Page 2 | To think rent is so bloody unfair

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/04/2022 20:57

@SheldonesqueTheBstard

Spot the landlord or spot the frothmeister thread?

Why can't we have a sensible conversation about an essential service which preserves life and health being used to create profit. And who this system actually benefits.

nalabae · 02/04/2022 20:58

Erm that’s life

Icecreamandapplepie · 02/04/2022 20:59

Surely people aren't so dense they can see the op is stating that guise who rent are at a massive disadvantage? They pay more, and have nothing to show at the end of it.

There are a few advantages but overall owning is widely perceived as preferable.

It should be affordable, and if being a landlord is so woe is me as some are implying, why does anyone become one?

Comedycook · 02/04/2022 20:59

If you think it's so unfair, buy instead

mjf981 · 02/04/2022 20:59

800 rent on a place worth 120? Yes that’s absolute madness. I feel for anyone in your situation, if you don’t have the capacity to save for a deposit (do you?)

EmmaH2022 · 02/04/2022 21:00

@Tar19891

Plus the landlord is building equity. Come on, we’re all adults as you say. Just admit to profiting off the situation

I'm sure my landlords would agree to that. They provided accommodation for me to rent and did all the repairs.

They provided a service, I paid for it.

This is weird. I know people are resentful but jeez.

Btw I make the repayment £526 a month based on your prices, interest at 3.5%.

SweetSakura · 02/04/2022 21:00

@BambinaJAS

I love these threads.

There is a good reason why renters think landlords are tone deaf and insert bad word here in the UK.

The main advantage of owning is the capital appreciation (and equity) that you build up that renters do not.

When I hear landlords complain about maintenance costs and insurance cost I laugh at their absurdity.

Building equity in an asset (house) is an immense advantage.

So stop making excuses. It just makes renters hate you even more.

I totally agree. And I am a homeowner.

Nothappyatwork · 02/04/2022 21:01

@Tar19891

My rent is 800 per month. A mortgage on the same value flat would be 450 per month. Not in London obviously. It’s not fair is it?

So why haven’t you bought one then ?

SwanBuster · 02/04/2022 21:01

I look forward to the point where everyone realises they've been had.

No grandchildren for the rentiers, because their kids can't afford to live.

Equity release schemes grabbing the keys because people used their house as an ATM.

And sudden economic crises that 'noone could have predicted turning people who thought they were homeowners with eyewatering mortgages they can no longer afford into lifetime tenants as private equity groups offer them agreements to stay in their homes in return for the deeds.

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/04/2022 21:01

Well of course they are, it’s a business, not a charitable act.

And that's the issue. If you treat housing as a business and apply cutthroat laissez faire economics to it, people will die homeless, children's health will be affected and this is all grist to the mill in capitalism. In fact it's good because it creates demand. The more desperate people are, the more they will sacrifice to pay.

I don't believe that's a price I want to pay for richer rich people. And this being housing, less intergenerational mobility, because of the property passing down.

A fair price for an essential service.

LardyDee · 02/04/2022 21:01

This is a bit like saying it costs nowhere near £48 for the railway company to let me get on a train that's already running to Manchester Piccadilly. Or I could grow my own potatoes for tuppence ha'penny, so why is Tesco charging me £1.29 for a tiny bag of them. Or a whole load of other complaints! If there's open competition in the market and if it could be done more cheaply then someone else would do it.

BambinaJAS · 02/04/2022 21:01

@nalabae

Erm that’s life

Not quite.

You seem to forget that its NIMBYs (house owners) who restrict the supply of new homes.

The effect of this is that they benefit from higher house prices and leave renters worse off.

If we got rid of the antiquated planning permission process in the UK, you would see just how fast social housing can be built.

GrumpyPanda · 02/04/2022 21:02

@Tar19891

Okay! Further info needed. Flats are worth about 120k (one bed) and with a 15k deposit mortgage payments are about 450 per month.

Not based in the UK personally. In much of Europe real estate prices are calculated as multiples of annual rent. In your example purchase price would be 12.5 annual rent. When I lived in the Netherlands it was 14-18. In South Germany a rule of thumb is it's worth buying (also for btl purposes) up to 30 times annual rent.

So yes, in international comparison that rent would be massively, massively high - and it's not even like it comes with significant tenant protections.

