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.

[turnipvontrapp]

Yes of course it is. Ownership does not come into consideration. Home is where you live.

[pofacedalways]

MN, I am feeling increasingly uncomfortable about your marketing deals with big profit companies and now banks. I mean, I'm supposed to tell you something about my house/home for the chance of winning £150 voucher when the banks make billions in profit and their recklessness bankrupted the country. I mean really.

[whattodoo]

I'd say that yes, it is still your home. What else could it be?
Of course, a tenant may not have the ability to decorate it, extend etc as they would like, but its still where your bits and bobs are, your friends and family come to visit you there, and it's where you make your life.
I understand that it may feel 'temporary' but even if you own your home, quite often it can feel like one you're living in at the moment until you get your 'forever home'.

[RarelyUnreasonable]

Home is where the heart is, right? As long as you feel happy and safe, it doesn't matter whether you're paying rent or mortgage (or nothing if you're v jammy . Renting may be less secure than paying a mortgage, but not always.

[EvenIfYouSeeAPoppy]

You wouldn't even be asking this question if the UK had proper, decent tenancy laws.

I live in a place that does and I effectively have greater rights than the landlord over my home for as long as I wish to live in it. My landlord needs a good reason - one that will stand up in court - to evict me, while I can terminate the tenancy without giving a reason. The landlord has to give me reasonable notice if they want to inspect the place. I can do what I like re decoration etc as long as we restore it to the original condition when we move out or come to an agreement with the LL or next tenant.

We don't wish to buy because we don't anticipate living here forever. Renting is perfect for us. And of course it's our home. The UK culture of the 'property ladder' is bonkers and causes a great deal of misery, AFAICS.

[LRDtheFeministDude]

Yes, still a home.

And I agree that if the UK had decent tenancy laws, this question would (rightly) be seen as absurd.

[nemno]

I grew up living in army quarters and can definitely say that as a child each of them was home to me. It is clear my mother did not feel like that (she is a keen gardener) and only felt truly at home when they bought a family house. This was through choice because they were still entitled to quarters.

In my own adult life I have bought with a mortgage, rented through husband's company abroad, rented privately here and bought a family home and paid off the mortgage. The option that felt least like home was private renting in the UK. Perhaps not surprisingly living in an owned fully paid-off property feels the most secure and homely. But a secure tenancy with a decent landlord is not a terrible, very second best option.

[hk78]

I've tried both renting and owning.

Renting always felt like it was insecure, even when the properties were not the owners home i.e. it was a professional landlord. I also hated the regular inspections.

However, friends with HA or council tenancies have that security, so that would feel secure enough for me. Owning with a mortgage is probably no more secure than that but it gives the feeling that it is.

So for me, overall, it's not whether I own it, it's whether I can be uprooted suddenly or not that makes that 'home' feeling.

[Elfontheshelfiswatchingyou]

I agree, if tenancies were more secure, with more long-term lets available and realistic rental prices, this whole thread would be full of positive answers. Everyone deserves to feel that where they live is their home.

[Elfontheshelfiswatchingyou]

Just spotted the Barclays ad on the right- Home Buying, make your voices heard. Hmmm.

How about- Rights for tenants- make your voices heard?

[DontmindifIdo]

I've rented and bought, and for me the point a house became a home was when we had the 'forever' feeling - for me it's not decorating or being able to hang a picture, it was the garden, actually knowing in November/December that I'll be in this house in August and it's worth doing the hard work in the garden as I will be there to benefit from it.

As others have said, it's not the renting vs buying feeling, it's the "I can stay here as long as I want" vs. "i'll probably have to move in 6 months". Secure longer tenancies are needed.

[ln1981]

My family have lived in 3 rented properties over the last 10 years and only the house we are in at the moment has felt like home. The difference being that our previous two properties were rented through an agency-so constant intrusio and inspections where the house had to be like a show home at all timess it seemed. This time around, we have cut out the middle man and our landlord pretty much let's us treat it as our home-we can decorate,we were able to get a pet and more importantly he leaves us alone unless we need him or we contact him. The house we are in just now is definately our home.

[CanonFodder]

The only people who actually own their own homes are those who have paid off their mortgages. If you have a mortgage, well then your home is the banks if you don't keep up your payments. From that point of view it's not all that different from renting.

