I hate renting - absolutely bloody hate it hate it HATE IT

[stripeymama]

I hate living with the knowledge that we could have to leave our home with only two months notice. I think that private tenancy rules suck and that tenancies should be for longer with substantially more notice to quit needed.

I hate not being allowed to decorate, and the way it doesn't seem worth doing things like growing vegetables or carpetting the stairs, in case we have to move out.

I hate the fact that my landlady is too tight to pay the letting agent to manage the property, so when things need doing/fixing/sorting out, I have to get in touch with the landlady.

Who lives in sodding Japan.

I hate the way she never does anything anyway, and our kitchen roof has been leaking for the last year.

I hate the fact that even if I were to get a job tomorrow, I'd only earn the minimum wage, which would not be enough to get any mortgage, even on a teeny tiny crappy house, anyway.

"which is a fire hazard - all properties should have 2 exits"

really - the house we first rented only HAD one door - as did all the others (cluster build type houses - fairly newish) in the area?!?

yes - if there aren't 2 doors, then there should be a window which is designated as a fire exit (none of our ground floor windows open wide enough. in fact they don't open at all because they are locked and there is no key)

oooo - well you learn something new everyday.

Is this a relatively new thing? We lived there nearly 7yrs ago (OMG I can't believe it's been that long!), and the houses were probably about 9/10yrs old at the time.....but all were built with only one door!

And what about flats - you know like high-rise type? Most of those only have one door don't they?

On the bright side of things for all us renters there's the possibility of a house price crash where we will be able to pick up lovely cheap properties and all smug home-owners will have negative equity

This is what I try and think about when I get annoyed about it!

When xp and me moved in here the neaxt door neighbour said to xp, "so you LIKE paying someone elses mortgage then?" !!! Cheeky sod, no we just can't afford to buy! Am about to move to another place soon, just me and DD and have had problems as I will have to claim housing benefit. The council said the same thing to me about being voluntarily homeless. It was ok in the end but so stressful! And have just had to find over £2000 in deposit, agents fee and rent in advance.

When xp and me moved in here the neaxt door neighbour said to xp, "so you LIKE paying someone elses mortgage then?" !!! Cheeky sod, no we just can't afford to buy! Am about to move to another place soon, just me and DD and have had problems as I will have to claim housing benefit. The council said the same thing to me about being voluntarily homeless. It was ok in the end but so stressful! And have just had to find over £2000 in deposit, agents fee and rent in advance.

I had to find £600 deposit, £1200 rent in advance (three months worth - only way to get a private tenency on Housing Benefit) and £150 in removal expenses.

Crazy money to have to come up with when you are a newly single parent being forced to leave the home shared with ex.

Actually I love renting. Currently DP and I rent a lovely big detached house in a good area, which we could never afford to buy. The same monthly amount on a mortgage would only buy a much smaller semi in a less convenient location. Admittedly neither of us are nest builders, and aren't disturbed by any frustrated desires to redecorate - I'm even starting to quite like to the flowery orange chintz curtains in the living room which come with the house. Yes, in theory we could be asked to move out at two months notice, but DP has been renting for years, and never yet had a tenancy terminated by the landlord. I recently sold a house, and after having been a house owner (and mortgage payer) for over 20 years, now feel totally liberated from the hassle of maintaing my 'property'. If the roof leaks, the drains block, or the boiler breaks down - no more stress trying to find a reliable tradesman, one call to the managing agents and it gets magically sorted out. The vagaries of our careers mean we probably won't be living in one place long enough to make buying a sensible option for quite a while, but even if we were planning to stay in the same place I'd be happy to continue renting.

I agree stripeymama it is mad, we had to pay extra agents fees for my Dad to be guarentor too, it was the only way I could get it. Have got v little to live on till I can claim the first months rent back through housing benefit and hadn't thought of the removal van costs! Also have to get some new furniture as mine is mostly XP's oh dear, that will have to wait!

Was taliking to a friend who is choosing to rent the other day though and she was saying she likes the fact that if something breaks down you ring the landlord etc. Also that she can live in a nice flat in a good area and if they bought somewhere they could only afford a tiny place in not such a good area!

I HATE IT!!!!! We have had to move more times than care to think about due to only being able to get six month contracts and the landlords always putting the property up for sale (and not telling you when you signed the contract!!) keeping our deposit, having to find a grand and a half EVERY six months with only 2 months notice to have to find it, having to live with inlaws (not good with at the time 3 kids) and in tents (quite good fun as it was over the summer). Can't get social housing as we both work, got told the waiting list for a council house for the size we need is 15 YEARS - i said by then they will have all grown up and hopully buggered off! I'd love to buy a house but on what we earn could only afford a two bed room place. That said the place we are renting now we have been in for a year and have just signed a contract for another 12 months!!!!

Well while we are on the subject you are all one step ahead of me I cant even afford to rent. Well couldn't. Thankfully my DP has a new job which makes renting just possible but we will still be looking at the lower end of the market. Rent prices round here suck!!

Come to think of it, I don't think we've seen a gas safety certificate. Does it cover the boiler? Should I ask the managing agents?

AM feeling even worse now I have no money and mounting debts and no credit rating, so when the landlord gives us notice next week, DS and I are going to end up in a hostel or something ,aren't we?

