Why do people prefer to rent rather than buying a house?

[Cocktailglass]

Genuine question, AIBU to not get that in the long run you pay off mortgage, own your home to pass on to your DC and rent, especially with the high rates now, is dead money?

I do of course understand getting a mortgage is harder now and house prices, I'm talking about people who have been renting all their lives.

Unless having rent paid for on benefits, I don't get why anyone working hasn't got on the property ladder, less to pay every month with a long term mortgage, eventually nothing to pay unlike rent.

As I said, not talking about now, but decades ago. You showed your earnings, were offered the best deal of what you could borrow, bought your first home within these means, a starter home with the intention of paying far less for payments than rent, property goes up in value, you buy your next home without too much of an increase, still less than renting. So the upgrading continues and initially you just get what you can afford to get on the ladder.

Renting does give you the benefit of any problems being the responsibility of the landlord but all depends on how good they are! With council properties in a much better position as houses are upgraded and issues dealt with (hopefully) more quickly.

Plainly speaking, you work, give a significant part of your income to someone else just to live in their house, pay bills and CT. What's the benefit of this rather than knowing you're paying straight into a loan for your own property, a financial asset, it's yours? Xxx

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what a goady post

Where are these people that prefer to rent?

A lot of people can't afford to buy. It's not new knowledge.

How much will you have paid in interest and maintenance over 25 years to own?
That rent and maintenamce and new carpets is "dead money"
What if you needed to relocate for work?
What if you got divorced?
What if you didnt have 100k deposit in london ?
Lots of reasons to rent.
Do not be a #SmugMortgagegee

Because saving a deposit is too hard
To avoid maintenance costs
To be flexible

There was another post about someone who bought a flat that’s worth less than it was bought for 10 years ago and the mortgage is higher than the rent would be.

Self employed people have trouble getting mortgages.

anyone has trouble getting a mortgage to cover house prices in large parts of the south east and this was true twenty or thirty years ago as well.

my parents couldn’t get a mortgage for a house down south so they moved to Lancashire and this was in 1980.

I think there are very few people who prefer to rent. More people who, for one reason or another, have to rent.

Of the (few) who prefer to, reasons could be

• sold a house and looking for a new one
• only in the area for a short time
• employer are paying as part of relocation
• property developer (or other investor) who has their liquidised assets to invest elsewhere

Even decades ago you needed a deposit. For some that’s almost impossible.
And people like freedom. No tying up their capital, no paying if things go wrong - two months notice and bye!

ignoring the goady parts, and focusing on the question decades ago.

a tenancy can be passed to those children, a property would be taken in care home fees.

Renting for life is a lot more common in some other countries, but they also have safer and stricter laws and regulations in place I believe.

If we take money out of the conversation, most of my renting experience was shit, with shit landlords who refused to fix things. So i would imagine some people may prefer their renting experience if they have had reliable landlords.

In my case it was because for 20 years I only had temporary jobs and never knew which part of the country I'd be moving to next. (Plus never earnt enough to save a deposit).

So where exactly was the deposit supposed to come from?

Was I supposed to pull £20k out of my arse?

Not everyone has a mummy and daddy that can either give them a decent deposit or who's house they can stay in while they save up.

Some of us have been out on our own since 16 and have always had to pay rent, which as you quote rightly say, is more expensive than a mortgage, giving you much less disposable income to save.

Bet you're also one of those people who doesn't understand why there are adults who don't drive because you thought everyone had lessons at 17.

I own a house but would happily go back to renting. Maintenance costs/work are an absolute bastard and I have no freedom to move for work purposes.

Settling in...

Unless someone needs to live somewhere temporarily for work I don't know anyone who PREFERS to rent.
Unless it's a council/housing association tenancy (which is secure) it's a terrifying way to live. No security.

The simple fact is people can’t afford it.

As has been said, so many variables in life - freelance workers not being granted mortgage, frequent relocation, not having a deposit. In our case we can’t afford to buy the dream home in our chosen area but we can easily afford to rent here and save for a deposit for a longterm family home. If we bought a home in this area right now it would be too small for our family and we’d need to move again in about 4 years due to DC ages- meaning shelling out on stamp duty, conveyancing and moving costs all over again- chucking money down the drain basically.

Also, you’re paying a fuckload of interest on that mortgage.

some people have such tunnel vision it’s unbelievable

Right now, I can afford to save up for a deposit because my landlord is a 90 old man, who has no idea how much market rent currently is so the rent has stayed the same for the last 8 years. It's expensive in comparison to a mortgage, but it's very cheap compared to other properties in the area.
But as soon as he dies, his kids are immediately going to sell and I am gone. So I have to hope I can save enough to buy this house or another one before he does.
Basically, the security of my home is dependent on whether or not an old man lives or dies.
Which kinda sucks.

Sounds like goady old shite 🥳🥳

So that they can whine and play victim in the Daily Mail when they never heat the house or open the windows, dry all their laundry on radiators and cause mould, and bitch and moan on Mumsnet when their landlord wants to do viewings to sell the house, duh....

Do you know many people who choose to rent when they could buy? I don’t.

I'm 50 and bought my first and only house age 34.

reasons for not buying earlier were:

Moving around a lot (different countries)
not having a stable job
not having a steady income
not having a deposit

I did feel looked down on especially not having bought by age 30, but I wasn’t in a position too. most of my friends had a partner, steady jobs and deposit from parents. It’s a different ball game without any of those ..

Hope that helps!

Self employed can get a mortgage they just need to show three years accounts. All the self employed people I know, mostly trades people all have mortgages including my other half, it wasn't difficult for us to get a mortgage. You mean self employed people that don't earn a lot eg hair dressers or people that take cash in hand as their income looks poor.

pretty sure its 2 years