To hate landlords?

[MsPeachh]

Last month, I had to move suddenly. I found the flat I’m in now, it had just been bought by my landlord and I’m the first person in after the former owner moved out. It’s an ex-council house that the owner had purchased under “right to buy” and now I have to pay a third of my salary to a private landlord for what was originally meant to be affordable housing.

I’m a scientist in my late twenties with good qualifications and I feel total despair that I might never be able to afford my own home, and I will be lining someone else’s pockets via rent for the rest of my life. Let alone what anyone in a position less fortunate than mine is supposed to do.

To make matters worse, I looked up my landlord’s info on Companies House and I discovered that they have 22 properties in my area! It’s a village on the outskirts of a town where lots of people move when they are ready to move out of the hustle and bustle and settle to raise kids. And more and more of these properties are being snapped up by this landlord. It makes me sick, honestly. I know a lot of people become landlords accidentally in later life due to remarrying etc and ending up with two houses between one couple, but this landlord sucking up 22 houses in such a small area disgusts me. I feel like I’m completely losing hope for the future of people my age and younger as house prices keep soaring and soaring.

AIBU?

@Dizzy1804 £30k for a 5% deposit is for a £600k house! That's only starter home territory in London not "most jobs in this country".

In most parts of the UK, £15k will get you on the ladder quite comfortably.

I'm sorry prices are so high in London. I think it's awful but it's not reflective of the whole country by any means.

Because it's dead easy to save £30k, which is "a modest 5% deposit" within kicking distance of most jobs in this country.

Which country are you talking about

@hopingforonlychild agree with much you have said. Why are UK people so fond of fairly shit funded healthcare but can't now countenance public housing?

Also, the privatisation of rental housing has been a financial disaster.

We give £12 billion a year to private landlords in housing benefit. That's £120 billion in the last ten years. Mostly for inadequate poorly maintained stock that they just charge what they can for.

That figure will only rise as generation rent grows older and 50% of them will get full rent covered through housing benefit in their retirement. Which we will pay. To landlords who will charge the supposed "going rate". It's not sustainable.

@CayrolBaaaskin

I dont think you can compare it to the NHS. Housing is a basic right, yes but not home ownership. And that right is limited - so everyone will not get to live in their ideal home same as everyone does not get their choice of healthcare.

There are certainly benefits to renting rather than owning the same as there are drawbacks. For example, someone else will be responsible for maintenance, you may be able to rent somewhere you could not afford to buy, you can get help with the rent from the state if you cant afford it. The drawbacks are you will have to pay rent always (but the state may continue to help) you will not be able to make alterations and in England (but not in Scotland) the landlord can make you leave.

Also there are benefits to private renting over council renting - better choice of property, they tend to be in better condition and in better areas, repairs tend to get done quicker and so on. Again there are drawbacks that they are generally more expensive and less secure.

so good and bad to each. I think its far too simplistic to say all landlords are greeedy pig dogs.

I agree with all of this. When I rented there is no way I would have wanted a council house. They rip out all of the carpets so you've all that to pay for, and you don't get much choice of where they put you.

I've rented four private houses over a 10 year period, shopped around each time, was always able to get repairs done when needed. The last one let me choose the paint colour for the kitchen and I paid for some wallpaper that he had his decorator put up for me. Then when I wanted to leave, off I went and yes, I did get my full deposit back each time. I moved three times for work, and once just because I liked the look of the house.

It was really convenient throughout and as long as I could pay the rent I never had to worry about maintenance.

Who's finding mortgages with a 5% deposit?! I spoke to three independent mortgage advisers recently and they all basically aborted the conversation when they realised we could - at best - cobble together £10-15K. Banks are asking for at least 15%, and most prefer 20%. A 2/3 bedroom house in my local area is around £175K. Anyone who thinks my partner and I could save £35K before we reach middle age simply by forgoing our one UK holiday or selling our ten year old car is, frankly, deluded.

@Mybobowler

Who's finding mortgages with a 5% deposit?! I spoke to three independent mortgage advisers recently and they all basically aborted the conversation when they realised we could - at best - cobble together £10-15K. Banks are asking for at least 15%, and most prefer 20%. A 2/3 bedroom house in my local area is around £175K. Anyone who thinks my partner and I could save £35K before we reach middle age simply by forgoing our one UK holiday or selling our ten year old car is, frankly, deluded.

My son had the same response. The agent was all keen then quickly backtracked when he heard his earnings and was on his own. Even in a cheaper area. Banks won't lend much now and next year will be worse I suppose. It is disheartening.

@Mybobowler we've just technically came out of recession and situation is still unstable. It's normal that in these times they get harsher and try to cover their backs. Once it all stabilises again the 5% will be back.

@SuperbGorgonzola believe it or not, even if the state builds housing, you can choose to privately rent. People rent privately in singapore too even if the state builds most of the housing.

The main difference is that people who can't afford private rent can pay a lower fees. And poorer FTB like me who can only afford £400k for a home in london can also choose to buy from the state rather than rely solely on the free market (and compete with BTL, foreign investors, downsizers etc). I know i can afford a very big house for my money in most of the UK, but I just want a basic home in London which is my home and I don't care much about its future appreciation.

Sorry to hear that @Mybobowler . Hopefully things will level out again soon. We bought in 2015 with a 10% of £15k.

