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

Some who CHOOSE to rent for life, do it because they have a social housing tenancy, with a very affordable rent, (3 times cheaper than private rent in some areas,) a lifetime tenancy, all their repairs done, and maintenance on their property for life, (expensive roof repairs, new windows, new doors, new kitchen, new bathroom, new central heating system, new electrics, the works!)

And if they can't work/don't work for some reason they get their rent paid. Even when they retire. Other people who bought their property and brag about it being paid for, still have to shell out 1000s and 1000s of pounds for house repairs and maintenance, forever whilst their social housing friends, acquaintances, and family etc, are getting everything done as it's included in the rent.

Hope that answers your question @Cocktailglass

NO-ONE should feel 'looked down on' as a renter. Many people who look down on people who rent (especially social housing) are jealous.

the majority of renters have it from the government? a life tenancy on a council house which rent you can afford especially if it is paid for you? that is a good deal and you don't sweat the small things to be able to find a job. You might not leave an inheritance but at least you have where to live until you are alive

That's my whole point, a mortgage is more affordable. Yes you need a deposit but back in the day it was a low amount.

well university students and new graduates will prefer to rent than buy, not having accumulated savings yet and not knowing where employment prospects are best.
young professionals who might be in a phase of working throughout the country or internationally.
people who are contemplating moving and need temporary accommodations (my daughter is selling and will rent for a year or so in a prospective community before committing to buying).

Good for you. I’ve worked since I was 14.

My parents lived in a tied cottage so not having a mortgage was very normal in farming circles. Also paid a pittance.

Yes there are lots of properties around the country for 50k to 100k where that would be a 10% and then 5% deposit. NE/midlands/some parts of the NW/Wales

First post nails it! The "Xxx" are the icing on the goady cake.

Because the don’t have a good credit rating, so they can’t get a mortgage?

Oh FFS @Cocktailglass. I bought my first flat in London in 1981. I was working for an investment bank, my salary was £9,200 (incredibly lucky), I'd saved £3k because I'm a canny git and my dad gave me £6k, which was actually guilt money (2nd wife and living overseas). I was able to do it because I was privileged. Most of my friends couldn't do it without help from parents, at least not in London. And that was 45 years ago.

A different perspective - I was terrible for money for a long time - awful family dysfunction with money that took me decades to shake off. No partner to buy with. No bank of mum and dad (until I was 49 and one of my parents gifted me a five figure sum). Spent some of my disposable income on crap. Had a few years in total of not working, thus depleting my savings pot. Boy, do I regret some of that now, and the property boom of recent years has passed me by and I am about to buy a small terraced house at 51 with a mortgage round my neck until 67 (but better than renting in house shares). The semi-detached or detached house is never going to happen now.

People in the UK are weird about owning a house I wonder what the obsession is about it. It's not all that OP.

You're right, but some of those areas in those regions where the houses are dirt cheap are shit holes. Also, deposits of under £10k are usually restricted to those people in their 20s and 30s.

Yes, banks lent money to people who couldn’t really afford it, and then they ended up losing their homes during the 2008 financial crash. Are you really that ignorant?

I would never buy another flat because there are too many problems with neighbours, communal areas, repairs etc. Don't even get me started on the cladding issues and service charges that go up quicker than the price of gas, often for questionable expenses, all of which have 20% VAT. These can end up higher than your mortgage and you just dread the envelopes appearing, which you were told would only be quarterly. People are absolute prisoners, stuck, broke and miserable.

I own my house, but if I couldn't afford an individual house I would much rather rent a flat than buy one. I have urged my children not to buy flats because of all these pitfalls, and to just rent unless and until they can buy an house, with no service charges or leaseholds etc.

We are 55 and just bought our first property in December. I can assure you, a mortgage is twice the price of renting and we have gone from detached with a large garden to semi detached with a smaller garden. Surely you can work out for yourself people have different lives to you?

How old are you?
When did you buy?
How much did your house cost and what was your income at the time?

It's not now though is it?!!!

But if you didn't have the deposit, then how much cheaper it was overall is irrelevant. It is like you're being obtuse on purpose.

Multibuys are cheaper, but if you literally don't have the money to buy the larger quantity, you're not buying it regardless of the savings. It is expensive being poor.

People have lived paycheck to paycheck, choosing which bill to pay for decades. It's not a new thing.

Totally agree with you @Charliede1182 It's always better to stretch to a house than buy a flat. With a leasehold flat (like most of them are) you never own the property, even if you pay off your mortgage. And flats usually don't appreciate in value as much as houses, proportionately.

100% this! ^ More trouble than it's worth sometimes. Unless you are a fairly high earner, your mortgage is less than a fifth of your income, and you have 10s of 1000s of pounds squirrelled away for a rainy day/for repairs, then it can really take its toll and leave people in debt.

Honestly not being goady at all! After renting for 6 years, landlords who did the bare minimum for house problems, limited control of what I could do to improve down to colur of paint, still doing all the things to maintain your home like painting fences, getting new carpets to make it better.

Having worked since age 16 and studying, got a good job, just saw rent money as a waste, put away a bit every month over years for a £5000 deposit, mortgage for cheapest property I could afford, repossession with light fitments ripped out, mouldy carpets, back garden a jungle. It was mine, worked hard to make it better and the mortgage was half of what I was paying so that saving meant I could put into my house.

This really is the basis for my question, my own experience, decades ago, which I made a point of saying because it's different and harder now.

Also agree about buying flats. Never. I never would .. I know plenty of people do though, so it works out OK for some.

Lots of us have been on the property ladder and fallen off it due to unforeseen relationship breakdown etc..... and saving for a deposit in the current climate is really hard.

I've been lucky and recently managed to buy a property again, but it wasn't easy.....

A lot of people who buy are gifted a deposit, not all of course - and many people have families who just can't afford, or do not choose, to do that.

I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to buy my own place. Not even the smallest part of me judges those who can't.

And sometimes it's just more practical to rent for a while + trying out a new area for a while, need the flexibility, whatever ....

It's not impossible to imagine that others' lives and choices might be different from our own.

I live on one of these mixed streets where half the houses are private, half council. One family near by are so happy finally received the keys. They unpacked, and she sat down without fear of the future for the first time. She said they rented privately on and on moving like mad from flat to flat on his salary, not being able to afford much else. He invented some disability and left work and said to the job centre he cannot find work anymore and they are homeless. Do I begrudge them? Well, no. They got the stability they needed. Not moral but hey

No they're not necessarily shit holes. you know this is where people live, thrive, send their kids to school and have family dont you?

People live there and buy houses and work.

How arrogant do you sound to write off whole areas of the country as a shit hole.

Where I live in fact, the leafy south east coast, I could get a one bed flat for 100k.

Move north and you can get plenty.