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Guest post: 'I know I'll never own my home - but does renting have to be so tough on families?'

118 replies

MumsnetGuestPosts · 08/04/2014 16:39

Recently I had a go at The Great British Class Calculator. I conscientiously answered questions about salary, accommodation, social relationships and activities, and my responses placed me in the ‘Emergent Service Class’ – the second lowest ranking.

However, the researcher in me decided to try a second time - I repeated all my responses except the one about property. Rather than ticking the ‘rent’ box, I ticked ‘own’. In my mind, I chose a reasonably-sized mortgage – one that I could afford to pay - and was instantly catapulted into the second highest ranking, ‘Established Middle Class’.

It’s not that I'm clamouring to join the ranks of the middle classes, but this illustration of my perceived social ranking is just one striking way in which being a private renter limits, compromises and defines my life. The rest of this post is devoted to a few more of them.

When people learn that I rent privately rather than owning a home, there are a few typical responses. Some make me feel as though I am 'second-class' - transient and probably a bit undesirable. They inexplicably equate renting with a lack of responsibility. Others assume my status is temporary and I just haven’t got around to buying anything yet. Friends and acquaintances remind me that I really must get on the property ladder at some point, assuming buying is something I can even consider and talking to me as though I'm insisting on playing the field like some confirmed bachelorette.

I understand their concerns. They - like me- know that in many ways the life of the mortgage-holder allows for much more independence and security than that of the renter. As long as the home-owner can pay each month, the property is theirs. Not so for the private renter. Obviously I need to pay, but other issues beyond my control can affect my tenure: the landlord’s whim; their finances; their age; what the letting agent thinks, to name a few. Plus, the home-owner has a property which is truly theirs and allows the addition of simple homely touches - things like painting the walls, hanging pictures, letting their children share their lives with a pet or allowing them to record their height and age on the bedroom door frame.

And once we hit the subject of children, the limitations and compromises I mentioned earlier become much more challenging. Renting works well for students or those who want a temporary solution to their accommodation needs, but the kind of stability required for a young family is difficult to find. Some tenancies do not allow children; other properties are clearly not suitable for them. Problems with properties tolerable as a single grown-up are unacceptable as a parent.

Issues with my property that depress and embarrass me, I put up with because to move my children based on superficialities or inconvenience would be selfish. However, when things go wrong and a new property is required, the practical and emotional impact can be enormous and repeated. Research suggests that in 2012-13, families who rented privately were 9 times more likely to have moved than home-owners. Whilst moving is stressful for everyone, those in private rented accommodation seem to suffer it rather more frequently.

In addition, families are increasingly being forced into moves with their young children because some landlords and agents are putting up rents to an unmanageable level after an initial 6 month contract or other fixed-term period. As the housing charity Shelter has highlighted, large numbers are being evicted as a result of asking their landlords to make necessary repairs to their properties.

Moving home with children of school age is problematic on a number of levels. For my children it was awful. They were uprooted from the safety and security of the school and friends they had known for 5 years. There were tears and anxieties and a lot of genuine sadness. On a practical level, placing three children at the same primary school was impossible. We are currently managing drop offs and pick ups at two different schools without a car and it's not easy.

Local Education Authority procedures for helping place children in a new area are frustrating. I couldn't have access to a list of schools with available places and I couldn't apply for school places without a firm new address in the area. It was the property finding equivalent of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Added to this mix was the fact that my eldest is moving on to secondary school in September and places had already been allocated, so we had to leave that decision to fate.

It was a stressful time, but it could have been much worse. I might have had each child in a different school. I might have been managing this without a partner to share the load. I might be one if the many who are finding themselves needing to go through this sorry process time and time again, aware of the terrible toll it takes on the confidence, security and education of their children and finding themselves powerless to avoid it.

There are lots of issues that need to be addressed in the UK private renting sector: lack of security for families; insufficiently regulated rents; a demand which far outstrips supply; inadequate procedures for dealing with ‘bad’ landlords, and last but not least, an overarching social belief that having a mortgage is inherently ‘better’ than renting a property.

