NOW CLOSED: Is it still a home if you don't own it? Make your voice heard and discuss this topic with Barclays - £150 John Lewis voucher up for grabs

[AnnMumsnet]

Hello - you may have seen that this week Barclays have a big campaign to get people talking about home buying and money topics.

Yesterday we discussed "When are you too old to ask your parents for financial help?".

As stated before - the team at Barclays say "We want to know what Mumsnetters think about home buying and money dilemmas.

So our second question is "Is it still a home if you don't own it?""

Please share your thoughts on this thread - there are no right or wrong answers and the question will mean different things to different MNers.

Add your thoughts below and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one winner will get a £150 John Lewis voucher.

Look out for one final thread on Thursday where we'll be asking one more question.

Thanks MNHQ

PS Please note your comments  along with your MN name may be used on the Barclays pages on Mumsnet and elsewhere.

[Wallison]

Letting agents are wankers. Round here they all fleece you for a £250 credit check before they let you anywhere near a property. What about a landlord check, you bunch of smarmy spotty spivs?

[Milliways]

I hope so.

My DD is getting married this month and will then be moving into the small house that she chose with her DF (he has moved there already).

It is rented, but the Landlords have been amazing and even offered to make them more matching curtains/cushions to some of the fabric already in place. Neither DD or her DF had any credit history as they have both ust graduated, so the agents insisted on a guarantor, but they are VERY excited about their first home together, and can't wait to fill it with all the wedding pressies etc.

(I am excited to be invited to their "home" for a meal at some point too.) :)

[HappySunflower]

Yes- absolutely it is!
It's possible to decorate and furnish somewhere to your taste and make it suit you.
Sometimes I feel a little insecure about renting, but so much of life is uncertain that it's just one of those things. Not being responsible for repairs and maintenance means I get to enjoy my home without any of the stress I used to have when I owned my own property.

[MirandaWest]

I rent and yes this is my home. It isn't my house but it is my home.

I agree that tenants are considered to be very low down in the scheme of things - every time I have an inspection and am sent the letter before asking me to make sure it is "presented to its highest standards" or something like that I remember how it isn't really my home - it's just somewhere I live and if I don't do what someone else wants me to I could get thrown out. Some people say inspections are so any maintenance issues can be brought up but in my experience, it is a time for the tenant to be scrutinised. Have had letters afterwards suggesting I use a feather duster and put limestone remover down the toilet. Neither of those suggestions made me feel like this is my home.

[OptiMumPrime]

Not for me. We own a home in another area, that I lived in for several years. That felt like home. Due to work, and the housing market, we have had to move quite far away, so we are now renting a property. This place doesn't feel as home to me as the property we own. We are possibly coming from a different viewpoint to many though, as I don't see this place as permanent, and home to move back 'home' in due course. I don't feel like investing any money in this place to make it more 'us' - no new curtains, for example, as they cost a couple of hundred, and I'm not spending money when we can't take them with us. I would make improvements/changes to this place if it were my own, but I'm not bothering improving someone else's property.
I do feel at home, settled, but not quite as at home as my owned home!
Ultimately, home is where my husband and children are.

[IceNoSlice]

Of course a rented house is a home.

However, I do see the underlying point, to do with how secure you feel in accommodation and whether you feel it is 'yours'. There is something great about walking into your first 'owned' house for the first time, decorating it to your taste, a sense of pride... However there is also a weight of responsibility, of knowing that you will need to be able to pay for repairs if something should go wrong and the commitment of a mortgage.

[trikken]

yes, you can make rented places your home, again I am living somewhere we currently own (am currently trying to sell) and this has never felt like home. perhaps as an effect of not having any part in the decision process of moving here.

In short yes, it can be if you feel at ease and happy with it in general.

[Cantbelieveitsnotbutter]

I rent, and am lucky I can paint and put the odd picture up. But it's not home, at the back of your mind your making improvements for others benefit. You can't put new windows in, new bathrooms, knock down a wall or change the house about. You can't have pets without permission.
Your constantly aware at any time you could have to move. For my last house I had a bespoke piece of furniture made 2 months later the landlord put the house up for sale.
It's hard living in limbo

[EllenParsons]

Yes of course it is still a home. I rent and I take pride in my home, like to keep it nice, and would feel quite insulted if someone suggested it was not my own because I didn't own! Of course it is not for life and you don't have the security, but while you live there it is your home. Most private tenants pay more than enough for their homes after all, I know I do in London!

