For all those living in privately rented houses....

[Rhubarb]

I hadn't realised quite how many other people were in this situation and it does help just knowing that.

I have 2 kids aged 9 and 6 and we've been living in rented accommodation for 5.5 years (not the same house).

I hate it, I loathe it, I detest it! The lack of security - knowing that the owners can give you notice at any time and probably will sooner or later when they come to sell it.
The lack of a home - ours is inspected every 3 months and the first time we got an official letter telling us off for hanging up the childrens pictures in their rooms with blu-tack.
We can't paint the walls, we can't put up shelves, we can do nothing to the house. It's not a home at all, it's just somewhere to live.

I really feel as though I've failed my children. They should be able to have their own space. I long to paint their bedrooms for them, put up shelves, buy them lovely curtains etc. I feel that the security they should have in their childhoods of having their own space has gone.

I fear that we may never own our own home, that we'll always be renting, moving from house to house. It's hugely expensive too and we are just throwing money away.

I realise this is a situation of my own making but the longer we live in rented housing the more depressed I get. I am desperate to get a job to increase our chances of a mortgage, but despite applying for around one a day, I very often never hear back from them. I used to always get an interview at least. It just serves to knock my confidence more and feel like more of a failure.

It would be nice to find out how other people cope living in private rented housing.

When we left our last house, there were 2 folded boxes in the garage. They were there when we moved in so we left them assuming they belonged to the LL.

The Agent tried to bill us £60 to have them removed!

We argued our case and eventually got our full deposit back, but given that we had the full house,carpets and oven professionally cleaned, got a gardener in to tidy the garden and not a single thing was damaged or marked after 2 1/2 years, I dont think we really should have had to haggle over something so bloody petty.

I am ranting now - anyone want to debate what exactly the agent's fees are supposed to cover?

They inspect every 3 months. We did offer to paint over the blu-tack stains but she still said that we were not allowed to use blu-tack and we had to get a noticeboard if we wanted pictures up.

I wrote a very terse letter back complaining about her attitude, the fact that she said all of this in front of the children and that if we repainted the walls we don't see why we cannot make this a home for the time that we are here.

We didn't get a reply, but I've told dd not to take down any pictures when she inspects and we've not had any further complaints (I make sure I'm not here when she inspects).

I've made it as much a home as I can, but it's kinda hard when everything is so damn white!

Rhubarb, have you contacted the job centre? ask for an appointment with a back to work deal advisor. They are great if you manage to put into words what exactly do you want and how hard you have tried.

My advisors have been great, I also have a very specialised background and tend to be overlooked for positions other people find a doodle to get. I have even got a 3 hrs one to one session with a career coach. I wish I could have that when I became unemployed for the first time, it has made a HUGE difference.

You are very good at what you do, don't forget that, get as much help as you can to get you back there, the job centre's is free and worth it.

You don't know me under this name, but I have been here reading your posts and following your advice for many years! And I'm truly convinced you can get the job you want! so head up, it is highly demoralising trying so hard and not succeding but therehos uld be someone outhere, who can help you to get back in track!

I think that is a very valid point Rhubs - although this is someone else's property, it is MY home.

Surely LL's and LA's should understand this.

Given the arguments I have had with this LA, I am a bit worried about my deposit here. The inventory that we got was very vague and I am hoping it is the same people who done that one will be doing the one when we leave so that they know how bad the house was when we moved in.

We have repainted top to bottom and replaced the ripped lino in the kitchen to try and make it look a bit better, but things are so bad it doesnt really touch the surface.

We've been in private rented for about 2 years and it's horrible. I hate the insecurity - our lease is renewed every 6 months so don't feel we can settle. We've finally sold the old house (we had a move due to job relocation) so hopefully will be buying agian soon. Our landlord is crap - he'll take the money, but stuff that needed doing and was reported when we moved in still hasn't been done. I can't wait to move.

