To never feel completely comfortable renting

[yippyde]

I just so badly wish I was in a position to buy but I am not yet. And whenever I'm renting I have this underlying anxiety constantly.

It's knowing that we can be kicked out with two months notice at any time for any reason.

It's that even though we always pay rent on time, our landlord is always determined to find a way either not to fix things, fix them cheaply or insist that we caused it.

It's that most times I've moved out of a property they have tried to take charges from the deposit. Even though the deposit protection agency has never sided with them, it seems like fair game for landlords to have a try at a bit of extra money and it's still stressful to have to have the fight.

It's that at the moment I'm studying and waiting to start a job in a new career in approx two to three months while my DH is a SAHP so we are living off savings for the time being. If we had to leave we would not find anyone to accept us without income and would need to move in with my parents, cramped in a house with four adults, an infant and their dog until I start my new job and then actually find a place.

It's house inspections and how intrusive they feel.

It's that any time the landlord does come around to assess a problem I've reported I feel I have to make it sparkling clean. I also feel like I have to prepare for him to blame us for causing the problem even when it would be ridiculous to. He's coming tomorrow and I'm already worrying and know it's going to be a big thing that's on my mind all morning.

It's that we purposely went for an agency managed property hoping that they would help with landlord issues and know about tenant rights but they have been useless and I suspect dishonest. Any time we report an issue it takes constant phone, email and even office visiting follow ups because they ignore us all the time. They clearly don't like the landlord either but just shrug and say that there's nothing they can do when he drags his feet on sorting things that he's contractually obliged to sort.

It's that the answer isn't ONLY to get a better landlord (although it does help) because I've had one or two decent ones and even then I just don't feel completely comfortable knowing that my home can be taken from me at any time and I would have to start again, move furniture, set up bills etc.

It's that you can't fully make it your own. Yes you could paint rooms and paint them back at the end but it's not the same as owning a house and saving up so that you can get a new kitchen put in exactly as you want it etc and over the years being able to build something you love.

It's that everything's always a bit rough around the edges. Stiff doors or wonky drawers or little things that aren't "repairs" as such but are just evidence of how everything is done in the cheapest possible way by the cheapest person available.

I've grown up with a family of tradesman and everything in the house was solid and robust and fitted well and so I suppose the rented places I've lived in have been quite noticeably different.

With this house particularly I've just never settled and so I suppose the feeling is even stronger than usual. I loved it when viewing but ever since moving in I've disliked the house and the vibe. It's just doesn't feel homely no matter what I do. Its very old and things are just constantly going wrong with it.

In a few months we will financially be in a position to move to another rented place but when we found this one there were waiting lists for viewings and people making renter CVs. I don't think the situation has improved - I look regularly and there's just hardly any properties for rent and they go so quickly. So it's finding somewhere suitable and actually being picked out of probably a lot of prospective tenants (let's face it, young professionals are going to be more popular than a couple with a baby).

I know that if you can't afford to buy then this is just how it is. And I know that the answer from a lot of people is that I need to earn more money so I can buy. I'm trying - hence the career change - but it will be a good few years until we can consider it I suppose.

I just really wish in the mean time that I felt comfortable and secure in my home instead of having that constant underlying anxiety. I think it's so important to feel safe and for home to feel like home.

Could you apply with a housing association ? It took me 3 years. It’s so much more secure

I rented in London for years. Often on my own. It’s scary and feels very precarious.

I now own, thanks to my DH.
There is a great feeling of security and the weight of worry from renting has finally lifted.
You are on the path to owning, just keep that as your focus.

I'm so sorry. It really sucks. I don't understand why there can't be guaranteed long tenancies in this country, where you wouldn't have to live in fear of being turfed out and you'd be able to do some things to the house yourself because you knew you'd be there for a long time and it was worth it.

Not all LL are bad OP. I've been a LL for 18 years and have 10 btl houses. I've only had to ask tenants to leave once and that was because of antisocial behaviour, they kept having bonfires in their garden when neighbours had washing out on line and annoying the neighbours with loud music playing late at night. I asked them to stop the bonfires and music by 9 but they played it even later. I know neighbours complained to council. Neighbours said they smoked weed in the garden. I did a section 21 and they moved out but decided not to pay me the last month's rent. Some tenants have been with me for 8 years.

I don’t blame you OP. I feel really sorry for people who have to rent. In my area the rents have sky rocketed due to an influx of Londoners and Airbnb. Normal families are struggling to be able to afford to live in our town. It’s depressing.

I get this, but with mine there have never been any inspections. We've been here 8 years. My mum used to live here with me and DD until she moved out over a year ago. The landlady did pop round then to have a chat with me, got the tenancy agreement changed solely into my name. And then it just carried on. No inspections, they do gas check once per year. The rent has never increased (thankfully!) since we moved in in December 2015.

YANBU

YANBU YANBU YANBU YANBU YANBU YANBU

I could rant about this for days (like an old man shouting at the clouds.)

Shelter is a basic human necessity. A system in which some people own loads of houses and charge exorbitant amounts to people who can't afford one is BROKEN. Except it's not broken, is it. It's working exactly as it's supposed to. I pay someone else's mortgage and that ensures I'll never be able to afford my own house while my landlord makes money from my labour and dehumanises me with 'house inspections' and mouldy bathrooms and a shitty stovetop that burns every pan.

