To think that renters have put up with big monthly rises for years

[Upthebracket22]

We rent because we have been priced out of the housing market for years & years. We have raised our kids in a rented house & put up with large rises in monthly payments. We’ve been ‘lucky’ in that we’ve been on our current house for 10 years.

Noone has given a flying fuck about renters & the amount we pay & have had to find extra each year but now it’s mortgages going up, it’s all ‘poor mortgage holders’ - it’s really grating on me.

As it goes, the coming housing downturn will mean we actually might be able to buy a house. Safe secure affordable housing is a good thing.

the current housing boom has been created by cheap money and that era is ending. An entire generation of people have been priced out of a safe home & while I don’t want to people in difficulty, renters have had to put up with it for years ‘move to a cheaper area’ being the main nonsense.

We are a normal family with good jobs but saving for a deposit has been impossible because of insanely high rents.

i am tired of the ‘poor mortgage holder’ rhetoric when those of us trapped in rented homes have put up with large monthly hikes for years.

i know this won’t be a popular view on here but for us renters, the last decade had been difficult and no one has given a shit.

I think the OP is purposefully ignoring the fact that high mortgage rates are bad for renters. We are likely to see an influx of homeless tenants due to LL selling off their properties now, or cash buying LL profiteering off the desperation of renters when their home is sold from under their feet.

Much like the housing boom driving up house prices, a rental boom will drive up rent prices.

Yet she is just glad the home owners are getting their finances shafted FINALLY.

OP, lower house prices and high interest mortgages will make things harder for first time buyers like yourself. Dont let jealously overtake logic.

And yet all the patronising ‘poor homeowners’ ‘how awful’ boohoo for them.
It certainly comes across that way.

Many things have improved for tenants compared to previous decades, the deposit protection scheme was a massive step forward in protecting renters from scummy landlords, many councils have landlord licenses now which could definitely be expanded on, no fault evictions have had a big spotlight on it and renters have been protected that way.

There are a lot more sensible policies that could be brought in but Tory gonna Tory so it’s hardly surprising their policies haven’t gone that far.

We’ve been stuck in rentals for years, had my children very young, both have disabilities and learning difficulties so I’ve always had to be home for them (that was a very bad decision as now I’m unemployable and can’t afford to train in anything) we can’t afford to buy even if I do get a job as we will both be low earners and need a 3 bed yet we are paying more in rent than people with mortgages, if we ever have to move again I’m terrified of what will happen as we are already on the cusp of being priced out, we have no money as it all goes on rent and bills, no money for savings, no money for emergencies, I’m not even eating properly as we need to make food last.

Yanbu. I own my home but feel very lucky to go do and massively feel for those priced out of the market. I don’t know what the answer is but the best thing that has happened in our big village is a couple of housing developments where 50% of the houses have to be affordable rental homes. I’m not quite sure how the criteria for getting one works or how they are owned (housing association?) but it has meant that loads of normal families, some who I know with reasonable/decent incomes but facing high private rents and unstable housing have moved in and got a new, energy efficient secure home. If anyone in private rental knows of a new development near them it’s definitely worth applying or finding out about the affordable rental homes there. I think remaining in the local area is one of the criteria.

yes I am sure there are some people who can buy because they moved- but a lot of us can’t move and can’t raise a deposit and are struggling with large rental increases and can’t get on the ladder
And again, it sounds that in your case, you too would be living in your own home if you had made different choices, as in the choices some of the landlords you berate made.

You can be angry on regretting the choices you've made but there is no reason to take it on other people.

Having children before setting a food on the ladder seems a very common denominator.

Young people, don't do it. Buy the smallest, in need or repair place as soon as you can. Only have kids once your settled.

I don't disagree at all that it's a bad time for renters. 'Move to a cheaper area' though is something first time buyers have had to do to making buying possible for decades. My parents did it in the early 80s, my sister moved towns and I moved London postcodes a decade ago, all of my friends did the same. I'm not part of the 'just move to a cheap Northern town where houses are 50p, aren't they' mindset, but expecting to buy exactly where you rent just doesn't usually stack up financially.
It isn't flippant advice or a lack of understanding of the current climate to suggest it, it is a practical step (and I am not suggesting that it's the only step needed) that millions have done as the way to make ownership work.

You are making this very divisive OP and I don't see any benefit of doing that. You can wallow and feel shit about this without trying to play top trumps and make out you're more hard done but than others.

It's shit for most people right now. Not everyone with a mortgage is living a wonderful easy life. Plenty are struggling to make their payments, cough up for much needed repairs, can't afford to heat their home to prevent damp (which will cost them in the long run, not their landlord).

I have zero sympathy when people start playing top trumps. Use to energy to lobby your local MP or try to drive some change in another way.

Is that for an interest only mortgage ? I wouldn't want to fix for so long if it was capital and interest.

It is so area dependant tho.
Round here, a 6 figure deposit would be half a 4bed detached house.
We've just sold our house for £50 more than we bought it for 15 years ago. There has been no rapid house price increase above the last peak - so with inflation that is a decrease.
I hear you saying you don't want to move, but you are obviously living somewhere very expensive to be looking at at first house over half a million.
There is also no way your rent has risen every month.

