords in the medium term. I can foresee structural changes driven by the mass conversion of redundant commercial property, increased tax incentives for buyers, more efficient long term mortgages and a realisation among policymakers of the need to avoid a generation of pensioners renting only through state support. That will not help you now, but I would not worry too much. Why anybody wants to invest in housing now as a private landlord is beyond me. The good days there are over.

You may be eligible for some benefits

I have been with my parents almost a year, my daughter starts her nursery in September and i start my new job as Dental Nurse in August. Moving to another area isn't an option. Also going homeless and sleeping wherever with two young children doesnt seem very fair on them either. Moving to this area is the move i made to be in a cheaper area but in doing so i lost a really good paid job. Two hours away. I just feel in an endless dead end position, where its either go private and get out... Ill be stuck then too... Buying is just not affordable for now either. Lets face it, if i could afford to buy i wouldnt even consider renting. How are other parents dealing with high rent demands? I just dont want to be in the same position as before, getting stressed about paying bills and rent because i dont have enough coming in. I know i can get help with benefits, i just dont think that would make much difference.

A mortgage is only cheaper than renting if you bought your home decades ago. Buying now is expensive too and the monthly mortgage isn't any cheaper than the rent. On top of that you have maintenance, repair and insurance of the building.

I lived Portsmouth rented a house for £650 I moved to stay at my sisters if I want to private rent here a one bed flat is £1300. No way ever have anything more than a room here and it’s a social housing built up area but 11 miles from London.

That's just life for many people. You might qualify for some Universal Credit (sorry, there's no more housing benefit, just the LHA/housing benefit element of UC) if you go private, but in many areas that's just how people live and also in a lot of places, council/social housing isn't available for years and years if at all. Moving might not have been such a good option but it's done now. You either stay with your folks or get UC and look to rent privately.

I rent because I got divorced and can't afford to buy as despite a good deposit, I can't get sufficient mortgage. My rent is higher than my mortgage on a property half the size. However, the system is what it is and I value a roof over our heads more than anything. Renting has lots of pluses (as a single parent my outgoings are freakishly high, but I never have to fix a boiler or a roof) so it sorts out the anxiety I would have in other areas. If you cant afford private rent that's one thing. Not wanting to pay it doesnt get you anywhere. Move somewhere within your means, maximise your income, find a plan b.

Rents are high because house prices are high. I don't blame individual landlords for that. I blame decades of government policy that's been hostile towards house building.

Our rent is £1650 but the property is worth over half a million, we live in a beautiful area and I think our mortgage payments (if we could get one) would be the same or higher then we would have the repairs as well. There are definite positives to renting sometimes.

I think you get a real mix. Some landlords are reasonable and fair but others will charge hundreds/thousands for what is essentially a tiny, barely liveable studio. Some real money grabbers out there unfortunately.

The rent is largely driven by the market. Very few landlords undersell themselves

The trouble is that LLs can't afford to do it at cost. We bought a house for my brother to live in for cheap rent and we're not making any profit even though it's mortgage free, what with the insurances, the maintenance, stamp duty etc etc. Not to mention the market if it drops. So if you're trying to make any profit at all, or have a mortgage to cover, you have to have the prices higher. Thatcher sold off all the low rent council houses and we need more now, not less!

It's wrong when a mortgage is cheaper then rent however you will get landlords pleading poverty

My biggest issue is the standard of property you get for your money. Rental properties around me are pretty dated and shabby.