[EllenParsons]

Not my home that should have said

[ScaredySquirrel]

I rent and don't feel like it is home. this may be partly due to the fact I don't have my own furniture in (thats in my house I rent out), and also, like others, I know (hope?) that I will be buying somewhere soon.

I also look longingly at house magazines, and envy others I know nearby who own their their homes. I think I would feel differently though if I knew this was long term and I had my own furniture around me.

And of course, ultimately it doesn't really matter as long as I have my children with me.

[TeeElfOnTeeShelf]

Yes. I rent my home.

[JakeBullet]

I have done the lot as far as homes are concerned. I have been an owner, have privately rented and am now in social housing. Without any shadow of a doubt I struggled more with seeing the privately rented places as "home". I worried about everything despite having Tenants Insurance. It was home but it never felt like "mine". This was always underlined during Letting Agent visits when they checked everything. It was a nightmare getting any repairs done too.
I give thanks every day for my good fortune in being allocated my current house by a Housing Association. This feels like "mine" although it isn't . My tenancy is secure and my autistic son has a home for as long as he needs it.

[UntamedShrew]

Offensive question, sorry

[madwomanintheattic]

Home is where the Army sends you.

Barclays wouldn't be suggesting that our troops are homeless at Christmas, would they? I think traditionally that happens once they leave the military, given the sheer number of ex-armed forces personnel in the statistics...

Maybe they could team with the JSHAO to offer some helpful advice about finances during resettlement...

[glentherednosedbattleostrich]

DH and I are accidental landlords, we couldn't sell our flat when we moved to another part of the country for work 9 years ago.

The flat is not our home. It is the home of whomever is renting it, they are paying for the space and if we felt the managing agents were not looking after the tenants properly we would (and have) changed.

Our current tenants have just moved in and we have made a few changes they have requested (new lino and repainted) but we have given them a choice of colours as they are the ones who live with it and, as long as it is returned in the same conditino they rent it in, they can do as they please in it. It is afterall their home.

[nextphase]

What do they mean own a home?
We have a motgage on ours. Technically the bank owns more than us - or at least they would have a greater claim on it should everything go belly up.

I think having a home is dependant on fealing secure - and if you feal secure in a rented house, fab. If you don't feal secure in a mortgage or owned house, its probably not home.

[TeeElfOnTeeShelf]

UntamedShrew you know what? You're right. Offensive and home owner centric.

I have rented my whole life since leaving my parents house. Every place I have rented as been home.

[Asinine]

Wherever I pay my tax, that's my home.

[Tyranasaurus]

I like the security of having my own home. I've rented before and made the places homey, the best was one we were allowed to decorate.

[MakeTeaNotWar]

Of course - as long as it feels like one - it is very subjective. I'm 36 and we bought our first house 3 years ago. Up until then I lived in rented accommodation and those were definitely "homes"

[FreelanceMama]

I've never owned a house or flat, so I can't compare it, but I don't think I would consider a property with a mortgage to be anymore or less a "home" than the flat we rent right now. I think it is to do with how secure you feel - are you anxious that you are not in control of how long you will live there? And how much you feel you can do what you want to the place.

My previous rented flat was below the house of the landlord and I felt we were living in their home temporarily. My current flat, is one of a few owned by my landlords and we see them every six months. They take pride in making their flats as comfortable as they can. We could redecorate if we asked them first. They charge us a very reasonable rent in order to hang on to tenants who will treat the place as though it were their own home (in a good way!), and have said we can stay as long as we want. This is the only place our baby has ever lived and when we came back from the hospital it definitely felt like we were coming home.

By contrast, we could buy a house with a mortgage, but haven't because I feel this is our home, and the thought of owing so much money to someone (hire-purchase from a bank) makes me feel anxious. So, no, it wouldn't be a home unless we owned it outright.

[MissChristmastRee]

Personally I've never felt that the rented houses I've lived in were home. The houses that I have owned have very much felt like home. I'm sure its different for everyone but personally, unless I own something, its not mine!

[ThePortlyPinUp]

We will never be able to buy a house, we couldn't afford it and would never get a mortgage with dp's ill health.
However we live in a lovely HA home and we're very lucky with it. It is home to us, a safe place to raise our family.
We have lived in 3 houses/flat as a family and they have all been home, they have been where we have brought our newborns from hospital, where we have celebrated Christmas's and birthdays.
Who owns the bricks and mortar is irrelevant IMO.

[hackneyzoo]

A sense of 'home' is not about ownership , it's about creating a space to live and function in.