We are amateur landlords in that we only let two houses. One tenant has been with us about 7years. No, I don't know either. We sold one and the new owner continued the tenancy.
We would prefer to have a broker invest the money for us on Stock Markets. How many disasters can I tell you about there?
When we sold recently, we calculated that over the 9 years of ownership we had made 8% pa before tax. Say, 4+ % net. That included the profit over the purchase price.

Not grinding the face of the poor into the dust is it.

Whenever I read threads like this I always wonder how many people actually know many renters, particularly professional couples that live in cities and other high cost of living areas. A lot of people seem to assume that if you are renting it must be because you are on a low wage and don't have any savings, because otherwise who in their right mind would rent instead of buy.

There is always a lot of talk about how it's not good for house prices to fall because poor renters/FTBs will be suffer because there will be fewer rentals or they won't be able to get a mortgage unless they have a big deposit. But, as has been illustrated in many posts, there are a lot of renters in well paying jobs who DO have large deposits because they have been saving for years and years but as prices have gone up they've been continuously priced out or have chosen not to buy for other reasons.

If prices do fall due to interest rates/economic climate/increase in supply due to BTLs going up for sale, that deposit will end up covering a larger percentage of the purchase price than it currently does now. And renters on good wages are also probably able to cope with the payments required due to higher rates. After all, they've been paying high rents for years and are used to that chunk of their pay going to housing costs.

Don't get me wrong, there will always be people on low incomes who need to rent. And yes, if BTL landlords are forced to sell there will be fewer rental properties available. But this idea that all renters are on minimum wage and can't buy a house because their deposit amounts to about £2000 is not factual. If prices fall and there are more properties available there will be plenty of people who are in a position to buy.

Yes, I agree.

Obviously not applicable to everyone, but it is obviously much easier to save for a deposit before you have children. I know several people who choose to have children in rented accommodation when if they had waited even a few years, would be well on the way to buying.

DH and I prioritised buying a house before we started a family. Rented a reliable, but tiny, maisonette and so even paying outer London prices, were still able to save as well. No family help and after five years of saving, we were able to buy our first house (though had to move away to a cheaper area).

Also didn't over-extend ourselves so we could have taken a bigger hit but are in the fortunate position to have been able to secure a 10-year fix over the summer at only £40 extra a month.

Being a landlord is a business. Our insurance goes up every year. We have tax bills to pay. We need to keep properties up to legislation and to budget for upgrades and to write off debt from tenants who decide not to pay for a year and the court costs involved in evicting them.We need to reserve money to replace boiler or fix roof for example. Here's a thought, why do people choose to have families before they've got their lives in order? Why is it always someone else's fault?

Hmm well as a (mortgaged) home owner I agree with you a bit. But then the homeowners who will be most affected by the mortgage rates going up / House prices falling are not the ones who have made loads of money on their properties. They'll be the ones who bought for the first time very recently, at top of the market extortionate prices. They most probably had YEARS of being in the exact same position that you currently are now, to save up enough money for a deposit. They finally get enough to get onto the property market - probably in a teeny property because PRICES. And BAM straight into negative equity.
It's not the smug, wealthy big homeowners who will be feeling the pinch.
Also people with Buy To Let mortgages, if their rates go up so will rents.
So on that basis, yes YABVU.

Sorry OP, but this.

Obviously now you have children, it's harder to uproot your life by moving away... It's much easier to do that before kids.

Companies profit from the water you drink, the food you eat, the heat you use. If it should be illegal to profit from housing I assume it should also be illegal to profit from water, food and power as they are also basic needs?

@ScotsWhaHae77
Is that for an interest only mortgage ? I wouldn't want to fix for so long if it was capital and interest.

No. Why not? I know what I'm going to pay each month for the next two decades. With inflation going up I can probably overpay as well. No surprises here. I genuinly don't understand why other people haven't fixed their mortgages for long term.

Yes, exactly this. And I notice that the OP has not responded to this point.

We're in our 30s, live in the SE and us and all of our peers have very ordinary jobs, teachers, NHS (not doctors!), trades, etc. We're all on the housing ladder with no family help. The difference is though that we did this before having children 🤷‍♀️

But, as has been illustrated in many posts, there are a lot of renters in well paying jobs who DO have large deposits because they have been saving for years and years but as prices have gone up they've been continuously priced out or have chosen not to buy for other reasons
And the issue is that if by then they have two or more children, they are looking for a three or more bedrooms with a nice garden next to nice schools, IE. The most expensive homes available, so yes, it's not surprising that they would struggle.

My god daughter has just bought her first house in the South of England. She is an account manager, her OH is a self employed gardener. They are early 30s. They have been saving for 5 years and that meant big sacrifices for people without children who were free to enjoy life. They did it though and are now starting TTC.

It's always has been hard to have 2+ kids, with only one working FT to afford a 3 bed house.

With your parents.

My nieces and nephews wanted to leave home and live with their girlfriend/boyfriend but none of them did. They saved for a good few years and all managed to buy somewhere. Rent is wasted money

Maybe buying a house before you had kids would have been sensible.

Jesus Christ...

I think this is the bottom line.

As a PP says, you need to own your choices...

Totally agree. Couples should save as hard as they can, get a property and then, later, think about children.

It's difficult enough to save to buy once you start renting, add children to the mix and it's even more difficult