ExMachinaDeus · 02/04/2022 21:02

I have yet to meet a landlord who pays insurance.

Of course they do - building insurance, and coverage for stuff if the property is let furnished.

Tenants responsible for insurance of their personal effects and house contents of course.

Lbnc2021 · 02/04/2022 21:02

@mjf981

800 rent on a place worth 120? Yes that’s absolute madness. I feel for anyone in your situation, if you don’t have the capacity to save for a deposit (do you?)

House along the road from me was bought for 105k and then rented out for 895pcm, it’s crazy.

Lachimolala · 02/04/2022 21:03

@Comedycook

If you think it's so unfair, buy instead

You know it’s not that simple don’t be obtuse.

Someone spending £800 on rent is likely to have nothing left to save.

NatMoz · 02/04/2022 21:03

[quote Tar19891]@Chestofdraws I pay tenants insurance already. I appreciate that I don’t have to pay for cost of repairs but TBH they’re not 4.2k per year are they?[/quote]
It can easily be over £4,200 a year.

I bought my house 3 years ago and the initial moving costs for estate agent, solicitors, surveyor and stamp duty was around £20k so £7k a year if we're splitting it over the 3 years. That's before you take into account the new boiler, new bathroom, repairs to chimneys which were leaking, new guttering and...the £100k extension!

I think I'm averaging about £40k a year if we take all that in account!!

Twitterwhooooo · 02/04/2022 21:04

I completely agree with you OP. and I'm fortunate enough to be old enough to have bought when it was possible without inheritance etc.

Renting affordable council or HA housing? Yes, fine, if that's what suits you or you want to do.

Paying some BLT landlord's mortgage for them. Not so fine (in my view, of course acknowledge that other may see things differently.)

Paying some BLT landlord's mortgage to the tune that you can't save for a deposit. Utterly shit.

YU most definitely NBU

SwanBuster · 02/04/2022 21:04

@mjf981

800 rent on a place worth 120? Yes that’s absolute madness. I feel for anyone in your situation, if you don’t have the capacity to save for a deposit (do you?)

Well there's an immediate and obvious problem with building a deposit when your rent is already eyewatering for a piece of shit place.

Welcome to the rigged game paradise Island that is the global financial system.

Pyri · 02/04/2022 21:04

@Jobseeker19

I have yet to meet a landlord who pays insurance.

How on earth do you know this?!

Nothappyatwork · 02/04/2022 21:04

@ExMachinaDeus

I have yet to meet a landlord who pays insurance.

Of course they do - building insurance, and coverage for stuff if the property is let furnished.

Tenants responsible for insurance of their personal effects and house contents of course.

If a rented out house burn down the landlord would have to pay to accommodate the tenant until the end of the tenancy so I’m pretty sure they’ve all got the insurance they need

Chestofdraws · 02/04/2022 21:04

@MrsTerryPratchett

Well of course they are, it’s a business, not a charitable act.

And that's the issue. If you treat housing as a business and apply cutthroat laissez faire economics to it, people will die homeless, children's health will be affected and this is all grist to the mill in capitalism. In fact it's good because it creates demand. The more desperate people are, the more they will sacrifice to pay.

I don't believe that's a price I want to pay for richer rich people. And this being housing, less intergenerational mobility, because of the property passing down.

A fair price for an essential service.

But you don’t live in a communist society and when people can’t afford a home the the council will house them.

I also dont get this, no private individuals do not buy houses and let people live in them for the cost of the mortgage as some form of charitable act to people who can’t afford to buy.

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/04/2022 21:04

If there's open competition in the market and if it could be done more cheaply then someone else would do it.

Not with a limited, essential resource.

tirednewmumm · 02/04/2022 21:05

@Jobseeker19

I have yet to meet a landlord who pays insurance.

Ummm insurance covers missed rent from tenants and building damage from anything burglary or a storm. It's also usually a legal requirement if you have a mortgage. I'm guessing pretty much every landlord has insurance

LardyDee · 02/04/2022 21:05

When I hear landlords complain about maintenance costs and insurance cost I laugh at their absurdity.

But they're not complaining! I mean they could take a leaf out of @Tar19891's book and do so ...

Why do I have to pay £37.50 a month for insurance? I've been paying it for years and never got anything back. Why does the plumber charge me £1200 to fit a boiler? It doesn't cost him anything like that