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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think people with an average mortgage are still far better off than their renting counterparts

242 replies

Theinventoroftoasterstrudel · 28/05/2023 21:06

I met with a friend today who was moaning about having sorted their remortgage this week and how their payments have increased by £250 a month due to interest rises. She's now paying £1000 for their 3 bed semi and I do fully appreciate how stressful knowing this remortgage was due has been for them this past year and how painful suddenly paying so much more is. I'm not in any way trying to minimise that for my friend or others with a mortgage in this position.

However, I rent and we live in a very similar property in a similar area to her which I had been paying over £1100 for for the past 2 years and a few months ago this increased to £1250. When we were told about the increase we looked to see if there was anything we could possibly find for cheaper and everything comparable was actually closer to the £1400 mark.

I feel like the news has covered the impact interest rises are having on home owners virtually every day since the mini budget last September but renter's have only had a cursory 'and rents will increase due to landlords passing on their increases' at the end of the odd story. And with zero acknowledgement that rents were already so much higher than mortgages anyway and still are. It's not like renting has suddenly become the better option; it's still utterly impossible!

Am I being unreasonable to think there needs to be more outrage and support for renters and not just those needing to remortgage.

OP posts:
Divorcedalongtime · 28/05/2023 21:09

Yep. Spoke to a man the other day who was complaining their mortgage has gone from £300 / month to £600 / month. I failed to feel terribly bad for him as my rent is 1200

Babyroobs · 28/05/2023 21:10

YANBU. And at least homeowners will own the home at the end. I currently have 2 adult dc's and ds1's gf living with us as none of them can afford to get on the property ladder but I would rather them live here rent free and save than have to rent long term.

Babyroobs · 28/05/2023 21:11

I guess the only benefit for some renters on lower incomes is that they can get help to pay the rent through Universal credit wheras mortgage holders get very little help this way.

SquashPenguin · 28/05/2023 21:14

It’s shit for everyone.

SquashPenguin · 28/05/2023 21:15

Babyroobs · 28/05/2023 21:11

I guess the only benefit for some renters on lower incomes is that they can get help to pay the rent through Universal credit wheras mortgage holders get very little help this way.

This is true. I’d be gutted if my boiler broken down soon after remortgaging as well.

SaturdayGiraffe · 28/05/2023 21:17

I feel very sorry for tenants. Rents only ever go up. But mortgages only ever get less.

SweetSakura · 28/05/2023 21:18

Yanbu. It's utterly shit for renters (and i say that as a homeowner).

Dressydress · 28/05/2023 21:18

Yanbu. I pay 1900 a month. It was 1600 up until this month. But that's still cheap for our area

ohfook · 28/05/2023 21:18

I wonder if it depends where you live? Round here it's always been far more expensive to rent that to pay a mortgage because I live somewhere with relatively cheap housing so it's sort of universally accepted that renters are having it harder right now.

Haveallthesongsbeenwritten · 28/05/2023 21:20

Theinventoroftoasterstrudel · 28/05/2023 21:06

I met with a friend today who was moaning about having sorted their remortgage this week and how their payments have increased by £250 a month due to interest rises. She's now paying £1000 for their 3 bed semi and I do fully appreciate how stressful knowing this remortgage was due has been for them this past year and how painful suddenly paying so much more is. I'm not in any way trying to minimise that for my friend or others with a mortgage in this position.

However, I rent and we live in a very similar property in a similar area to her which I had been paying over £1100 for for the past 2 years and a few months ago this increased to £1250. When we were told about the increase we looked to see if there was anything we could possibly find for cheaper and everything comparable was actually closer to the £1400 mark.

I feel like the news has covered the impact interest rises are having on home owners virtually every day since the mini budget last September but renter's have only had a cursory 'and rents will increase due to landlords passing on their increases' at the end of the odd story. And with zero acknowledgement that rents were already so much higher than mortgages anyway and still are. It's not like renting has suddenly become the better option; it's still utterly impossible!

Am I being unreasonable to think there needs to be more outrage and support for renters and not just those needing to remortgage.

Depends. We were super lucky to be rented a 1 bedroom flat for £500 (no bills included, private landlord who never put the price up whilst we stayed as we did loads of diy ourselves), we now have bought a 2 bedroom house and mortgage is £1200 due to high interest. So in our situation we arent better off but we wanted to buy and contribute to our own mortgage.

SummerSimmer · 28/05/2023 21:20

YANBU
it is shite for renters and almost impossible to save and rent.
I have tried to explain to my adult DC to prioritise trying to buy before having a family.

Madwife123 · 28/05/2023 21:21

Are you forgetting that home ownership comes with other costs?

Our mortgage has increased by £300 a month. Our help to buy loan has increased by 50 a month. Building insurance by £7 a month.

So just over £350 increase in a very short time and then the hot water cylinder springs a leak.

£150 emergency plumber to stop the leak
£320 heating engineer to repair the cylinder
£160 replaster the ceiling that the water leaked through
£80 repaint the water damaged areas

Still hoping that the carpet will dry out and not need replacing as that will be another £600 on top.

Over £1100 we have had to pay out EXTRA this month on top of our usual mortgage cost.

BananaBlue · 28/05/2023 21:22

YANBU.

