Any long term renters out there - through choice?

[floatsomeandjetsum]

We rent a really beautiful house. It's too small but the location is amazing (think National Trust), it's a really special place.

BUT it's too small and we're not in the property market.

We have cash enough to buy a good home for ourselves and either have no mortgage or a small one depending on what we bought.

Anyone in a similar boat?
What got you out of rented into a bought home?
Anyone decided not to buy?

Our monies are in iSAs and getting a good return in average, but probably not keeping pace with house prices.

Any long term renters out there? How do you feel about it?

I'm a long term renter partly by choice. The choice element is that I could afford to pay a deposit and get a mortgage outside London, but I choose to live in one of the most expensive parts of London because I love the area and love living in London. I've lived in the same flat for 15 years and it's a win-win for me and my landlord because he has no plans to sell and lets me treat it as my home (ie I can decorate and put things on the walls and do what I want with the garden). I feel as secure as I can as a renter but could also up and leave if I ever needed to.

Yes - we have been and I think it can work well if it's a secure tenancy especially if it's owned by an estate/institution like the National Trust. Our last house was a long-term rental; big house, two acres, beautiful location, low rent. We didn't really have any incentive to move. After 12 years we bought our current house as we thought it would give us more long-term security but it's a bit small and we're struggling to find something else so we're now considering another rental.

I live in a rural area and a few of my friends are in long-term rentals but own property elsewhere. It's not that unusual round here where there are quite a lot of estate and NT houses.

Many long term renters in London by choice because they want to live in a nice area despite being able to buy something in other parts of London not as nice. Most I know in this bracket have plans to retire outside of London and buy a small cottage somewhere picturesque.

In some London areas it makes total sense to choose to invest you deposit money/buy somewhere else as a BTL, & then rent your primary residence - rental yields are below where they should/would be If the property were to be resold as a BTL - buying it would actually cost more.