To think being a tenant is an absolute misery

[nellyelloe]

For reasons I won't go into, we have found ourselves having to rent for 18 months after selling our house. Luckily we are now buying again so this won't be forever.

It has been the most eye opening 18 months of my life, and I feel SO sorry for people that are stuck renting. It has a genuine negative impact on my mental health. The constant reminders that it's not your home, never feeling relaxed as you're terrified of damaging something, the constant rent increases, the inspections. It's a total misery.

Now I do understand there are some awful tenants about who destroy houses, but that's not us. We haven't even put a single picture on the wall, pay our rent early every month and keep the house beautifully.

We have to suffer inspections every 3 months as per the contract. Now I know the landlord has the right to see how the house is being kept but it feels like an absolute invasion of our privacy every time, to have some 19 year old from the estate agents come round and take photos of the house and how we live. Every inspection fills me with weeks of dread even though I know the house is spotless and exactly as we moved into it. I stupidly didn't even think about it but we got our daughter a hamster and during the last inspection were really told off for it and told they would need to seek the landlord's permission as we had broken the no pets rule. After being a home owner for 20 years, it stupidly didn't cross my mind. Luckily we got the landlord's permission and a clause in the contract to keep Nibbles 🙄 I was made to feel like an absolute criminal for it, like I was storing a body in the loft. It is awful that people are made to feel like this over a pet, something that brings families and children so much joy.

The hinge fell off the integral dishwasher as it was old and dodgy. The 19 year old estate agent came round again to see if it was our fault or if it was due to reasonable wear and tear.....it was reasonable wear and tear as the dishwasher is 10 years old but again, made to feel like some careless idiot for a faulty hinge.

We have an app where we go on and pay the (£1700😬) rent and it has a lovely countdown on it saying when our contract ends...it's really unnerving seeing it and knowing they could kick us out at this point and we would have no right to stay, even if our house purchase doesn't complete in time.
Every 6 months, the rent has gone up £100. We are totally overpaying compared to other properties but again, we can like it or lump it. We are paying £300 more a month than we did 18 months ago. Our salaries have not increased. The mortgage on our house we are buying will be half our rent.

Renting is a constant reminder that it's not your home, that you need permission to breathe and you have people round to check up on you like a child has their parent check their room is tidy.

I honestly find it hellish. The housing system in this country is fucked. The renters reform act is now abandoned. I'm so glad I will be out of this soon but genuinely so sad for others who are in it for the long haul.

I rented for over 25 years before buying, from a variety of different agents in several different areas and my experiences were largely positive - and I had/have dogs!

your OP reminds me of when we rented from Belviour (sp) estate agents.

they were difficult estate agents.

I'm sure not all landlords are awful... but I moved to the UK and was amazed at how fucking awful all the ones I've had to interact with have been. And they're renting absolutely shitty homes not like the govt assessed and moderated market I was used to in 'the developing world'...

When I left my last rental, the LL made me stroke the walls in the bathroom with him to show me that my (£180) professional clean wasn't up to scratch. I reminded him of the two days I'd spent cleaning the shithole before I'd let my kids even see the place but he still didn't return my deposit. He owns 13 properties in the town I live in and I see him smarming about everywhere 🤮

I've had good and bad - currently in a very good but expensive lovely house. Agent has just done an inspection after 18 months fixed term and asked if we wanted another year fixed but to be honest it's a posh woman in her 50s who really just came to have a quick walk through and a general chat . Rent going up 5% - but that's still quite a lot on rent at this level- still I calculated it's cheaper than moving an unfurnished 4 bed house. We keep it nice too - it really is the luck of the draw - and that app idea is bloody awful!!!

Yes op I agree. Thankfully we only had one inspection in three years but it was really awful the build up to it! We keep the place well but I was completely on edge😂😂😂 the cost is so tough too and the worry of it increasing with the lack of stability. We hope to buy but at the moment are waiting a bit longer as having trouble finding somewhere we can afford.

Because it’s an extra insult as a grown adult being policed by someone who was a child at school 18 months ago.

