Does anybody else renting feel constant pressure to buy

[Canyoureadmymind]

I'm in my early 30s and I feel anxiety most days about the fact that I don't yet own a house. I'm saving but I've currently got £400 in my savings, that's not going to get me very far. It'll be a good few years before I could even own something very small or a shared ownership property. Then, it's actually being accepted for a property.
I feel like I 'should' be owning by this age which is stupid, but most of my peers seem to be, apart from the ones that live in London.
There are constant cries of what will you do in retirement. So that's another stressor, worrying that I might end up homeless.
There's a chance I could inherit property/gain an inheritance at some point in the distant future.
I'm sick of feeling this constant pressure and anxiety. I wish renting were more socially acceptable and viable long term.

Even for a high end boiler it’s about 2 or 3 grand max, you do and have paid for the boiler, it’s not a gift. It comes out of your rent. The rent covers all costs , and makes the landlord a profit or pays their mortgage, that’s why it costs more to rent than a mortgage, the additional costs are to cover all costs to maintain inc new boiler etc, decoration, carpeting, whatever .

its great your happy but it’s important the information isn’t misleading.

I think I saw on the news that private rental properties were now down 30 percent as in 30 percent less available and rent was up 11 percent.

more and more people when they face eviction can’t find another property in their location or budget. It’s very rare a private rental is a home for life, at some point eviction will occur, it’s 100 percent guaranteed. It is not if, it is when.

council houses are different, folks are given them as they are unable to afford to rent a suitable property privately, and they are secure tenancies in the main for that reason. Private rental is a very different animal.

so buying is the more secure option, every single time. Not completely secure because you still need to be able to pay the mortgage, but your destiny is in your own hands and not at the whim of a landlord and there decision to sell or not.

in addition once the mortgage is paid off, it’s likely the money has been recouped in equity increase. So the net cost is really the cost to maintain, in your own home you need to pay, in a rental it’s built into the rental costs and you pay whether it’s spent in the time of your tenancy or not.

" A pp said the would rather save or put the money into a pension than pay a mortgage, but for many a mortgage would be less than the rent,"

Exactly. It's not as if renters have loads of money to invest in other things.

Exactly, generally people rent as they can’t afford to buy. Not always but in the majority, the rent nearly always costs more than the mortgage, so what money is the poster referring to in the main. Unless they think there is a lot of wealthy renters who rent as a lifestyle choice

@Abyss23 so many comments, about how "studenty" my flat is, looking down their noses at my (admittedly horrible) woodchip etc... snidey comments etc. I am not bitter about their handouts just upset that they don't get that I haven't had the same opportunity to buy that they have but they are insinuating that I have somehow passed up the opportunity when the truth couldn't be more different. Almost like it's somehow a choice that I haven't bought, never recognising that they only did it due to help from their parents and couldn't have without. Unless you've been in the situation I guess you wouldn't understand. I'm glad that you don't look down your nose at friends.

"Tenants barely have any rights in the UK. It's all welIl and good thinking you've got a cushy set-up, but what happens if you're given two months' notice to leave? Then you're suddenly at the mercy of the rental market. It's a completely insecure way to live."

This never bothered me when I lived in the UK. I would have just found somewhere else and in many years of renting I never had major problems with landlords.
I now live in a country with much stronger tenants' rights. I can only be thrown out if the LL decides to occupy the place himself and the rent can only be increased in line with inflation. Even so, state pensions are not high enough to pay rent and have a life so I'm still going to have to ask the bank whether they'll give me a mortgage despite having absolutely no interest in things like maintenance or making improvements. I'd be a reluctant owner, but I think it's probably the right way to go.
I'm much older than you though OP and it's now or never for me.

I think it’s just really unfortunate that’s your social circle. I’m mine not one person had a parental handout. It’s the opposite. You must socialise with folks who come from very wealthy backgrounds if their families are all giving them these massive handouts.

But I think there are many reasons why renting is not general seen as a good option in this country.

• we have a lack of affordable, social housing so most people have to rent from private landlords
• private renting comes with a lot of issues: more renters than available properties so competition is fierce; landlords don't always maintain their properties well; you have no long term security as your landlord might decide to sell at any time; you can't decorate as you wish and often you cannot have pets
• renting is ridiculously expensive in so many places. I am about to buy a house after selling my flat and renting while the purchase process takes place. My mortgage on a terraced house will be less than what I currently paid in rent on a 1 bed flat which is frankly bonkers...

I think people who are making these comments to you are just being realistic: you really don't want to be at the mercy of landlords & letting agents all your life and find yourself in trouble as you get older and don't have a secure roof over your head.

In many other countries renting is a perfectly good, normal option but in the UK the rental market is too much of a minefield.

I’m in the process of selling my house, moving overseas and renting. I’m quite happy not to own a house for a while. I don’t have any kids to leave anything to so that’s not an issue. At certain periods in your life renting works.

