Why is it that people are so desperate to own houses?

JonnyBravo

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Some of us have pets.

My new tenants have a dog.
It IS possible you know.

aliasojo

JonnyBravo wrote: »

My new tenants have a dog.
It IS possible you know.

Possible, but difficult.

Every letting agent we approached told us the vast majority of landlords will not accept pets.

We were turned down for many properties before we found one that would accept our dog. Even then, it's stipulated in our lease that we only are allowed one pet.

googler

Carl31 wrote: »

surely its just somewhere to live at the end of the day

It's also a safe haven for my/our possessions.

If I had children, I wouldn't want to have to move them every 6 months, so it would be a constant for them

nearlyrich

I prefer to own my house, it wasn't a case of stopping living to buy it either for us. If I give up work tomorrow I can live here rent free for as long as I like.

princeofpounds

Security and quality of tenure. I.e. What the poster said before about kowtowing to a landlord and being able to modify to make it a home rather than a temporary accommodation.

It doesn't have to be this way- many countries have stronger laws and the uk did into recently. To be fair, they were deficient in many ways too as anyone who has dealt with old assured tenancies would know.

Carl31

In my original post, i was kind of refering to nowdays, although not clear. As said in another thread, the average deposit is now 66k, thats eleven years of saving £500 a month, that means someone starting work in there late teens will be at least 30 by the time they can buy at present, and then taking on a mortgage until possibly retirement, dependant on circumstances.

Cleaver

Carl31 wrote: »

In my original post, i was kind of refering to nowdays, although not clear. As said in another thread, the average deposit is now 66k, thats eleven years of saving £500 a month, that means someone starting work in there late teens will be at least 30 by the time they can buy at present, and then taking on a mortgage until possibly retirement, dependant on circumstances.

The average house is around £165,000. The average first time buyer house is probably around, what, £120,000? I know the mortgage market is bit on it's backside at the moment, but a 15% deposit is a pretty reasonable expectation for a FTBer. 15% of £120,000 is £18,000.

If you can save £500 a month it means you can build up a decent deposit for an averageish FTBer house in around 3 years.

I'm not saying this to say that houses are cheap and affordable to FTBers, as I don't think they are. But that £66k average deposit figure isn't the same as the average FTBer deposit requirement. From what I can tell from the article Hamish posted up they are talking about depsosits generally (if I've read it right). So for example the deposit for the house we're currently in was around £70,000. But that includes the original £20,000 we saved as a deposit for our first house back in 2003, if that makes sense.

Pupnik

Unless you are not planning to stay in a particular place for any length of time it makes much more sense to buy a place rather than rent. I'm paying £400 a month in rent for a 2 bedroom flat. It's fairly nice although the oven is about 20 years old at least (probably older, when was the last time people made brown ovens?) and the bathroom is a fetching 70s avocado suite with no windows, no washing machine (or even any space for one), heck there is not even a phoneline and I am not paying £100 to get one put in for a property I could be kicked out of at any moment. We're in the process of buying a maisonette round the corner- two bedrooms again, but a much bigger and nicer kitchen and bathroom and a garden. The mortgage will be £250 a month for 20 years, but with overpaying will not go on that long. A lot cheaper than our current rent, and it remains our asset rather than paying a landlord.

I am looking forward to be able to plant vegetables that I know I will be able to eat as I know I will still be living there when they are ready, I'm looking forward to spending money on made to measure curtains that I know I will still be using in 5 years time, I'm looking forward to getting a dog (yes, some landlords do allow pets but it isn't easy- we have been trying to get permission for a small caged animal like a hamster or some rats for months and they just don't respond!) and I'm looking forward to painting the walls and not having to look at magnolia anymore.

Renting is fine for some people but for me it has only been a stop gap and it doesn't feel like my home, as earlier posters said you are so limited- I want to put up bookshelves, I want to put up the antique prints I collect, I want to get some solar panels- basically I want to live the way I want and not feel like I have to tread softly in someone else's home. Also, I want to be able to make improvements- like the hole in the side of the bath covered up with duct tape- if that were my own home I would have replaced it years ago, but I'm not replacing someone else's bath panel!

JonnyBravo

aliasojo wrote: »

Possible, but difficult.

Every letting agent we approached told us the vast majority of landlords will not accept pets.

We were turned down for many properties before we found one that would accept our dog. Even then, it's stipulated in our lease that we only are allowed one pet.

Yeah we'd originally put no pets but they asked if we would accept an increased deposit to allow for it.
We said yes.

ukcarper

ruggedtoast wrote: »

This.

I have rented in other countries and it was fine. The rent was commensurate with the cost of the flat, and the flat was costed at a price a normal person could afford.

I also had more rights as it being my home than the landlords did for it being their investment.

It was fine, I paid my rent each month, didnt feel ripped off, exploited, resentful or anything else.

Renting in the UK is dreadful. Every month you pay an arm and a leg for permission to stay another month. You cant change anything, alter anything, make anything remotely yours.

Then if you have done anything to upset, and often even if you havent, before you know it 6 months has come round and its rent increases, section 21s, £300 for some lying toad in a letting agency to spend 5 minutes typing up an AST before handing you the keys to some place that isnt what it was meant to be.

As a case in point every house or flat I've rented in the UK it has been promised to me will be deepcleaned, or repainted before I moved in. Not once has this ever happened.

Dirty walls, dirty carpet, dirty loo.

I agree with most of what you posted but who is going to provide these properties. There is nothing stopping companies buying or building properties and letting them out on the terms you want but nobody seems to want to do it.