4 ms·

As a young person on the horizon of starting a family the only reason I want to buy in my country (UK) is due to how renters are treated. I've had a total of fi

by reedf1 5y ago

As a young person on the horizon of starting a family the only reason I want to buy in my country (UK) is due to how renters are treated. I've had a total of five landlords in my young life - and they have all (and I understand this is anecdotal and not everybody's experience) been different shades of exploitative/incompetent. I don't want to have to live with the boot heel of some lucky idiot on my neck. I don't want to have to have my day-to-day life beholden to the bizarre whims of a random who doesn't need to prove that they are sane, competent, or empathic enough to be a landlord. Renting is not a functioning market in the UK, the quality of the landlord is now my biggest concern and this information is kept completely hidden. If I was a policy maker I would implement a landlord license and setup an independent review site for those landlords so that tenants can leave reviews of their tenancy.

vishnugupta 5y ago
This is precisely what forced me to buy a house in India. The 2nd landlord decided to sell the house within a month of moving and said I’ll be at the mercy of the new landlord. I had it enough and bought a house even though I had to stretch in terms of monthly mortgage payment.
iso1631 5y ago
I rented 3 different flats from 2006-2008, and 3 different houses from 2011-2016, ranging from a brand new flat to a conversion in a 1850s house to grade 2 cottage from the 1700s. Can't think of any issues with landlords, but then most of them were dealt with by a management company (estate agent or whatever). I rented out my own flat (which I'd bought in 2008) from 2011-2016 and let the letting agency sort the management. I certainly didn't hear of any issues, occasional bills for plumbers, gas checks, replacement appliance, were taken from the rent, but otherwise it just worked. The primary reason to buy for us though, as well as being far cheaper (£350pcm mortgage interest vs £800pcm rent), is the security of tenure. If your landlord wants to sell up, or dies, then you might find yourself needed to rent a house with a couple of months notice, which means you might not be able to find anywhere near to your kids schools, or afford it if you can. renting "somewhere in zone 2" is very different to "renting in the small village you live in". Currently there is just 1 house within 5 miles of mine, but it's in a different council area (so different schools etc). It's also more than the total price of a 90% mortgage on the house value (not just the interest part, the repayment part too)
catchmilk 5y ago
The worst part about the UK (specifically London, not 100% sure about the rest), is that even when you buy a property (assuming it's a leasehold), then you're again at the mercy of the freeholder. Depending on your lease - you'll still be paying rent (ground rent) in addition to service charge and building insurance. Technically, you're only 'renting' the property for the lifetime of the lease. All from probably someone who was merely lucky enough to have been born into an aristocratic family, or a money-hungry company. It's an embarrassingly archaic and unfair system. God forbid working families want to own their own home/land in this country (city).
- alexgmcm 5y ago
  Is leasehold that common outside of London? My parents own their property as freehold, and it's only an hour from London by train. Tbh, I just ended up emigrating as the property market was so bad it felt hopeless.
  - gpderetta 5y ago
    Leasehold is pretty much guaranteed for flats, outside of Scotland. Of course flats might be more common in London than elsewhere. There are leasehold houses but I believe these days they are actually outlawed for new builds; of course builders found other creative "solutions" to extract rent even from freeholds, which are not protected by leaseholder rights.
- philjohn 5y ago
  And there are fun leasehold arrangements like "The ground rent doubles every 5 years" Starting from a peppercorn value, this quickly amps up to hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of £ a year. It's the wheat and chessboard problem[1] made concrete [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem

by reedf1 5y ago

vishnugupta 5y ago

This is precisely what forced me to buy a house in India. The 2nd landlord decided to sell the house within a month of moving and said I’ll be at the mercy of the new landlord. I had it enough and bought a house even though I had to stretch in terms of monthly mortgage payment.

iso1631 5y ago

I rented 3 different flats from 2006-2008, and 3 different houses from 2011-2016, ranging from a brand new flat to a conversion in a 1850s house to grade 2 cottage from the 1700s. Can't think of any issues with landlords, but then most of them were dealt with by a management company (estate agent or whatever). I rented out my own flat (which I'd bought in 2008) from 2011-2016 and let the letting agency sort the management. I certainly didn't hear of any issues, occasional bills for plumbers, gas checks, replacement appliance, were taken from the rent, but otherwise it just worked. The primary reason to buy for us though, as well as being far cheaper (£350pcm mortgage interest vs £800pcm rent), is the security of tenure. If your landlord wants to sell up, or dies, then you might find yourself needed to rent a house with a couple of months notice, which means you might not be able to find anywhere near to your kids schools, or afford it if you can. renting "somewhere in zone 2" is very different to "renting in the small village you live in". Currently there is just 1 house within 5 miles of mine, but it's in a different council area (so different schools etc). It's also more than the total price of a 90% mortgage on the house value (not just the interest part, the repayment part too)

catchmilk 5y ago

The worst part about the UK (specifically London, not 100% sure about the rest), is that even when you buy a property (assuming it's a leasehold), then you're again at the mercy of the freeholder. Depending on your lease - you'll still be paying rent (ground rent) in addition to service charge and building insurance. Technically, you're only 'renting' the property for the lifetime of the lease. All from probably someone who was merely lucky enough to have been born into an aristocratic family, or a money-hungry company. It's an embarrassingly archaic and unfair system. God forbid working families want to own their own home/land in this country (city).

alexgmcm 5y ago
Is leasehold that common outside of London? My parents own their property as freehold, and it's only an hour from London by train. Tbh, I just ended up emigrating as the property market was so bad it felt hopeless.
- gpderetta 5y ago
  Leasehold is pretty much guaranteed for flats, outside of Scotland. Of course flats might be more common in London than elsewhere. There are leasehold houses but I believe these days they are actually outlawed for new builds; of course builders found other creative "solutions" to extract rent even from freeholds, which are not protected by leaseholder rights.
philjohn 5y ago
And there are fun leasehold arrangements like "The ground rent doubles every 5 years" Starting from a peppercorn value, this quickly amps up to hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of £ a year. It's the wheat and chessboard problem[1] made concrete [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem