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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be a bit concerned as next door neighbour is lettting his house out?

130 replies

fifitot · 04/09/2009 19:26

I live in a fairly good area and have nice neighbours on the whole. The guy next door is moving out and is letting his house. I mean we could get really nice people in but of course we might not. My parents had this happen to them and are now living with the neighbours from hell so I suppose I am sensitive to this.

There is no reason for tenants to be any worse than owner occupiers as DH points out and if he sells it you would have the same concerns. It's just that I think renters just don't have the same 'investment' iykwim. I worry if we get young people sharing who might be noisy etc....Or some serial benefit wastrels.

Maybe I am just being a snob or paranoid or both!

OP posts:
imanaunty · 05/09/2009 12:17

You are a paranoid snob.

"Nice" people rent too. We are not the spawn of the devil. Some people rent for lifestyle choice, and are still houseproud!

Yes, I am renting (but am also a landlord and owner of 9 other properties) and I love my rented house, and am actually scared that I will be kicked out, so am actually very careful, and make sure the owner knows of any repairs need doing, and pay my rent by dd so no chance of being kicked out on that basis!

Take a step down from your perch hon!

imanaunty · 05/09/2009 12:23

I should say too that before I was accepted five other applications had been refused. It is a very good area, and rental properties are in high demand.

We have a house in the same area, and the tenant in July approached us about committing for another year, at more money to boot!

Not all renting is bad, not all tenants are bad, and not all rented properties are in scummy areas....

These days too they have tenant databases and I know if I had to try to rent again, and messed up here, it would prejudice my chances of getting another good property.

NotPlayingAnyMore · 05/09/2009 13:06

LOL!

OP, I bet you're just like my owner occupier neighbours, who think they're entitled to a say on my home because it's rented from a housing association

Money doesn't buy you manners. YABU

picmaestress · 05/09/2009 13:07

Renters have MORE reason to be better neighbours. I rent a house, and I am extremely careful. If I get a bad reference, I will struggle to find anywhere okay to live. I didn't realise us renters were so looked down on.

Why don't you go and live in a detached house in a 'really nice area' (this talk of 'fairly good areas' etc has annoyed me for some reason, it's snobby), and stop worrying so much about what everyone else is doing.

YABVU, and I think you know it. Chill out on the responses front. You asked.

BubbaAndBump · 05/09/2009 13:16

May I ask, Cornflowers how you know (or why it's relevant) that neither of the two small children of your "pretty awful" neighbours are related to the mother's partner? And how dare they play R&B music! Surely a good bit of country and western would sort them out?

Original poster
fifitot · 05/09/2009 14:21

This is the last I will say as I think this thread should have run it's course by now. Though I have enjoyed reading the responses on the whole, most of which were constructive - whether they agreed with me or not btw.

Just wondering though why 'nice area' is annoying. Is it not the thing now then to want to live somewhere nice? Would it be more acceptable to say I wanted to live in a drug and crime riddled area?

Also - I still object to being called 'a cow'. A particularly sexist term imo.

However I used the term snob myself so yes I did ask for that.

Also I didn't ever say that tenants would be worse than owner occupiers, in fact I say they are not more likely to be. I guess I was just wondering what people's experiences were....and now I know and can make my own mind up from there.

Finally - at least I now know the modus operandi on AIBU. 90% constructive replies, 10% spoiling for a fight!

Cheers!

OP posts:
Knickers0nMaHead · 05/09/2009 14:37
Hmm
duke748 · 05/09/2009 15:10

Prejudice = irrational suspicion or detrimentally prejudging of a particular group, race, or religion.

Replace 'renters' with 'black'......

-Oh no, there are black people moving in next door. And this used to be such a nice area.

-Oh goodness, we had some black people live near us and they were a nightmare- played music loud and upset our children.

  • Heavens! The house prices!

You are not only being a snob but a prejudiced snob. All be it a more socially acceptable form of prejudice, but prejudice all the same.

YABU (but I think you know that).

latestincarnation · 05/09/2009 15:52

We rent; the owner occupiers next door are a nightmare who we will be very pleased to move away from.

You should have the same concerns if he was selling the house as if he was renting.

YABU (and should have known 'wastrels' would get you a deserved flaming)

curiositykilled · 05/09/2009 16:01

YABU and a total snob! Why would a landlord want a tenant that was going to annoy his neighbours and damage his home?

Apart from anything else why are you even worrying about something that you a. can't do anything about and b. hasn't even happened and may never?