We have never and probably will never own our own place, but we are lucky enough to have a very long term let if we want it, 25 years was what we've been assured. We do whatever we like to the house and gardens and it is very, very much our home.

[CanonFodder]

DontmindifIdo has it on the head really. It's that feeling of the freedom to put down roots.

[GentleOtter]

We are covered by the 1990 Agricultural Secure Tenancy (Scotland) and my husband's family have lived on this farm since 1890. (tenant farmers)

The farmhouse has seen 122 years of births, marriages and deaths since dh's family have been there. There are heights of growing children carved into the wood around the door, scuffs and character marks, the garden has ancient apple trees and old roses. It is the hub of the farm.

Is it our home even although we do not live there just now due to the roof in disrepair/ no electricity/no heat/ no clean water?
Yes, of course it is our home and the heart of the family. The meeting place.

The Scottish government appear content and complacent to see tenants fight long protracted legal battles when landowners refuse to carry out repairs to sub standard houses. They are aware of these abuses yet do nothing to help the tenant. The agricultural tenancy laws are untenable and set firmly for the side of the landowner, land courts are too expensive.... I doubt Barclays will print that.

Our house does not look like much, is owned by someone who does not care about the property but it is very much home for our family.

[Donkeyswife]

Of course it is, it's what you put into it, atmosphere etc.., that counts. Obviously you are limited by what you can do to a rented home, but it shouldn't be seen as a second rate habitat.

[pumpkinsweetie]

It's all about feeling comfortable & 'at home', whether it's owned or rented is irrelevent.

[ReindeerBollocks]

No. It's not a home as there is no security in it, especially if it's a private letting.

Yes, you can furnish the house and make it comfortable, however if the landlord decides your gone, then it's 28 days and your outta there - no fluffy cushions or naice curtains are going to stop it.

I cannot wait to buy, and be able to furnish AND decorate, knowing that it will be a nice stable environment for myself and my family. A home that we can call ours without any threat of eviction, or people wanting to do six monthly checks to see if we are living adequately within the property.

So no, I don't believe that a rented property is a home, merely a house that you are currently using that belongs to someone else.

[BetsyBlingtastic]

I'm looking forward to paying up the mortgage in a few years and truly owning our home - I do think that will feel different and more secure.

I sometimes think about the very basic accommodation peple live in in the developing world, that is dirty, vermin infested, lacking utilities, vulnerable to outsiders etc and try to count my blessings while moaning about the housework

I once visited a squatters village abroad - desperate conditions, but they had made it "home" in anyway they could, though I expect they knew they might have to move on at any time. They were quite resourceful, stealing electricity. I saw someone watching tv in a room with a mud floor a couple of chairs and nothing else.

[TheUKGrinchImGluhweinkeller]

ReindeerBollock by that definition its not a home until you have paid off the mortgage or bought it outright in cash, as you're just as surely (if not just as quickly) going to be evicted if you can no longer pay your mortgage as if your landlord evicts you.

[GetKnitted]

Yes it is still a home, but knowing that someone could just turn around and force you to leave, despite keeping up payments, despite loving and caring for the house, adds another level of insecurity that frankly I can do without.

The real cause of the problem of people not being able to buy is that the prices have been so hideously over inflated by speculation on the property market.

[jennywren123]

Yes, you can definitely call a house a home whether you are renting, owning, staying with family or living in your workplace (live-in nanny etc). It doesn't have anything to do with whether you own the land and bricks etc.

[OneLittleToddlingTerror]

Home should be where you live. It shouldn't matter whether you own or rent it. It shouldn't matter if you live with family or if you are single and share with housemates. It should be a place where you feel safe, relaxed, and be yourself. It should be a place where you want to return to after a day at work, at school or after a week on holiday.

However, for many in this country, they can't feel 'home' with renting. I used to rent privately and I lived in 3 flats in 5 years. The flats were furnished so we weren't allowed our own furniture. We weren't allowed any decorations, including posters and pictures. The kitchen was already filled with not-fit-for-use crockery there is no place to put my own pots and pans. Do you know why we moved so often? The landlords never fixed anything, unless it makes the place uninhabitable. All the flats had serious damp issues. One has a non-working shower for 2-3 weeks before we gave up hassling the landlord and moved to another flat on the street. (The council said they don't need to fix the shower as there is a working bath). As a result of all this, I never felt home until I bought my own place.