I've rented for over 20 years and have never been in absolute misery. My current flat has very low rent, which hasn't increased in the two years I've been living here and there are no flat inspections. My previous flat was actually nicer, and the rent even lower. I didn't really care about the three monthly inspections. Of course I don't like the lack of security, but I have no choice so that's that. I do like it when there is a problem and I don't have to pay for it to be resolved - my last flat had several major plumbing issues. I have cats in my current flat, and even had a dog at the previous one. Not all landlords are bad.

The problem is you're giving a substantial amount of your earnings. Maybe the highest outgoing . And you are being treated like a child. Can't decorate. Can't have a pet. Have to be tidy. I hated privately renting it felt like you got a roof but not a home as you could be asked to leave whenever the landlord decided. It is so much dead money each month for so little value. If you make it nice you might have to leave it all behind at a moments notice.

@Butchyrestingface

to be fair having been both a tenant and a LL at various times (now happily a home owner - we'll joint owner with the bank!?) it wouldn't have occurred to me to ask or be asked about a hamster (anything caged).

I agree 100%, although I am not in the UK.

We were in house that we hated, and were happy to find another house that suited our needs much better. But agent said move in date was 1 week away. So we potentially could have paid double rent, although we were lucky and the previous house let us give only 2 weeks notice. (and then didn't give our security deposit back for a month or two, for no good reason, just sheer laziness)

But there is a whole bunch of work that needed doing on the house, that should really have been done before we moved in. So we had a few days of workmen traipsing through the house, and until that was done we didn't really have adequate hot water. For about 2 months. One person could take a shower at a time, just about.

Unfortuanately due to lack of choice where I live we were forced to take a furnished house. House is lovely but furniture is mostly old and breaking apart. Wardrobes that don't close properly, 2 chairs that broke as people sitting on them.

I have been both a good tenant and I was a very decent landlord. I didn't put up the rent for years as I was happy as long as the mortgage and service charges were covered. I never did inspections. I replaced anything the tenants said they wanted. I recently had to sell my rental property because after one tenant moved out, the remaining tenant was so difficult - he didn't pay for five months whereas I still had to pay the mortgage on the property. I couldn't get him out of the property and had to sell it - at a huge loss. This property was going to fund my children's uni years. I can see why so many people are leaving the market and its resulting in high rentals and more corporate landlords. I would advise anyone renting out their property not to bother.

and the inspections! I guess I am lucky that I have never had one until now. Our previous landlord never did one.

I don't really care that much, house was basically tidy but still felt like a real invasion of privacy.

The lack of security is very scary too. Love this house but I know once the year is up we could be evicted any day.

As long as there doing there job professionally the persons age isn’t relevant

I hope my kids don’t receive this level of judgment and resentment in there workplace

Why are people jumping on the 19 year old comment? Of couse op doesn't want someone of that age judging her when they probably still live at home themselves!

You're right it's awful.

I put absolutely everything into buying. A tiny dump in a crap area you own is better than any rental Ime.

I found renting awful. Properties never in good condition despite paying over 1.2k a month, nothing got fixed despite constantly bringing it up. At least in your own house you can choose not to fix something and have a plan for it, instead of just waiting to see if it will ever be fixed or sorted. Absolute best thing about being a home owner is coming up to the 6/12 month mark and not worrying whether your rent will be raised by however much or if you'll be asked to leave. Then the shortage of rental properties so having to move somewhere even worse. It's just stressful all round.

Exactly! And he does still live at home as we talked about it and how his mum still does his washing and ironing .
Not his fault of course, but it's mortifying to have a 19 year old judging how you keep your home. The invasion of privacy is the worst bit for me.

I'm so glad some people are great landlords or have a great landlord. I'd be just the same and would want people to feel totally at home. I'd genuinely leave them in peace.

I agree that this is likely the estate agent being bullish than the landlord.

Yes, I've felt an intense feeling of desperation to make a home my own since being in my 30s and stuck renting from terrible useless landlords.

It's extremely limiting and restrictive. I'm an artist and we're not even allowed to hang artwork on the walls. I have to grow everything in pots outside even though the garden is a stupid miserable patch of crappy lawn and I could create a BEAUTIFUL garden here if I had the freedom to. There are things that have been faulty since we moved in (and landlord notified straight away) but he can't be bothered to fix until it's absolutely necessary, one of which means we have to really slam our front door - our poor neighbours. I'm autistic and need to make adjustments to my home to be able to cope, like air conditioning, soundproofing, heavier interior doors, but can't do that here.