Thanks Mongolia - I might do that.

sb, your situ does sound horrendous. Remember though, you have more rights as a tenant than they have as a landlord and if they are not doing repairs then they are not fulfilling their end of the contract. You could threaten them with legal action. I would say withhold your rent but tenants no longer have the right to do that

The thread I started was about my LA spying on us!

She basically admitted "asking around" about where my children go to school and knew where my car was parked (even though we need to use a tractor path to access the property so it cant be seen from the road).

Apparently she is now "on leave" and the chap dealing with us now was horrified. My dh has mentioned legal action to him but obviously its more hassle than its worth now we're moving.

Might bring it up again if things dont go our way with the deposit!

I'm hoping that the fact that the house wasn't cleaned before I moved in and the condition report says as much will help. (estate agent was most upset that it hadn't been done and kept apologising profusely when I was signing the tenancy agreements - as it does say in there that they would clean it before I moved in.........I didn't care - wasn't that dirty (imo), and I would have wiped cupboards etc down before putting stuff in anyhow because I'm anal like that.

Oh and of course the fact that the deposit was paid through the rent assistance scheme means that they won't dare to mess me around as although it's a deposit loan from the council which I have to pay back to them, even once it's repaid the deposit will be given back to the council who will then give it to me as they're acting as my "agents"......they've seen the house, and have a copy of the condition report and photos so hopefully agent (who was actually very nice as a agents go) won't be picking holes in stuff.......

sb, just keep a note of this. They have acted illegally and they know you could wipe the floor with them, so use that info to your advantage.

We rent, have done for 6 years now, LL pretty good - we got the letters about the blu-tack, but that is fairly standard imo.

I paint the walls myself (just started again this spring, and yes, its magnolia ) with verbal permission from the LL, just to keep it looking clean.

Our LL has even let the council do grant-aided work inside and out for our disabled daughter, knocking down a wall to make a bigger bathroom, etc.

I do wish we could build on another bedroom though!

Was literally coming on to start this thread!
We rent due to our first attempt at buying a house fell through just as the boom kick off in 2000.

I hate it. I feel as though I have failed as aadult, the landlord is ok, but the house 'is in need of modernisation'...pink carpet and pale yellow walls. We are allowed to treat the house as if it were ours, the DH doesn't want to spend the time and the money painting somebody elses house...which I understand.

In fact my DS is having a friend back to play after school and I have spent the whole day fretting about the state of the fences and the colour scheme in the main room and our lack of furniture (like an earlier poster we haven't brought any nice furniture yet for fear of it not fitting in our 'new' home (whenever that may be)

I know there are far worse things to worry about but just can't see when we are ever going to get on the property ladder. 3 bedroom houses around here vary between 280-360K

We are in the same situation. We will never be able to afford a house of our own....FACT. It's not the mortgage as such as lets face it, privately renting is/can be just as much as a mortgage, it's the deposit.

We don't go through a letting agent. Our Landlord is ok but as I suspect with most Landlords will try and get away with doing the bare minimum.

Before we moved into this house we were told that there would be a team of cleaners going through the house doing whatever needed to be done, which included having the carpets steam cleaned. This proved to be a lie as we moved in, it was quite clear that nothing had been done. The carpets were infested with fleas and we had to have the house fumigated!! We have done lots of things to improve this house....don't really care if we are not supposed to as it looks hell of a lot better than the state in which it was given to us. These are the things we have done so far:

Bathroom was black and mouldy so I bleached all the grout between the tiles and re-whitened it. Laid new flooring and painted it, same colour but in proper bathroom paint. Replace shower curtain as original was covered in mildew.

Have painted DD's room in similar colour as walls were filthy. Replaced the curtain pole and curtains as these too were filthy and original curtains were covered in thick dust, cobwebs and dead spiders.

Have painted DS's room as his walls were filthy and full of holes where shelves had been taken down and never filled.

