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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think rent is so bloody unfair

999 replies

Tar19891 · 02/04/2022 20:43

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?

OP posts:
SwanBuster · 02/04/2022 22:02

As I've stated - there are ways to make the system work to your advantage though. It requires a hard nosed way to live..

If I was young, I'd try and find a job that offers as many salary sacrifice perks as possible. I'd Maximise those, and claim universal credit. Let the tax payer - or rather the quantative easing programs that devalue sterling pay your rent and contribute to your living costs.

Stuff your pension, get a good cycle and buy an EV if they offer the scheme. And pare down your consumption of everything else you can possible avoid.

babywalker56 · 02/04/2022 22:02

@LardyDee not sure if that was meant to be a joke but it wasn’t funny. If you see nothing wrong with people getting their rent paid via universal credit which then goes straight to the landlord, then there’s nothing I can say to help you

Waxonwaxoff0 · 02/04/2022 22:03

@AreWeThereYetMummy

I'll probably be hated for this but if a landlord is in the 40% tax bracket from their day job, from the £800 they have to pay £320 in tax. So, taking that into account, it's not a massive profit even on £800.

Having said that, £800 for a flat valued at £120k is crazy.

Awww, poor them.
SweetPetrichor · 02/04/2022 22:03

@Jobseeker19

I have yet to meet a landlord who pays insurance.
Well hello, I guess…
lhjjhdjsdhkshdbc · 02/04/2022 22:03

Not all LL are bad. Not all tenants are good.

I had a rental flat a few years back (ex council). Was hit for major works bills by the council of £70,000 over 3 years. All things that could have been done much more affordably by decent contractors rather than the rip off ones the council are given back-handers to use. Also most owners would have spread the cost not done 20 years worth of upgrades all at once. Private owners sold up on mass as they couldn't afford it. Sometimes it's better to be a tenant.

Chestofdraws · 02/04/2022 22:03

@babywalker56

It’s literally the taxpayers money that goes towards so many private rented properties yet no one seems to have a problem with that? How wrong is that
But rental income is taxed, so if a landlord earns more than 50 k a year in total Inc their job etc then they pay forty percent of the profits back in tax. By the government giving benefits to pay for housing it allows people to have a home that the government effectively pays for out of tax payers money, the landlord is taxed on profit.
LoisLane66 · 02/04/2022 22:04

Mine is £795pm and in Surrey. I think its good value but against a mortgage...hmm 🤔😲

LardyDee · 02/04/2022 22:04

[quote babywalker56]@LardyDee not sure if that was meant to be a joke but it wasn’t funny. If you see nothing wrong with people getting their rent paid via universal credit which then goes straight to the landlord, then there’s nothing I can say to help you[/quote]
I accept that I'm irredeemable, thanks for your forbearance Grin

PlainJaneEyre · 02/04/2022 22:04

@Jobseeker19

I have yet to meet a landlord who pays insurance.
Buildings insurance?
gunnersgold · 02/04/2022 22:05

I agree with you OP and I've never rented , if the mortgage companies took into account how much you can afford each month by looking at your rent payments there would be a lot more people able to buy and it would solve alot of housing issues . I realise it's a simplistic idea but still !

babywalker56 · 02/04/2022 22:05

@PassThePringles my rent is £1200 for a one bedroom! I briefly moved to Kent where my rent was £750 and I thought that was a bargain. I know yours is a mortgage but couldn’t imagine simply paying £235 a month. That sounds like bliss!

Blossomtoes · 02/04/2022 22:05

[quote Nothappyatwork]@Blossomtoes i see the professional poor have turned up again. Turnips for tea again was it ?[/quote]
Wtf? Where the hell did that come from?

During the course of today you’ve arrived here four years ago with four kids and bought a house as a student and your kids have attended private international schools. Which bit’s true?

Nothappyatwork · 02/04/2022 22:05

@gunnersgold

I agree with you OP and I've never rented , if the mortgage companies took into account how much you can afford each month by looking at your rent payments there would be a lot more people able to buy and it would solve alot of housing issues . I realise it's a simplistic idea but still !
They do 🤦‍♀️
LardyDee · 02/04/2022 22:05

[quote Nothappyatwork]@LardyDee not to mention keeping Philip morris’s coffers topped up ![/quote]
I avoided that one!

Hospedia · 02/04/2022 22:05

And half the time it's Universal credit paying for these huge rents , so taxpayers money. going straight to the landlords pocket. It's a horrible situation

Goodness, yes.

Minimum wage has not kept pace with the cost of living and its madness that someone can work full time at NMW, require benefit top-ups to make ends just about meet, and still be struggling. NMW should be set at such a level that someone working full time can afford a modest but respectable lifestyle of housing, food, utilities, a family, and some sort of treats/luxuries. Instead we have a situation where people are working all hours - sometimes at two or more jobs - just to live in poverty and to struggle to pay their bills.

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 02/04/2022 22:06

YANBU. I feel the same.

Changemaname1 · 02/04/2022 22:06

Why don’t you buy a house then If it’s that easy ?

Alright there Marie Antoinette

But what's wrong with saying that? If the op can rent at 800 but can buy at 450, why not buy the house like the landlord did

Genuinely baffled people don’t seem to grasp the concept of not being able to save for a deposit, and I say this as someone who did infact save a large deposit , however I saved it while I lived at home still and was earning a lot for my age . Many many people do not have that luxury especially with today’s cost of living

OP has said her figures are based on a 15k deposit who knows how long it would take her to save that ? While house prices continue to rise thus pretty much rendering her no further on

There are multiple posts on mumsnet today with people concerned about having the heating on for a couple of hours due to rising costs yet some people really can’t grasp how saving up a house deposit might be difficult

The mind boggles

Nothappyatwork · 02/04/2022 22:06

@Blossomtoes they wouldn’t of needed to go to international private school if we hadn’t been abroad like keep up, come on

Tutt · 02/04/2022 22:06

MrsTerryPratchett appreciated of course, (we had to stay in that area for DSS school). I just couldn't understand the extremely high cost of the rented house, it was 2.5 times my mortgage!

newbiename · 02/04/2022 22:07

@Jobseeker19

I have yet to meet a landlord who pays insurance.
I do. Gas/ boiler. Buildings and non payment.
SwanBuster · 02/04/2022 22:07

I'm creasing up at the idea of the miniscule amounts of tax being collected on landlords profits being seen as beneficial here.

The illiteracy about taxation and money we have is breathtaking.

BambinaJAS · 02/04/2022 22:08

[quote babywalker56]@LardyDee not sure if that was meant to be a joke but it wasn’t funny. If you see nothing wrong with people getting their rent paid via universal credit which then goes straight to the landlord, then there’s nothing I can say to help you[/quote]
You should see how much housing benefit has grown in the last 10 years.

We are literally feeding our own economic destruction.

And as a finance professional the warning signs are flashing red.

Cost of living crisis will cause misery on such a scale that serious social unrest is definitely on the cards.

FairyCakeWings · 02/04/2022 22:08

@babywalker56

It’s literally the taxpayers money that goes towards so many private rented properties yet no one seems to have a problem with that? How wrong is that
It’s not wrong at all. It’s how people who can’t afford to pay their own rent have somewhere to live.

What do you suggest as the alternative? Should government just stop giving people money for their rent and watch people end up on the streets? Or is anyone who’s ever been a landlord supposed to pay to house other people?

LardyDee · 02/04/2022 22:09

@SwanBuster

I'm creasing up at the idea of the miniscule amounts of tax being collected on landlords profits being seen as beneficial here.

The illiteracy about taxation and money we have is breathtaking.

Are we basing this on any actual numbers, or anything like that (maybe)?
Flatbrokefornow · 02/04/2022 22:10

@Chestofdraws

You realise from that eight hundred the landlord pays tax, insurance and has to also pay all repairs? And if you had a 450 mortgage, you’d also need insurance, buildings, and you’d have to cover all repairs yourself right? Although granted you’d not pay tax. What is it you find unfair?
They’re also making a profit. Which is not a bad thing, necessarily, but it seems unfair when you are being profited from.
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