Renting is almost never a choice after a certain age, as much as landlords love to claim they're providing a service.

We're very lucky to have a landlord like teddleshon. No rent increase in the 9 years we've been here, any issues fixed quickly etc. It makes us better tenants as a result, we take care of the house like it's our own, look after the garden, pay our rent on time. Renting should be like this, just need more landlords like teddleshon and mine!

We rented our private tenancy home for nearly 11 years. Me as a single parent as 1 when we moved in, 2 when we moved out.

It wad the pits. Lead lined mouldy windows, no central heating and no double glazing. A kitchen that registered minus 5°C in the kitchen when I had my second child.
It snowed through the roof.

I was terrified of 3 month inspections as, when you're freezing and have a new born, you're not cleaning! Your hands are too cold!

I thought it was the end of my world - our world including my teenage son when we got a section 21.

Thankfully the council took us on and I couldn't be more grateful. They saved our lives.

I honestly do respect and fear what tenants are going through now.

YANBU. I’ve rented for over a decade in various parts of the U.K. and had maybe three decent landlords in that time. The rest have been somewhere between slumlord and actual criminal. Current one takes the absolute cake but I’d be here all night if I went into them.
A good landlord is a rarity and worth their weight in gold.

I rented 10years ago after a horrendous break up. The inspections where I found the sleazy agent looking through my nighties I had hung on my bedroom mirror. Or the memorable time he looked under the bed for evidence of my boyfriend living with me, it was so bad my Mum had to take time off work to chaperone me. I really hope things have improved.

It sounds like your with a very strict estate agent! 😬 especially with the 3mthly inspections and constant rent increases.

We have rented for the past 9 years.
We had some difficulties with our old property- the landlords were very tight and very particular....getting repairs done wasn't easy, and when we moved out it was fairly hellish because they moaned about numerous tiny issues they wanted us to fix...got quite heated in the end with the lettings agent and I had to say we would take it further with the ombudsman as they were refusing to give us a large chunk of our deposit back to pay for 'repairs and cleaning' that didn't need doing (we are good tenants who keep our houses well)
In the end we reached a compromise but it was bloody stressful.
We also had a similar pet issue with cats and had to pay hundreds to keep them when they (somehow?!) found out.Don't think that was from inspections as I hid them during those, but perhaps they drove past and saw them at the window or something.
Only plus was rent didn't go up too much

However our experience with our rental home now (different company and obviously landlord) has been completely different....the lettings agent manager pops his head in once a year for literally afew minutes.They are good at doing repairs when needed and generally just leave us to it to feel at home.
Rent only went up for the first time this year since we moved in 4 years ppreviously.Still below market norms.
No pets rule again, but we only have a hamster now and will pop her in the garage when they come.We feel like it's our home...it would be nice to own one day to be able to do more to a house, but other than wallpaper we can do pretty much whatever cosmetically here...flooring, painting, garden etc.

Rental experiences really can vary.
But it's not all bad.

I recently got a housing association flat after private renting for 12 years, been here a year now and it has been the calmest year of my life being able to live in peace from constant inspections, be able to make the place my own, and the worry of 8 weeks notice being given to leave at any time.

I lived on my nerves and despite keeping the place in good condition, got a passive aggressive threatening letter from letting agent after an inspection where they claimed the place was cluttered (my kids toys packed neatly in boxes 🙄). They treated us like naughty schoolkids. I had near panic attacks before every inspection (which were 8 weeks apart!) where they'd photograph the inside of the oven, fridge, and behind radiators. I could never properly relax, and felt under the microscope constantly.

Now, life is so much easier we don't have that on us anymore. While our flat will never financially be our own, it feels like home and our own place.

I wouldn't say so....we rent in a lovely leafy affluent village with nice neighbours, right next to a green space/play area, outstanding primary school in walking distance.
We couldn't ever afford to buy here, but renting allows us to enjoy the benefits still.