@ SuperbGorgonzola lol. my deposit was £70k in 2019. Took 3 years to save. it was 15% deposit but I don't think we would have gotten such a mortgage in 2020. Which must mean london and SE FTB (its not just london because a 2-3 bed house in the home counties cost the same) must be finding it doubly hard.

[quote SuperbGorgonzola]@Dizzy1804 £30k for a 5% deposit is for a £600k house! That's only starter home territory in London not "most jobs in this country".

In most parts of the UK, £15k will get you on the ladder quite comfortably.

I'm sorry prices are so high in London. I think it's awful but it's not reflective of the whole country by any means.[/quote]
Other posters have pointed out upthread... it's starting to spread from London. People were being priced out well before Covid. Add in the pandemic and WFH, and more are leaving - pushing up house prices in places across the UK.

And, of course, house prices are lower outside of London - but so are wages.
The problem is no longer a London only issue (which is why people are starting to care/worry).

If people waited to own a home before having children, the number of childless people would shoot right up. With the ever inflated housing bubble, by the time they own it would be too late.

People are waiting, average age of new mum is 30 I think & birth rate is declining

I get that @hopingforonlychild but my point is that this whole thread is slating private landlords as greedy slum lords running draughty rat infested tenements for huge sums and I just don't recognise that about anywhere I've lived.

I believe everyone who says they have had a bad experience; there are arseholes everywhere, but I'm saying that there are positives to private rental for tenants whether your landlord owns 1 property or 101.

London is an unhealthy property market so I do appreciate that but you can't treat the rest of the country based on London.

Also it's preferable to have a bigger deposit, some of the 90/95% offers are shocking.

Tax landlords rental income more heavily. It's rather parasitic business, in your landlords case with 22 properties
Bigger social housing programmes but it's not a problem unique to UK. many European countries struggle and have part privatised social housing. It requires a lot of capital

@itsadress in london, its more like mid to late 30s. I am not all that sure if its just linked to housing. I think women want to reach a certain seniority at work which would make it easier to take time off for childcare.

My neighbour who has owned for the past 5 years has just gotten pregnant with first child at 36. She is also an Associate Director at her work. my DH is at analyst level and his colleague got made redundant while on mat leave. I think its harder to kick an Associate director out... and it just seems like an easier time of your life to be a mom as opposed to being a young analyst/associate.

Oh totally, I had mine early 30s which felt at the young end. I had to change my career but that's another story!

@SuperbGorgonzola the rest of the country may very well look like london. I was on holiday at stratford upon avon and i was genuinely shocked at some of the prices in that area. I know its a tourist spot but still. There are many places in England where my £400k would not go far. I don't know whether its because more londoners have moved out or because of other reasons, but the uk as a whole is becoming quite unaffordable (other than some obviously deprived bits).

@SuperbGorgonzola
If there are so many benefits to private renting, why aren't you still doing it? You said 'when I was renting' and I assume, since you wouldn't want social housing, that you bought.

Better a one off purchase of carpets than forever being at the mercy of a private landlord - never knowing when or if they're going to kick you out or put the rent up to an unaffordable amount, forever moving, never being able to put down roots in a community, face repeatedly needing to uproot your children and move their schools.

And - in council, getting sick or being disabled isn't a crime punishable by homelessness.

There would be choice in where to go if we had mass council housing. The only reason for no or limited choice today is because most of it was sold off at knock down prices (at great cost to the taxpayer).

It's just sad people are thought less of for not having a mortgage.

Is it an English thing? I don't understand why.

@hopingforonlychild I'm white but I definitely feel I belong more in London, maybe it's a immigration thing. All my friends are different races, religions etc but immigrant parents are what we have in common.

Other areas I thought would be ' dirt cheap' are not these days.
Everywhere is pricy.

@SheepandCow as I've said, it suited me in my twenties when I wanted to be able to give a months' notice and move, when I was single and wanted to live near the nightlife. I didn't want the stress of having to get my boiler serviced etc.

I always knew I wanted to eventually buy a house that I could decorate to my hearts content, improve and live in for a long time.

[quote hopingforonlychild]@SuperbGorgonzola the rest of the country may very well look like london. I was on holiday at stratford upon avon and i was genuinely shocked at some of the prices in that area. I know its a tourist spot but still. There are many places in England where my £400k would not go far. I don't know whether its because more londoners have moved out or because of other reasons, but the uk as a whole is becoming quite unaffordable (other than some obviously deprived bits).[/quote]
Even if lots of people leave London; I'm not sure it will have the dramatic effect you describe. In desirable places where people might suddenly flock, then yes. However, there are a huge number of places that are somewhere in between "desirable" and "deprived".

@itsadress its an Anglo, UK/US thing. they have the same obsession with home ownership.tbh our home ownership rate is the same as France but i never got that the french were as obsessed as us about property prices at all.

We are a rented family house with an amazing landlord, he responds quickly to any issues and always asks if all ok. Landlords are not all parasites- many are business people who also provide good homes for good people.
We didn’t pass the first set of referencing with letting agents and met the landlord at the house with our family. Spoke for a bit and he said he’d tell the agents he wanted us to have the house and that was that!
I’m very grateful to our wonderful landlord!
Hopefully there’s more like him out there for other great tenants too