I replaced my boiler ten years ago and it cost about £6000. When you have to move pipe work etc it does get very expensive.

@Mypatioisminging I've moved on from many of those people now TBH, life is too short. Couldn't handle it anymore. I felt there was a "let them eat cake" situation going on, constantly judged and made to feel less of a person for not having the same amount of money as them. Really sad - they were really stuck in their paradigm of entitlement belittling me because I didn't own a property and was poor. I suspect there was also some judgement because I am a single parent as well - and I work harder than anyone I know! :(

@goldenotter your friends don't sound like very nice people. Might be time to find some new friends who don't make you feel like this.

I think there's too much pressure to buy. Both my adult children rent but wish they could buy and are saving up to do so; personally, I wouldn't bother.

During my lifetime I have bought, sold, rented, lived in 'tied' accommodation with work and currently rent. I'm facing retirement and have a lovely rented place which is perfect. It's in a rural location, edge of a village, lovely area and affordable. I can rent it for as long as I like....right into old age and beyond if I so wish, so it's secure. I love the flexibility, the fact that I don't have capital tied up in a property and that I don't have to worry about repairs, upkeep or bills (which are all included).

Renting isn't all bad by any means.

Is it a council house? It’s very rare otherwise to have a life time tenancy as you say.

It used to annoy the crap out of me.

How was putting a roof over my head throwing money down the drain. It's insulting. It could be a lifestyle choice or just not financially feasible as a single person etc. it's very individual.

You are 35 years plus away from retirement. That's a long time for your life to change. And if it doesn't you will be far from the only one. Just because something isn't ideal or optimal doesn't equate to homelessness or destitution.

You are doing your best to save a little and one day you will get there.

Perhaps your come back should be that at least your property won't be sold to pay for care home bills in your old age like theirs will.

You are not be paying someone's mortgage.
They may not have a mortgage.
But you are paying to live in someone's property.
It is their asset.

Why should someone let you there for free?
In Europe renting is the norm. In Germany where I have lived the quality of homes available are very good and rents are affordable.

As a tenant you can make made changes to your home and you know you have long term tenancy.

We do need a change in laws to give tenants more protection. Long term tenancy, good quality homes where repairs are done and done well.

Perhaps your come back should be that at least your property won't be sold to pay for care home bills in your old age like theirs will

This old chestnut gets trotted out every time there's a thread about buying a house. A certain section of posters seem to be obsessed with it. Someone posted some stats a while back, can't remember the actual figure but it was pretty low. Not that many homes are sold to fund care home fees. I've had 4 elderly relatives die in recent years. Only one of them was in a care home and that was only for a few months. None of the houses had to be sold to fund fees.

"In Europe renting is the norm. "

Depends on the country. In some European countries, buying is still definitely seen as the ideal even when there are good laws for tenants.

"None of the houses had to be sold to fund fees."

A lot of people think in advance about how to avoid it.
But even so, it's a problem for the beneficiaries who would otherwise inherit the house and not a problem for the home owner at all. By the time you're in a care home, you don't need to own your previous house.

It’s a myth on here, its not just some, it’s most eu countries it’s seen as the ideal , the percentage of rental v ownership is much lower than in the uk and ownership is still the most desirable in most eu countries,

it’s odd. It’s like someone said it and a load of people jumped on it and keep posting it, even though it’s very wrong,

here is a graph that shows it now, uk has approx 64% ownership, 36% rental and would be the fifth lowest country for home ownership in comparison to all uk countries,

so it’s factually incorrect, in nearly all eu countries ownership is seen as the ideal.

In Europe renting is the norm.

factually you are incorrect and verified data shows that. In Europe, ownership is the norm.

Even if you live in a country where tenants have more rights, rents in certain cities have exploded in recent years and competition for rentals is awful. As in you would proactively hand a real estate agent your CV, credit check and all sorts to prove what a good tenant you’d be. If you got your place 10 years ago or more, you may have got a decent deal and it’s very hard to get you out. But on the flip side, should your life circumstances change (kids arriving, kids flying the nest etc.) you can’t move as a new property would cost more than what you are currently paying. Cue tons of families living in much too small accommodation and quite a lot of elderly folk who cannot downsize.
in short: it’s really not all sunshine and rainbows on the continent either.

in Switzerland they have what is called an Eigennutz Steuer, which means as a home owner you pay a tax according to how much that property would cost to rent. You can offset the mortgage off it. It means owning is less attractive and it’s more likely that people rent out portions of their house if they don’t need the room anymore. It smarts to pay it, but it does free up accommodation I guess.

We're in the same boat.

Where we live house prices are sky high, as is our rental, BUT it's still cheaper to rent in this area.

The only worries we have is the rent increasing further or landlord needing the house back for whatever reason.

Other than that it's much nicer than what we could afford to buy around here and we don't have any stresses about maintenance costs.

We have said we want to buy no later than 40, but we will see. It's all we wanted to do a few years back but it's better for us to rent at the moment.