I suspect you will probably be annoyed by the new tenants, purely because you are clearly already looking for it.

claw3 · 05/09/2009 16:06

Doesnt matter what you think, its his house and he can do whatever he wants.

Nothing you can do to stop him, so why worry about something you have no control over?

expatinscotland · 05/09/2009 16:30

Has the OP gone?

Hope the guy ends up selling the place to people who wind up having teenagers in a band, 2 Rottweilers who bark nonstop and loud arguments.

mum23monkeys · 05/09/2009 17:22

YABU

It is NOT unreasonable to worry about the type of neighbours you end up with - but it has nothing to do with whether they are renters or buyers. That's where you are being snobby.

I have rented and bought at various times - same person, same standards, different methods of financing housing. That's all. Twice we have rented for a year when moving to a new city - to avoid chain hassles and to get to know the city better before buying.

I have had a friend's dd here all day today as they are moving into a rented house. Maybe they're moving in next door to you... if so, lucky you. They will be fab neighbours.

scottishmummy · 05/09/2009 20:23

isnt wrong to hope for good neighbours.wrong to assume and attribute negative connotations to renters/serial wastrels/young people

TheChilliMooseisasmadasahatter · 05/09/2009 21:14

Scottishmummy has said it exactly right.
Anyone can be a nightmare neighbour. You can get nightmare neighbours and lovely neighbours in nice areas, and the same is not so nice areas.
FWIW I am a nightmare neighbour in a nice area

KIMItheThreadSlayer · 05/09/2009 21:16

LOL so people who own their house are nicer then people who rent.
I hope he lets it out to the roughest people you can find.

gorionine · 05/09/2009 21:19

I am a tenant and a VERY good neighbour!

seeker · 05/09/2009 21:20

It's only English people who are so horribly prejudiced against renting. All over the rest of Europe it's normal to rent!

scottishmummy · 05/09/2009 21:23

wouldn't wish bad neighbours on anyone though

WebDude · 05/09/2009 21:41

Agree SM, wouldn't wish bad neighbours on anyone.

mummywilldrive · 05/09/2009 21:51

I can see it from both sides, so YABU and YANBU.

We moved on to a new build estate last year. A mixture of owner/occupiers, private renters and HA tenants. We are HA tenants, and when we moved in last year we were on benefits (DH now workikg). The only person in the whole close who introduced herself and was nice was our lovely next neighbour who was privatally renting. On the other side of us are house sharing teachers (not sure if they rent or own) and they are downright rude to us and complete snobs. (Nothing against teachers - my sister is one ). One of the teachers happens to teach in my DSD's (secondary) school. She completely blanks DSD both in and out of school. DSD has actually gone up to her in school and said Miss you live next door to me. And she just ignored her and walked on.

Unfortunately for us our lovely neighbour moved out last year, and a family moved in. Originally thought they would be nice - mum, dad, 4 kids under 6. They are a complete nightmare (not the kids), the dad left about 6 months ago because he was having an affair (only know this because the mother conducts all her arguments at the top of her voice either in the garden or at the front door). She plays loud music until 5am almost every night despite having 4 kids the youngest being about 1. Has all and sundry around all the time shouting and swearing their heads off. I won't let my kids play in the garden anymore (low fence all gardens overlooking each other) because they're intimadated by her (as am I).

So I can see your worries, but have also been on the reciving end of snobbery because we rent and (used to be) on benefits.

gorionine · 05/09/2009 22:30

But mummywilldrive, it surely depend on the personality of your neighbours, regardless of wether they are tenants or home owners?

I am a tenant now, if we were to finally be able to afford our own house I certainly would not have a personality transplant in the process IYSWIM.

picmaestress · 05/09/2009 23:16

Fifitot -

Maybe I'm wrong about 'good areas' being a snobby idea? I'm not sure. To me, it's irrelevant, and kind of gauche to announce the 'kind' of area you live in, in this particular context.

If your original post just asked 'AIBU to be worried about what my new neighbours will be like, as I'm kind of sensitive about it due to past experience?', it might have been a boring thread but you wouldn't have got a flaming ;)

theyoungvisiter · 06/09/2009 09:49

mummywilldrive, I wonder if your unfriendly teachers might have more to do with the fact that they are teachers and want to keep their private life private?

I can imagine the horror of "I saw Miss in her bikini at the weekend" stories at school. Maybe this is her (not very polite/subtle) way of drawing a line between school and home?

ilovesprouts · 06/09/2009 09:54

yabvvu