Families in privately rented accommodation need security of tenure to encourage them to become full members of the community and to allow their children continuity in terms of education and relationships. At the very least this should be reflected in longer tenancy periods, the regulation of private rents and and maintenance of registers of 'rogue' landlords as Shelter’s campaign recommends. Ultimately, we can’t get away from the fact that our country really needs more houses, and a lifting of the cap on local council building would allow for this.

The private rental sector needs to be fair and less precarious for all, but particularly for young families. Politicians should stand up for the 9 million renters, acknowledge their concerns and fully commit to improving the situation for them.

OP posts:
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Flipdefloo · 13/04/2014 11:02

Oh sorry, reading OP again, it says about needing a permanent address to register with a school. So nightmare school run it is, and lucky too we won't have different schools.

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bloodynoradj · 13/04/2014 11:08

First of all, the class calculator is rubbish. My background is totally working class (you might say "common") and I'm a single parent on a low income, yet a friend from a middle class family, in the 40% tax bracket with no dependants was also labelled ESW simply because he was renting.

I completely sympathise with your post. My 13 year old son and I have moved seven times since his birth, twice being evicted at the landlord's whim. We are now in a council property so feel we have a little more security, but that comes with its own problems (I've blogged about this myself, here: bigspads.wordpress.com).

Balancing your housing needs with access to work and school when you're stuck renting really is a nightmare - thank you for sharing this.

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GarlicAprilShowers · 13/04/2014 11:43

Chuckling at your phone's "multiethnic moves", Spotty. That would affect a child's emotional security, to be sure ... one week they're Eastern European, the next they're Chinese ... Wink

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sandgrown · 14/04/2014 08:21

From the other side. I have one property I used to live in which I rent out privately. I do not use an agent and arrange all repairs myself when requested. I have had children and pets and in 10 years only put the rent up once. I have even let one woman move in without deposit. I think I am a great landlady but have still had tenants leave in debt, not give notice and even sub let to migrant workers!

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TinyDiamond · 14/04/2014 11:33

I agree that there are a handful of good things about renting, but these are only benefits if you can see an end and a way out of it and eventually buy.

For those of us who have no hope of ever being able to get a deposit together it is just thoroughly depressing!

I am really glad that we do not need to claim housing benefit as when we moved in Sept last year there is no way we would have found a place. It was difficult enough finding somewhere and beating all the other couples who wanted this flat by negotiating with agreeing to spend our own time and money refurbishing someone elses property. This is what it has come to.

It is good when decent landlords pop up on here and defend the role and I guess it is true, they must exist. The sad fact is though I have never had a landlord that I feel properly fulfilled their responsibilities. I have rented for 12 years now, in three different cities.

We are the classic 'squeezed middle' a household income that looks good on paper, but earn too much to be entitled to any gov help, but after childcare, food and travel costs are left with NOTHING at the end of each month to save for the future.

This is after downsizing too. This is not sustainable, for anyone.

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sandgrown · 14/04/2014 11:54

Whilst I agree that landlords are responsible for repairs I have found that many tenants are incapable or unwilling to do the slightest little job. One tenant left a side window open on a windy night and it was ripped from.it's hinges. I could not get a joiner until the following day so asked tenant to cover the window as best he could. When I went following morning he had not even put a piece of plastic or cardboard over the window ?? He used to call me out to blocked drains etc without even looking if it was caused by leaves or similar. Guess he will change when responsible for his own home! Current tenant a bit untidy but otherwise good. I agreed no rent increase and he deals with small jobs. Works for us Smile

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Spiritedwolf · 14/04/2014 12:24

I agree with Tiny Diamond. Renting is great if its your choice and you prefer flexibility to stability, have a plan for how you will pay for your housing in retirement, a decent landlord and/or letting agency, could afford a deposit on a house and are credit worthy enough to get a mortgage should you decide to have one and love magnolia and bare walls, no children or pets - yes renting can work for you as a long term solution, and it 'works' for others as a short term solution.

