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

[Theinventoroftoasterstrudel]

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.

And at the end of that, in 30 years, you’ll own a house.

In 30 years, tenants will have nothing. It should cost a little more to own something in the end. Instead all those costs you have, they don’t vanish for tenants. They get passed on in the rent. Renting will always make you worse off because it covers mortgage, agent fees, landlord expenses (including all those you just listed), and profit. And at the end. Despite whining about the cost of it. The landlord will have a house. They will be mortgage free. Because someone else paid it off for them.

Are you kidding?

I spend more far more than that in a year on home maintenance, safety checks (annual boiler service etc.) and insurances that are required for home ownership!

A massive leak which means redecorating or plastering, roof issues etc. Plumbing issues or boiler. That would cost a lot!

YANBU! our mortgage has recently increased by almost £200 per month but our mortgage payment is still around £400 less per month than rental on similar properties. We bought our home in 2019 so have always just benefited from really low interest rates, so although it feels like a big jump really we've just been spoilt with very low rates in the past. I also imagine that tenants are experiencing rental increases to reflect the interest rates rising on buy to let mortgages as well. Ultimately there will be plenty of homeowners struggling with the increases but that's absolutely not to say that things are any easier for renters at all.

Well actually in my situation I will sell the house at the end of that to fund my retirement while renters get housing benefit alongside their pension to cover their rent. The grass really isn’t greener on either side!

Wouldn't insurance pay out for this?

When we had a big leak all the work was covered by the insurance (plastering, carpets, plumbing etc).

My father in law has just had to pay £11000 for a new boiler after it broke down.

Unless he has zero maintenance costs for the next 4 years, that alone is more than the ‘extra’ you pay in rent.

in my area, housing benefit is capped at £850 for me and my daughter. The cheapest 2 bed flat is £1300! Housing benefit is not an answer. And I don’t really want to be worrying about being evicted when I’m 80. But that’s life for a tenant. The grass is absolutely greener when you own something rather than nothing.

YANBU. I am in the process of remortgaging and will be paying £660 a month, which is more than I was paying before but still affordable. Renters pay £1400+ for similar properties, although it's correct that they qualify for more help through UC

My insurance wouldn’t pay for my leak as it was classed as maintenance not an accident. The hot water cylinder failed. If a pipe were to burst yes they would cover it. But not all things are covered.

@Haveallthesongsbeenwritten surely that kind of event would be covered by your home insurance which costs a few hundred pounds a year, not thousands. A new boiler costs a 2-5k and should last a decade at least so I'm not buying that boiler maintenance costs that much on its own. In fact the man our landlord sent out to service our boiler had a quote of £100 for a service on his van and the boiler's not been looked at other than an annual service since we moved here 3 years ago so again, it's not adding up.

That's really really expensive. Did he go through British gas or something?

In a way I agree with you (average mortgage holder) but also there are additional costs with being a homeowner. Buildings insurance, maintenance it feels like something goes wrong every other month. I know people with housing association tenancies. Secure, cheap rent,complaining about the inconvenience of them fitting new kitchens and insulation.

I think my point is people moan when their lives are worse than before. Things are shitter than they were for many of us. There's always going to be someone worse and better off than you. I think it can be acknowledged that life is hard for people renting in the private sector, rent is going up, lack of supply. Its also hard for those who have a mortgage as incomes are largely stagnant but everything costs more. No one group has a monopoly on misery there's plenty to go around.

Where are you going to live if you have no house?

Blimey, what’s he boiling, Loch Lomond?

Probably for not all of that, and again, it depends on your insurance level so you can add this as a monthly cost.
i was a renter up until few months ago and honestly we were better off renting!
now we have to worry about fences, trees in the garden etc. I am not arguing but in our case, we decided to buy but we had more money spare when renting.

Not all renters get housing benefit. My sibling is using their state & small work pension to pay their rent & is left with very little over for anything else.

Actually I think you are being overly fair to home owners here.

A better comparison is between just the interest they pay and the rent payments. Because the amount they are paying down the capital by is gradually building up their equity/paying down their debt so can't really be compared to rent

He is in the south and it was complicated by the fact the old boiler was in a bedroom which no longer meets legal standards so he also had to pay for the loft floor to be reinforced so it could be moved up there and new pipework etc.

I also wonder why any of the ‘owning is more difficult’ people continue to own rather than selling and renting, as it’s so much cheaper and more convenient.

We managed to buy our first house last year and had our deal before Liz got hold of the economy.
Our 4 bed rental was £825 ( no increase in the 5 years we lived there) and the mortgage on our 3 bed house is £300 more but I'm still very very thankful we finally managed to become home owners.
There was a point where we ended up in 3 rentals in 14 months, that's no way for anyone to live.

Ah right! Makes sense. Sounds messy.

Well quite. I think they are being disingenuous and they know full well they are in a more privileged position.

Either buy a smaller property as kids will have left home or rent.

I could say the same for renters.

But I’m not saying it’s more difficult. I’m saying it’s equally as difficult right now when the OP said home owners have it “far easier”.