Experiences with Private Renting

[SilverDoe]

If you currently or in the past have lived in a private rental, especially with kids, would you mind sharing your experiences?

I'm in a really vulnerable place right now; my local authority have accepted a duty to help me, but I am only considered "threatened with homelessness". This means they want me to look for a private rental.

I'm really nervous; I have technically lived in the private sector for years but it is a housing association so while the costs are similar, it is secure in that nobody is going to demand the property back from me.

I don't know anybody who privately rents; everyone in my life has either bought or is a social tenant. I've only heard horror stories from my time on Shelter's website; what I am most concered about is how long term is it usually? Has anybody lived in the same house for as long as they wanted? Or is it typical to need to move every couple of years?

We've always rented, first house we lived in was a lovely little cottage we lived there for 3 years and moved because we needed a bigger house due to me being pregnant, landlords lived abroad and as long as we were paying rent left us to it. The tenants that moved In after us are still there 8 years later. Good landlords who dealt with repairs quickly.

2nd house, we lived there 4 years, again we paid rent on time and the landlords left us to it, only moved because we had a 3rd child and needed an extra bedroom. Again tenants that moved in after us are still there 4 years later.

Current house, we've been here 4 years and plan on being here for many more.
Good landlords who are happy and leave us to it. They live just round the corner so we see them regularly to chat too. Any small repairs we do ourselves, bigger repairs we do and they pay for them and really big repairs they sort asap.

I've been in my rented property for over 7 years now, my landlord has confirmed that at an absolute minimum the place is mine until my daughter finishes secondary school in 4 years time.

Rent has only gone up twice in that time, and is still probably 25% below market value.

In return I look after the place well, and don't bother him with small issues. Now and then I'll send time and date stamped photos of each room so he can see everything is fine (he lives 2 hours away and he doesn't use an agent)

I private rented before I bought my house

My landlord was fab. Anything needing replaced or repaired was done almost immediately. It was managed via an agency who had 24/7 plumbers, electricians etc on call. Any other things like the fireplace not working was dealt with in days.

I had an inspection after the first year but after the agency said how good the flat was looking I never had another one

I stayed there 8 years and my rent never increased by so much as a penny. Other similar flats were being let for about 25% more than i paid but he preferred having a tenant who always paid on time & looked after the place.

It's a shame all LL aren't like him

I’ve been renting for over 20 years. In that time I stayed in one house for 6 years but needed to move as was studying in another town. Lived in my next place for 5 years and moved to a different city for work.
In fact, the only two times I was asked to move was when living in a house share and one of the flatmates wanted to move out and we couldn’t find a replacement (in was in a lockdown) and another time last year when the landlord wanted to increase our rent by 65%.
We are now renting from a lovely landlord who has become a friend and he is happy for us to stay for as long as we want and is not interested in rent increase as the house is mortgage-free.

private rented for the past 20 odd years... my current house, i've been in nearly 12 years. the landlord is young and happy for a long term let, my rent has never changed in the 12 years we have been here and its now very very reasonable, the landlord has no intention of raising it as we are good tennants, look after the house well and doesn't cost him in high interest rates etc.

I've been in my private rental for 12 years, never had a rent increase but it's not in the best condition.

My landlord now wants to sell and I'm priced out of the private rental market so will, most likely, be looking at homelessness/council for support.

Thanks so much, this is really reassuring. I am ill with the stress of this all so it helps to think that if we do private rent, it could be a reasonably secure home for us.

We’ve privately rented for around 12 years now, first house we lived in for approx 3.5 years. We were given notice on this house as the landlord decided to sell (and they did sell, it didn’t go back up for rent). They waited until we had moved out to start viewings etc as well. Second house we’ve been in for over 8 years now.
Like the others, we pay our rent, look after the place and only bother the landlord with major issues. About 3 years in we asked if he would replace the carpets (they were old and worn) and he did. Last year the decking became dangerous and he sorted out a full replacement of that too. Oh and we’ve had a new boiler since living here too (although the new one is rubbish! Probably the plumber mis-selling rather then a landlord issue).

I've privately rented 4 homes over about 7 years (left 3 times to move area for a new job, and once because the landlord decided to sell). The only problem I had was the one who wanted to sell up, so needed to leave in a hurry. For each new property had to be organised to pass the credit checks. Did have one idiot try to tell me I'd failed the credit check for not being on the electoral register: it had been election day the week before, and I never clear out my pockets, so just plonked my poll card on the desk. The properties were generally secure and safe, just some minor quibbles (a bathroom door handle that fell off, a boiler that I had to work out how to add water to on day one with snow on the ground...)

@smilingthroughgrittedteeth

oh that would be all the evil private landlords wouldn't it!

honestly people rubbing their hand with glee at it having become untenable to be be a private LL now need to read your post!

im glad you've only moved through choice!

We rent our old house to a lovely family. They have been there for 4 years and we have no intention of asking them to leave. We haven’t increased the rent since they moved in, the rent is now well below market value. We leave them to it, let them decorate the property to their taste if they wish and deal with repairs promptly.