I get the (maybe false, as I was young) impression that renting used to be cheaper than having a mortgage and what happened is landlords had a fair amount of equity or total ownership of their properties. But now people are paying higher rents than they would a mortgage on the property (because the buy to let landlord has a huge mortgage) which means that it is extremely difficult - if not impossible to save up a deposit for a house that they could afford mortgage payments on. So they spend their whole lives paying other people's mortgages and have no security in later life.

Unless genuinely affordable housing (to rent as well as to buy) is addressed, the problem is only going to get worse with many young people having to pay off student debt as well as try to save for a deposit.

The help to buy scheme in Scotland is only for new builds, so we could get help with a deposit to buy an over priced 'naice' 3 bed house for £170,000, but not for a significantly cheaper but still decent ex local authority 3 bed house for £110,000. (Okay we're in an affordablish area but its still out of our immediate grasp on our household income).

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Spiritedwolf · 14/04/2014 12:27

The debt burden of accepting that help is ridiculous, even if we could get a mortgage that big (we couldn't).

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GarlicAprilShowers · 14/04/2014 12:36

Yes, it's more like 'help to buy to let'.

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flamingnora · 16/04/2014 10:43

One problem is that so much of the system seems to be stacked against you if you rent your home. Moves are underway to make things fairer, and the government is pledging to clamp down on incompetent/rogue letting agents etc but we still find ourselves in a position whereby it's entirely normal for landlords to demand in-depth reference checks and credit checks as well as a substantial cash deposit. How do tenants go about checking out a prospective landlord/rental home? At the moment this cannot be done and tenants simply make a leap of faith when renting their home. There needs to be greater transparency in the private rental system and checking needs to become a two-way process.

(Disclosure: I've just set up //www.rentalraters.com to do exactly this!)

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GarlicAprilShowers · 16/04/2014 13:55

Good for you :)

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flamingnora · 16/04/2014 15:58

Thanks, GarlicAprilShowers!

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obladeeobladahla · 16/04/2014 16:32

9 out of 10 LLs are rogues & that's the truth right there!

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OldMrsSaucepan · 16/04/2014 23:29

Wow. Flamingnora. Will check your website out.

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OldMrsSaucepan · 29/04/2014 13:14

Flamingnora out of interest, are there any moves towards improving the way rental properties are marketed do you know? In terms of information around security of tenure etc.

What if landlords had to be more open in terms of their status (whether reluctant/accidental/sound, ethical business plan/mortgage etc)? Not sure how you'd determine this, perhaps some kind of grading or something similar to energy efficiency ratings which letting agents have to include when marketing. Is this what you're working towards with the website?

I would hope this kind of thing would go some way in settling the market. As long as shoddy rentals dropped in price, and good ones didn't rocket!

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OldMrsSaucepan · 29/04/2014 13:16

I should also point out I have nc'd and already posted on this thread Blush. Not intentional sock-puppeting, but lazy keeping track of TIO!

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LucySMumsnet · 11/06/2014 16:57

Thanks so much all for sharing your thoughts and experiences on this. Thought you might like to know that we've just published another post - 'what should we be doing to support renting families' - in which Kris Hopkins (Housing Minister) and Emma Reynolds (Shadow Housing Minister) debate how best to solve the issue.

You can find it here - and do let us know what you think of their ideas on the thread.

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Iona0911 · 13/01/2015 14:04

I lived in a house where I was told don't touch that switch you'll get an electric shock and heating kept breaking down and landlord never answered phone, had no heating one New Year's Eve with a premature baby at home and when he gave us 2 months notice (his son wanted to move in) he wouldn't give us our deposit back because we managed to find a place within a month and didn't stay the full 2 months notice we were given, we now have lovely landlord fixes anything that needs fixed with 24 hrs only problem is the neighbours

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