Im mortgaged, but I’ve read threads on here where renters have 8 weeks to find a new home and cannot.

I cannot imagine how stressful that must be 😢

CountessBathorysBeautySecrets · 28/05/2023 21:23

Generally speaking a mortgage gives you a sense of security. Renters in the UK do not have a sense of security.

Dressydress · 28/05/2023 21:23

@Madwife123 I get that but our rents are high and it covers these things too.

SweetSakura · 28/05/2023 21:24

BananaBlue · 28/05/2023 21:22

YANBU.

Im mortgaged, but I’ve read threads on here where renters have 8 weeks to find a new home and cannot.

I cannot imagine how stressful that must be 😢

Exactly. A friend of mine just went through this, it was horribly stressful for her. Her and her DH have two young children, one in school. they were without a home (staying in another friends spare room) for several months

FrownedUpon · 28/05/2023 21:25

Renting is tough because rent will only increase, while mortgage payments will eventually dwindle to nothing. Renting is disheartening, especially if you have no hope of saving enough to ever buy your own home.

Madwife123 · 28/05/2023 21:26

Dressydress · 28/05/2023 21:23

@Madwife123 I get that but our rents are high and it covers these things too.

That’s the point I’m making. Rent doesn’t just cover rent. It covers repairs, emergencies, safety checks, updating, insuring the building. All the things that home owners pay on top of their mortgage. So while it may seem cheaper to have a mortgage in actual fact it’s probably around the same by the time the home owner pays all the things the rent also includes.

Of course you own your home at the end of it but on the flip side there is almost no help available if you fall on hard times. A renter can claim housing benefit. A home owner can’t etc.

Madwife123 · 28/05/2023 21:28

Plus there are legal caps in place as to how much landlords can increase rent per year. No caps for how much mortgage interest increases per year.

It isn’t the case that home owners or renters are worse off. EVERYONE (except the very wealthy) is struggling and it’s not a race to the bottom.

Original poster
Theinventoroftoasterstrudel · 28/05/2023 21:29

I'm genuinely not trying to say that people with mortgages are not struggling. It's hard to word exactly what mean without it sounding like I'm saying 'people with mortgages have it so easy' but that's not what I'm trying to say.
I just feel that since last September, the discussion has been pretty much exclusively about how it's those with mortgages that are suffering the most due to interest rate rises but it is simply a fact (it seems) that it's still more expensive to rent and renters are taking just as much of a financial hit as a direct result of the interest rate rises but no one's talking about that anymore.
And yes I appreciate that there are other costs involved in home ownership but unless your mortgage is up for remortgage soon, this isn't something that is currently affecting every homeowner where everyone I know who rents seems to have had their rent increased. And you can bet you bottom dollar that not every one of their landlords has actually had to remortgage when they made the decision to increase their rent.

OP posts:
Haveallthesongsbeenwritten · 28/05/2023 21:35

Theinventoroftoasterstrudel · 28/05/2023 21:29

I'm genuinely not trying to say that people with mortgages are not struggling. It's hard to word exactly what mean without it sounding like I'm saying 'people with mortgages have it so easy' but that's not what I'm trying to say.
I just feel that since last September, the discussion has been pretty much exclusively about how it's those with mortgages that are suffering the most due to interest rate rises but it is simply a fact (it seems) that it's still more expensive to rent and renters are taking just as much of a financial hit as a direct result of the interest rate rises but no one's talking about that anymore.
And yes I appreciate that there are other costs involved in home ownership but unless your mortgage is up for remortgage soon, this isn't something that is currently affecting every homeowner where everyone I know who rents seems to have had their rent increased. And you can bet you bottom dollar that not every one of their landlords has actually had to remortgage when they made the decision to increase their rent.

I think if “you” rent you are better off because your landlord will be fixing anything. Also you wont need things like a mortgage protection insurance etc.

OnSusansFloor · 28/05/2023 21:36

YANBU. I'm mortgaged and dreading my upcoming increase, but I have a friend who had her second baby a week ago and their landlord (in a property they've only been in for 6 months) has just given them 8 weeks notice to leave as he wants to sell. The absolute maximum they can afford is about £300 below what they'll need for a 2-bed around here. The stress she and her DH are under, whilst also trying to navigate all the adjustments that come with having a new baby in the family, is enough to sink a ship. I really worry that it will break them.

BungleandGeorge · 28/05/2023 21:37

You’re not comparing like with like as I’d guess she has a considerable equity in the house for her payment to be only 1k a month?
youve also forgotten the maintenance costs of owning a home which are considerable. Plumbing issues, gutters swept, boiler servicing, general maintenance and repairs are all regular expenses not required when renting

Original poster
Theinventoroftoasterstrudel · 28/05/2023 21:40

Okay, so the argument for home maintenance (not improving to your personal taste because we all know that landlords absolutely don't do this.. Genuine, essential maintenance), you're telling me that the average homeowner spends £3000 a year, every year on this? Because that's the difference between my rent and my friend's new mortgage rate. And like I said, if I were to move I'd actually be looking at £1400 so that's £4800 a year, just on essential maintenance. I'm sorry, but I find that hard to believe.

OP posts:
Larner · 28/05/2023 21:40

Yanbu. Plus, renters pay rent till they die.

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