@Littlebitpsycho oh & another positively Evil money grabbing LL.

What lovely security to know he has no plans to evict you & is giving as much security as he can.

Why are you at risk of losing your current home?

@SummerSplashing are you ok?

I rented in the UK for about 6 years, all in the same flat. It was a private rental through an agency, and with more experience, I would have been a bit more forceful when the boiler broke, etc. But on the whole, it was fine. The flat was big for the price, if a bit run-down. The agency was a bit useless: trying to cut corners etc. and slow to respond. But the landlady herself was very reasonable. Being from a culture where renting is normal, I did find the British attitude to renters (viewed with some sort of distrust, as though all renters are some strange sort of flat-destroying underclass) a bit strange.

I'm now in a European country where renting is common, living in the same building as my landlords (there are a number of flats, and they live in one). There's no agency involved: I deal with them directly for everything, and it's awesome. There is no corner-cutting involved, and one senses they take pride in the building and in the sense of community.

My mates just moved after 12 years in the same place. I have other friends that have rented the same places for a decade+

I know relatively few people that have had to move out because of the property selling or whatever, most people who moved did because they wanted/needed different things

We sold up in 2005/6 when we realised we could only ever own a place in an area we didn’t want to be. We’ve rented privately ever since, only the one crappy experience with deposits being kept for as long as legally allowed and a few cowboy city (Nottingham) agents many years ago. Now we live in an area we couldn’t ever buy in , our letting agent is really good , been here 8 years and everything is done virtually unless there’s a physical issue (damp reported , damp being dealt with). No idea what’s next but we’re happy renters. Helps that we are in a small town I think.

Privately rented for 16 years due to combined low income/self-employment, and an assumption we'd be ineligible for a mortgage. Our landlord served us out of the blue with a S21, no negotiation. We had previously been on good terms with him. We left of course, but it was a horrible experience with 3 kids.

I was never able to shake the feeling that a S21 could be served at any point during our tenancy, used to hate having to phone the landlord if something required maintenance.

The first house we rented was from a young couple who moved away for work, unfortunately that didn’t work out for them, and we were asked to leave after 6 months as they needed the house back. They moved in with family when they came back and were reasonable about a time frame for us to find something else and didn’t just boot us out.

2nd house we rented through an agent for a year, then the landlords dumped the agents and we rented directly from them. Really nice couple, left us to it, were really good about sorting out a few minor issues that arose in a good timeframe. They wanted to sell after a couple of years due to a change in circumstances, they wanted to sell with us as sitting tentants. We ended up buying the house from them, and they paid for our legal fees 🙂 stayed in the house for another 5 years before moving somewhere bigger

edit to add that the 2nd lot were happy for us to take on a dog from family member that couldn’t keep him anymore.

feel we were actually really lucky with both lots, despite the tenancies both ending for one reason or another that weren’t our choices

It’s down to luck really as to what kind of landlord you get. Some promise that you can stay long term but then change their minds. It maybe worth looking up how the law has changed in favour of tenants in recent times as this might give you more of a sense of security I hope things go well for you

It varies, I have been able to stay as long as I want with one exception. The properties tend to get a bit run down as they do the bare minimum of maintenance and decorating and as a tenant you are forbidden from doing it yourself. Rent has always been kept similar over long periods. Overall it's fine. I do know someone who got very unlucky and had to move 3x in 2 years as landlords kept wanting to sell. Generally it's not like that here, in the north west so not much pressure on housing.

I've had mixed experiences. A total psycho landlady who told us to get out of our stone cottage in the north immediately if we didn't like the fact the heating & hot water had broken in the middle of winter...

And a really lovely experience with a chatty, friendly landlady who used an agent but was happy to pop round to help us with the garden etc. Let us decorate how we wanted etc.

I understand your hesitation, but private renting really is the norm so I wouldn't be nervous. X

OP the vast majority of private renters and landlords get on with no issues. There is a contract and if both sides keep to it there is no reason for there to be.
I let out a house for 11 years to one tenant, my mortgage ended and doubled and so I for the first time I increased his rent and he gave notice. I have a flat with the same tenants for four years till they had a baby and moved. Another I have had a tenant for five years. I've not increased her rent and agreed to half rent during Covid as she lost her job and actually it took another year for her to go back up to original rent.
However the fact remains you are only entitled to live in a rented property for the length of your lease. You can ask for a longer one, but there usually is a break clause (which is for both sides). A landlord may intend to let for an indefinite time, but situations can change.
But it is unclear, if your property is secure, why you need to move?

It's so reassuring to hear all this, really thank you.

For those asking why we may be having to move from a secure HA tenancy to a private let, it is because me and my children are suffering constant intimidation and harassment from a close neighbour. The council have agreed they have a duty to help us secure alternative accommodation, but unless/until recommendations come directly from the police, they won't accept a full duty to rehouse.

This means my only option will be a private let.