To think renting is insecure but cashing in your pension to buy your landlord a new kitchen is insanity? sbnes

[DanteThunderstone]

Warning: contains Liz Jones

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11423261/LIZ-JONES-terrifying-insecurity-having-rent-60s.html

in the article she says that she was offered a mortgage at a rate Of nearly 5 per cent and the maximum term she was allowed was 12 years.
at her age there are some rental properties just for the over 55's that are more reasonably priced. But they're probably not boujee enough for her

The UK is so bad for renters, so little protection. Where I live, after the first 6 months of a tenancy, you have security for 6 years. You can't be asked to leave unless the landlord is selling, doing major renovations (and they have to offer it back to you after) or they need to move into themselves. They also have to give six months notice.

Spending 60k on a rental in the UK is absolute insanity. Did she really though?

@ohthehorrorthehorror is that her real age, 71? How do you know that?

It was in her own home. Renting your home does not make it any less your home.

@chevvyroo - not sure now - Wikipedia has two dates of birth for her, 1951 and 1958! She is well into her 60s at least, as I remember reading articles by her describing a childhood in a time at least ten years prior to my childhood, and I'm nearly 60. Given her history of body image issues, plastic surgery and so on, she doesn't strike me as the type of woman who would give an honest answer when asked her age.

Liz Jones is a writer of fiction. I would take anything she writes with a pinch of salt. It’s probably 10% true and the rest dramatic embellishment to upset DM readers.

She got married at about the same time as I did and wrote articles in the Guardian Weekend about the wedding planning for about a year. They were mad. Or, at the very least, quite different from our wedding planning.

If so it works there are two outrage threads on MN she may have even started one herself to get the ball rolling ....

This woman is insane.
How could anyone think that spending 65K on renovating a rented house is a good idea? "But I like nice things" is not a good enough reason.

Most of the stuff she writes is made-up nonsense - some of it possibly has a grounding in truth but ends up so embellished.
I think she has mental health issues. She doesn't seem to be able to manage finances at all. Everyone knows that it is completely ludicrous to spend 59K of your own money on doing up a rental property which does not belong to you.
The landlady probably thought great, she's done the place up, I can sell it now and get more money for it.

I live in Austria. Rental properties here do not have kitchens as standard. So that means when you move somewhere you might be lucky and have a kitchen included but more often than not there won't be a kitchen. The previous renters might agree to let you buy their kitchen from them or they might take it with them, which is their right. If they do, you need to get your own kitchen installed which is then yours. The deposits are also very high - three months rent.
However, rentals are much more secure - long-term lets, initially of 3 years are standard with this then rolling over to be permanent. Very difficult to get a short-term let. If you want to move out before the 3 years are up you have to sublet to someone else.
But what this means is that your home is your home. A landlord does not have the right to say you can't have pets. You can decorate etc.

I agree. Her impulsive behaviour and tunnel vision rings many bells for me.

The benefit of paying a mortgage and eventually owning you own home means you don't have the expense of finding rent monthly in your retirement.
I read this article and thought the lady concerned was mad to spend so much on a rental property when she had no assurity on the tenancy.
Cash in you pension to do up your landlords house is an insane lack of financial judgement.

I'd quite like a condition like this. You wouldn't need to feel guilty about replacing a kitchen you didn't like, knowing it was included in the value of the property. We're about to move into a house with white glossy cabinets and dark granite countertops. Expensive but not my style at all. They're too new to rip out so we'll have to live with them for a while then probably cover with something nicer, then eventually replace with the painted matte pan drawers of my dreams

She’s a dickhead. 1. For spending that much on a rental without coming to some sort of agreement with the LL. 2. For allowing viewings at all if she found them that much of a hassle, she’s got the law on her side. She’s been served notice already, I wouldn’t be worried about pissing the LL off at that point.

Looks like the landowner has all 5 of the cottage properties to sell and had previously agreed that LJ can take the fixtures and fittings with her, or negotiate an additional price as part of the sale.

She should have played along whilst the cottages were for sale. That complicated nonsense would surely have meant hers would be the very last to sell on those bonkers terms - if ever at all.

@GordonShakespearedoesChristmas I've been at work all day so only just read your reply. Sorry you've had a rough time but my post was pointing out that Liz Jones is used by the Mail to draw attention away from people like you who've lost it all through no fault of your own. And to create a culture of blaming and insulting people in your position.

I do think what I wrote was pretty clear, there was really no need for you to be quite so rude and hostile towards me.

Genuine question.... I'm sure there's a very good reason why but I just can't see it.

If someone didn't own and had £59k why wouldn't they use that as house deposit and buy? I know buying isn't everyone's ideal, but security is clearly important to her. WHY would you not buy? 🤔

Read the article. She said she could get a mortgage but only a 12 year mortgage at 5%.

@FarmGirl78 I imagine bankruptcy and being in her 70’s puts LJ’s chances of getting any kind of mortgage in the single % figures.

I’d balk at taking on a £1700 pcm rental at her age too. She’s just generally poor with cash by all accounts.

Neither of which stop her having bought a cottage just like the one that she was renting.

@QualityAndQuantity I agree. The woman's an idiot.
But that's her rationale.

I don’t really understand doing up a rental other than say minor paint changes etc. a friend at work I know has spent quite a lot (well I would say £1000+) redecorating her new rental and massively overhauling the garden. I can’t stop thinking ‘wow, you are the ideal tenant !’ What she has done to the property will definetly increase its value….to the landlord

She's been paying well over the odds for the area if it really was £1700pcm, especially if it was in such a state that she 'had' to do extensive renovations to it. Unless that is for rental of a large portion of land as well? Unless she had to agree to pay that much because of the incontinent dog?