Have painted hallway through to upstairs landing and have glossed skirtings and doors. Walls were a vile green colour and wallpaper was hanging off the walls. Hall and stair carpet is so old it stinks and it all needed freshening up. Will have to have carpets cleaned in the summer as we cannot stand the smell anymore.

Garden was a state and we've sorted it all out including taking car loads of dumped rubbish to the tip.

DH is in the process of decorating our bedroom as we have a baby on the way and there's no way we want it living in a shit hole.

Winter in this house is also miserable as it is freezing. There is no wall or loft insulation and the only heating are crappy, ineffient storage heaters. There is an open fire but we can't afford to buy coal for it. Winter before last we did and it was costing us over £30 per week and that's to heat just one room!! Also the windows are not double glazed, are rotten, mouldy and draughty. You can see the curtains blowing in the wind!!!

Although we have 3 bedrooms it is quite a small house and when the time comes there won't be enough room for the baby to move in to either DD or DS's bedroom. Physically impossible. Only thing is we won't be able to raise enough money for a deposit.

We looked into home buy schemes, has anyone else done that? Looked round a house that was on at £179,500. It was on three floors but it was very very pokey. Had small livingn room - no dining area at all so you'd be eating off your knees. We were really depressed at what high prices they were charging for poorly constructed new build.

Sorry, meant to say.....won't be able to raise enough money for a deposit to move elsewhere.

It is quite demoralising. All our friends live in their own houses, not one of them rents like we do. Recently one set of friends had a new kitchen and bathroom put in and it really upset me to think that we would never get to choose our own kitchen or bathroom but would always have to live with somebody elses choice. Same as our manky carpets, would love so new ones that smell fresh but will have to live with carpets that other people have walked on, shit on....I don't know, you get the picture.

I did qualify under the NHS scheme but now live out of london and work part-time so i don't think I would qualify now.

We are saving to make our deposit bigger.

Think I will bite the bullet and talk to the LL about replastering if I then repaint downstaires.

I suppose my only ray of hope is that round here (barring a massive rise in house prices) buying isn't too expensive (and certainly very cheap compared to much of the country)

You can (currently) buy a reasonable sized 3 bedroom house in a reasonable area for £120-£150k), .....but then it's the deposit.

Yes we have looked into part rent part buy but as we live in such an expensive part of the country where wages don't reflect the cost of living, again we have the problem of not being able to save to get enough of a deposit.

ahhh the deposit....we had 10%, the house prices rocketed, and now we need to raise around 20%....like I said we are saving ...just don't know how long for!

see replacing kitchens/bathrooms doesn't bother me too much - the house I've just left that was "ours" - desperately needed a new kitchen, and new central heating, and new carpets, and the bathroom wall knocking down and rebuilding.........things we would probably never have afforded to do anyhow.

I just can't ever see myself in a postion of being able to buy a house and put new stuff in like kitchens and bathrooms

maybe we should start a thread on ideas to save 50K in a year...

yes good idea plus3 If anyone comes up with a get rich quick scheme that actually works can they let me know!!

sorry guys. I'm leaving mumsnet. thought I could handle it but I can't. I am a piece of fucking shit.

It's only about £960 a week to save...really it should be easy!!!

I looked into one of those schemes - they put down 30% deposit and you pay it back after 10 years.

The house was £279,000 for a tiny 4-bed. We could have afforded the mortgage but would have hit trouble when we had to start paying back the deposit.

We live in a private rented 2 bed house and are now looking for a 3 bed which will mean moving the children from school/nursery as there are no properties to rent in the village. We can not afford to buy, dh is on a very low income and i had to give up work to look after the dd's who both have Autism. I feel guilty that i can't provide the dd's with stability, i hate not being able to customise my own home (without asking the landlord) and i hate the thought that we could be chucked out of the house with just a few weeks notice.

I wish i had saved money when i was younger and living at home then maybe i could have bought somewhere, now we don't stand a chance as we would need a 3 bed which would be at least 140,000 in our area.