Hope you can sort something out madamez - do you have gumtree in your area as it often has properties to be rented directly from the landlord rather than with an agent.

I have been renting for eighteen months since splitting with exH and we are on our second house. The rent is very high for a very small but nice house but due to bad credit rating and house prices (am in London) don't think I will ever be getting back on the property ladder again.

It's not the ownership that I am concerned about its as others say the insecurity ad constant moving I would like to avoid. I would be more than happy to have a long term rental property at a reasonable rent.

I am about to try again to put myself on the LA list although I hold no hope of ever getting a LA property but think you have to be on the list for HA referral. Don't think I have much chance of that either. Shared ownership is also out of the question I think due to my credit rating.

I have tried to be philosophcial about it but when at Christmas my landlord extended my agreement to June this year I realised that we could be asked to leave with one months notice.

That would be just too much stress.

There must be a growing number of families in the UK who are in this position due to all sorts of reasons and it seems to me they are getting a very raw deal. But no-one seems to do anything about it. Having that constant fear is a very good way of keeping the 'people' down and conforming.

As Berolina says it's not like that in Western Europe. I often wonder why us Brits are so hung up on property ownership as if its the panacea to everything. OK rant over.

We had 2 months notice last January, and were recommended by the homeless team to stay put for as long as it took. The landlord CANNOT force you out of the house without a court order, if the heavies arrive just call the police.
We asked our landlord if we could extend as DH is disabled and DS2 has SEN so would have to stay in his present school. In the end after 6 months we found a wonderful house with wonderful landlords, and although we had to remove DS from his school to the local (and have now taken him out to home educate, other story) it was the best thing we could do.
Take your time finding a new place, make sure it is what you want with people you want as landlords, don't rush into it. Everytime we have had a notice to quit (not very often, the last tenancy lasted 6 years) we have rushed about just trying to find anything before the two months are up and always regretted moving there.

On a different not, my sister is a landlord and I would never be her tenent. She is one of those that does not allow decorating. I have found out to my cost that when a landlord says no decoration all they are thinking about is how much work they will have to do when you are kicked out. Not thinking about how to keep a steady income coming in.
Now the story goes that we told her (sis) that we had contacted the occupational therapist for bath supports for DH that needed screwing to the wall (just a bar for getting in and out) and that we had contacted warmfront for insulation and found out that we were entitled to cavity wall insulation, draught proofing and loft insulation but would need to have a loft access built, included in the cost. My landlord loves the idea and has given his pernmission, he is getting about £3500 worth of stuff done to the house for nothing. My sisters reaction was that she would kick the tenant out as it wasn't their house and how dare they. .

On a seperate note again. If you know in your heart of hearts, or even seriously suspect that you won't get your deposit back, don't pay the last month or two's rent to the value of the deposit. Save the money for the deposit on the next place. The landlord can't complain, he has had your money in the bank gaining interest for months or years and its what he owes you any way.
Now the interest on your deposit is what I would like to see changed. I had £1200 sat in our ex-landlords account for 6 years, how much interestdid he earn in that time with my money and would it have covered the cost of a tin of magnolia paint to go over any decorating I had done.

I too rent,myself and 2 dc's had been living with my parents for 3 years ,on the HA and Council lists waiting to be housed.
Last June I posted an ad on Gumtree for a house to rent and was contacted the next day by my now landlady.
She is the most amazing landlady I've ever met(and I've met a few).The day I came to look at the place I fell in love with it ,asked how much the rent was(she'd already said it was negotiable) and said whatever I could afford she would accept.
She wouldn't take a deposit off me,said I 'd need it to help with moving costs etc,took away any furniture I didn't want in the house and gave me the keys there and then,even though we'd arranged that I'd move in the following week.
She's had all the safety checks done and also signed up for the full British Gas Home Maintence Scheme ,so if anything goes wrong with heating,plumbing or any of the electrical stuff,even the fridge,then I just ring them and they sort it.
The day I moved in she left me a Welcome to your New Home card and said that she was glad she'd found such a great tenant and I was to treat the house as MY home,and the only thing I wasn't allowed to do was knock down any walls and that she'd see me in June 2008 to resign contract.

Apparently she has quite a few properties,Mine is the only one outside London that she owns,and she likes renting to single parents as she knows how hard it is for them to get decent privately rented homes on benefits,or just because most landlords don't like renting to single parents.

Wow Moonmother! You are lucky. Your landlady should run courses for other landlords

Can't you ringfence it in a hands off high intrest account?

Not against you Ruby but why does it take soooo long for Landlords to pay the deposit back?

Can I join in?

I hate it too

We have put up with such things at no glass in patio window (whichg got smashed by some twat throwing a rock through it) for 2 weeks while the landlord ummed and ahhed whether it was our fault or not, even though it had been reported to the police. We ended up forking out for it, as it was so fucking cold we couldn't stand it

We had no hot water on 5 occasions in 2006, mostly it was fixed about 10-14 days after we first reported it. One time, we had to wait 7 weeks.

Landlord could kick us out at any tyime, because he is sleeping oin a mates floor at the mo

We can't afford to move at the mo, buut we are worjking ion it

We pay 725pcm. A huge amount. When we move, we will probably be paying 850-900, but can we get a mortgage for anything decent? Can we fuck.