I know what you mean. I'm 64 and will be renting for the rest of my life, and it does feel precarious. I'm okay where I am, the rent is cheap, and I've been here for 18 months and not had an inspection, so really can't complain. However, I would like a slighly more modern, sunny, place, but it is impossible for a cheap rent, and I'm not really likely to have to move from this flat so I have to stay. I was in my last flat for 19 years, and yes, the inspections were a pain. Landlords in both places were/are good, thankfully.

I'm in the position where I have too much money to qualify for social housing.

That's exactly how I feel. I'm not in the UK, but we need this sort of thing here also, especially as there are only going to be more people in future who can't buy.

I privately rented for a couple of years between owning houses, I completely understand the underlying anxiety all the time about the house not being your own and the landlord being able to decide anything at any time.

I’m very minimalist (and tidy) yet I was subjected to random visits from the landlord every few weeks in which I felt I had to clean super thoroughly each time. He stuck to the 24 hours notice (by law) every time but even then I found it very intrusive and unnecessary. I couldn’t decorate (fair enough) and wasn’t allowed to do any gardening, he even told me off for using his green bin ! It was so restrictive but I couldn’t do anything else at the time as the rent was really reasonable and it was in an area which I knew the neighbours well so I probably put up with it longer than I should. I feel for you OP.

I know how you feel. I'm almost 65 and will have to rent for the rest of my life. It is the not knowing when you are likely to get a section 21 because the landlord wants you out. It never feels secure.

I have been in this house for 4 years [ last landlord sold up, so I had to move ]. I am lucky here with my landlord as they manage the property themselves and if anything needs doing they do it straight away. I have never had an inspection since I have been here, but I know from previous properties just how intrusive these are.

Once I retire I will look into HA over 55's accommodation, where hopefully I can finally make a forever home for myself and not have the constant worry that the landlord could sell the house at anytime.

Sounds grim. I just don’t think the government properly understand this. So many people not having kids because they don’t feel ‘settled enough because that are renting precariously.

in other wily countries investment companies will build rental apartments and lease them. They have more of an incentive to repair things regularly, and have the funds to do so. They also don’t turf people out on a whim. I think these developments are what we need to encourage here. But yes in the meantime renting is 100% shit

What you're talking about is a lease.

But I suspect you mean an actual long term rental. It can't happen because you live in someone else's property.

Renting is by its nature insecure.

It's the fact you can if you wanted. If the shit hit the fan and you wanted to sell up or something the decision is out of the tenants hands and that's what feels precarious. Just having someone else in charge entirely of your home.

Exactly. People not being able to start families because of this

I see threads on here, where parents aren't happy with a school and the general advice is to avoid the disruption or changing schools, if possible
Yet, families who privately rent, particularly at the lower end of the market, have little choice.
My own DS attended 3 different primary schools, because of having to move, when we rented privately.
All the evidence shows that these children are disadvantaged by it.
www.thersa.org/press/releases/2013/07/devastating-impact-of-moving-school-revealed

If you are studying, can you or DP find PT work? For neither of you to have an income and be using savings is unnecessary.

Completely agree. I had a section 21 last year. As soon as I knew I applied for HA or to get on the list as I could see so few houses available, I replied within minutes of any requests for details and she called 7 weeks later asking if I'd sorted a house and said I had no chance of anything other than temp (b&b) anywhere in my county (could be an hour or 2 from school and work) for at least 18 months as there were no houses. I had found somewhere, pretty much the only house I could afford and it's in anotown, I'm constantly driving back for school, friends and work - hate it and trying yo get back but now all 3 beds are £1500 it seems which is ridiculous.
I hate feeling so insecure about feeling safe in my 'home'.
My section 21... ended up with the Landlord regarding renting for a third on top of what I was paying.

People having security in their own home should not be dependent on the whim of the landlord. Great that you're nice about it, but plenty aren't. By owning btl you are actively perpetuating a system that disadvantages people for profit.

It would make no difference. LL can afford to be choosy. There's a housing crisis.

I'm not referring to applying for another house, I'm suggesting they have an income rathe than live solely from savings.

I rented for nearly 5 years with my children. I hated it.
The whole time, despite my requests they stop, or lengthen the time, I had inspections every 3 months. Not one thing was ever raised.

My bathroom was full of mould from damp and condensation and I was left to live in that for a year, the landlord kindly sent me a fact sheet on what condensation was and how to avoid it (property was damp, cold and needed repairs)

I had a garden FULL of his bushes and greenery and nothing to cut them with. Regularly I’d be on a chair battling it all, when if had been mine I would have chipped it down.

5 years of magnolia, 5 years of no sky because the landlord didn’t like the dishes, but told I could have it if when I left I removed the entire dish and filled the holes.

Some random doing bodge jobs of everything.

Through that I was secure as he never planned to sell, then he had a turn in his fortunes and started saying he was selling and giving me notice, then not selling, then he was selling and that’s when the insecurity really hit me, he could remove us on any whim he wanted.

Fortunately this timed in with a payout and being able to buy. If I hadn’t had that I don’t know where we would be, as no one wanted to rent to a single parent at any point!

Buying was the biggest relief of my life.

Your LL must be losing money hand-over-fist if the rent hasn't been increased in ~8 years 😮

YANBU and I would look for a more secure rental. That said, I used to rent from a housing association and didn't have more security than if I'd been renting privately because they were aiming to renovate the block where I lived. They gave me two months' notice to move out when they got around to doing the works, and I'd lived there 12 years. So I would say, even with a housing association, make sure you know what your rights are.