Do you own or rent?

[ewqq]

We rent out of choice. I.e. we have enough invested that could cover a deposit, sdlt, fees, and the like. We also don't know if we'll stay in London forever.

We live centrally which means we'd only afford a flat, which suits us fine. Flats in London however, are down massively in value.

AIBU to think people are naive when they ask "do you own or rent" as if owning a 10% slice of a house is obviously much better and more successful than someone who rents. Most of the time people are trying to measure up how rich you are.

I’ve never felt like that in all my Years of home ownership, now with no mortgage. I was under no illusion someone else owned it and I didn’t need to repair it or something. It was always legally mine. No one else’s.

curiously do you also avoid credit card debt, or say interest free for a sofa, as you know if you default they can send the bailiffs in?

I don’t really understand the mindset but I guess I can understand the fear if you struggle to service the debt, but I’d still not see it as not legally mine, more I will lose what I own if I don’t pay.

two completely different issues.

Owning or renting is one.

Being a twat for judging others about what they do is another

tbh OP you're being as bad as the people you're complaining about. Even for those who don't fully own their homes (i.e. mortgage), the vast majority will eventually pay that off, so being derogatory about 'owning 10% of a house,' is both weird and incorrect. It's not a direct equivalence, even if you have only paid 10% of a house's worth at this point in time, you still have much stronger rights in terms of changes you can make to the property, whether you can be forced to leave it despite making repayments, repossessing vs eviction, etc. than if renting. You often (not always) have financial benefits in terms of equity and resale. There are many, many benefits to owning (in this country particularly), which is why so many people do it, and it's pathetic to pretend those don't exist in some weird sort of revenge against people who have judged you for renting.

In other countries with stronger rental rights, and even in many circumstances here, renting is the more financially prudent/less stressful/just 'better' option.

Basically, anyone who gives a shit about other people's housing needs to get a hobby.

We own our property, and thank god because we actually couldn’t even afford the market rent on our home if we didn’t. The rent would be more than our mortgage payment.

As much as your sentiment is correct some of your wording is off, ie much stronger right to make changes to your property if you own and you have a mortgage, you are the legal owner, you have full rights, as long as in line with planning requirements, no one else has any rights.

I’m genuinely surprised how many people seem to not understand what a mortgage is and if you own the proprty or not.

Yeah usually only if you’d have to have it over a very short term

Own a house outright. The benefit of ownership is that we've not had to pay any rent or housing costs since we paid our mortgage off (by overpaying) in our 30s. The downsides are that we're responsible for the costs of repairs and moving is much harder and more costly. For us, the benefits vastly outweigh the downsides.

Own and our mortgage is killing us.

Own. If we rented our house it would cost more than the mortgage payment, and we wouldnt be accumulating wealth through the capital repayment portion of each monthly payment.

We are much better off now aged early 40s, having owned for 10 yrs, than friends who stayed renting.

We own but we’re in Yorkshire so house prices are reasonable compared to the south. We were 31 by the time we got on the property ladder, in our early 40s now with 2 dc.

We rented as a young couple when we first moved in together, did that for 6 years before we bought. Mainly because we chose a wedding over a house deposit gift from my parents and at the time we were happy renting. It taught us how to look after a home, manage bills etc so was a good experience for us as we both had come from living at home.

Both.
We have a mortgage and a lodger in UK.
We own a flat outright in Spain, but I am moving over permanently next year and DH is actively looking at renting a place with a garden for the dog

I rent, I have done for many years in various properties and this one for 6 years now. Lovely place, in a lovely rural area, very happy here. I choose to rent, there are many advantages for an older, single person in my position which I have outlined in the past on other, similar threads.

What I can't understand is the judgements some people make about those who rent, as though somehow it's an indicator of a person's worth, whether they rent or buy a property or not. Having lived in other parts of the world, this seems to be a particularly British trait, and not a nice one....

We own and are mortgage free as we are old. I haven't rented since I was 21.

DD rents as she is a student. When she graduates she will still rent because she doesn't know where she wants to put down roots.

AIBU to think people are naive when they ask "do you own or rent" as if owning a 10% slice of a house is obviously much better and more successful than someone who rents. Most of the time people are trying to measure up how rich you are.

I think it’s naive to think people only own 10% of a house based on the deposit paid. And I do think owning a house is more “successful” than renting if you are financially in a position to do so (quoting your word there, but I mean sensible). In that, the rent someone has paid is dead money. Whereas the less than £500 a month I’ve paid on my mortgage for 12 years now has me with approx ££180-200k equity if I were to sell the house, and in the next 10 years, we’ll be paid off completely, not paying rent until we’re on our death beds, or faced with the instability of finding a place to live if served notice from a landlord.

Yes seriously.

We've just managed to buy the house we've been renting for the last decade. We're happy that the money We're paying each month is for our security rather than a landlords

DD and my nephew rent, but everyone else I know owns their house.

We are retired so most people we know are older and none of us live in London, if that makes any difference.

MORTGAGE
RTB very late to the party , however got maximum discount.
Would never have been able to buy a property any other way .
Bought for 191k about 10 years ago
Got 5 years left, worth 480k now
Within M25

Rent but it's a family members house so they won't take it off me.

Own but my dad has a lifelong tenancy with a housing association. It’s a lovely house too. If I could get into one of those, I’d happily rent.

I genuinely don't know how anyone affords to rent without government help rental prices are insane compared to mortgages

We own because I want to get to a position where I'm not paying for accommodation later in life. My mortgage is also much less than rent on the same property in the same location would be, so whilst I save well whilst paying my mortgage I wouldn't if it was renting.

I'd never ask someone if they own or rent though, none if my business.

My dcs rent without government help and so do most of their friends.

I own. Live in a cheap, Northern town and had a professional full time career for 30 plus years. Bought my first property with a mortgage when I was early 20s and despite having to start again aged 35 after a divorce I have now (in my 60s) paid off the mortgage.

My Dad encouraged all of us to get onto the property ladder as soon as we could manage to. Verbally, rather than financially, I should point out. I didn't know anyone whose parents had enough money to give them a deposit of any sort. My gran rented the same privately owned house for 57 years, right up until she died. She'd paid for that blooming property at least twice over, and yet was still struggling to pay rent aged 84 and on a small private pension.

I didn't want to be in that situation.

But im assuming these are either young single adults or higher earners. Rent where I live is almost double what our mortgage is we wouldn't as a family be able to afford the rent on our home.