How bad is renting?

delain

Renting is a PITA here. I've been looking for somewhere for a long time and just get one no after another! Children apparently can't share a room, I'm sure the LA's rules are one child per room and one room spare (and no I don't have £3,000 per month for a 5 bed house) and you'd think my cat was a nuclear device rather than a sloth like cushion that happens to eat cat food

Oh and the one and only place I rented from an agency was unfit for human habitation... It was so damp my furniture collapsed when the removal men tried to pick it up, the walls were black with mould floor to ceiling in every external wall in spite of me bleach scrubbing it every weekend, then they tried to double glaze the windows, realised they didn't have the right gear and boogered off leaving me with 3 children under 5 with 3 inch gaps to outside where the windowsills should be (in February so it was cold) and a compromised supporting post. Have since been told I was lucky the whole place didn't collapse on my head.

That said my current LL is very very nice, if only I could pick this house up, stretch it a bit then pop it up the road 2 miles *sigh*

IveSeenTheLight

Percy1983 wrote: »

Personally I would rather die than rent for the reasons mnetioned above.

Aren't you already renting?
I thought you were planning to buy next year?

ElleR

There's so many posts on here about bad landlords/letting agents, because, to be fair, they do exist. But there are also lots of great landlords.

I've had 2 great landlords - rented through a letting agent but the lls then said come straight to us if you have any problems. We got a lovely card and pot plant when we moved in to our current house. They come over as soon as they can if we have any issues. We had a long chat with the previous tenants when looking around about how they found the LLs and that gives you a good idea of what you're letting yourself into.

It's like the news and other tv progs really, you only hear the horror stories when there could be just as many good stories. There may be some laws etc that need reviewing but it's not all bad.

People who have never rented or had 1 or 2 bad experiences should think twice before shouting down renting. I'm perfectly happy with it and so are my friends and to be fair, I live too far away to call my dad out when something breaks! I like Cleaver's post, minus the breasts comment! Haha!

FTBFun

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Have a look at the house buying and selling board and how many rental problems threads there are. This stresses many people out, landlord and tenant alike.

There's also quite a few with problems about house buying and selling as well, suprisingly. Not really sure what point you're making here?

Percy1983

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Aren't you already renting?
I thought you were planning to buy next year?

Nope. Mummy is looking after me. :j

Graham_Devon

FTBFun wrote: »

There's also quite a few with problems about house buying and selling as well, suprisingly. Not really sure what point you're making here?

The point I was making is that there are a lot (and increasing, so say the regulars) amount of rental problem threads.

I thought that was obvious?

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Having access to ice cream is great, but for the people who haven't got lighting in stair wells, and have small children in houses with windows which won't shut, holes in rooves etc and it's approaching winter, frankly telling them they should be happy as they have access to ice cream is absurd and insulting.

Any idea how many people with small children don't have lighting in stair wells, non-shutting windows and holes in roofs. Your story could rival a Christmas Carol but does it have anything to do with the real world.

What if, with winter coming, they keep the ice cream outside and then use the saved electricity to light the stairwell. Would that work?

Alternatively could the millions that clearly live in these conditions choose an ambient snack?

Graham_Devon

wotsthat wrote: »

Any idea how many people with small children don't have lighting in stair wells, non-shutting windows and holes in roofs. Your story could rival a Christmas Carol but does it have anything to do with the real world.

Lots, I'd imagine.

But I still don't think for those with problems, telling them fluffy bread is available will make them forget their problems.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Lots, I'd imagine.

Lots as in 100 or lots as in 1,000,000?

It makes a difference - one indicates a problem with a small number of houses; the other indicates a problem with society.

FTBFun

Graham_Devon wrote: »

The point I was making is that there are a lot (and increasing, so say the regulars) amount of rental problem threads.

I thought that was obvious?

Yes but saying there's people with rental problems on that board, when there's also people with OO problems, seems kinda pointless in aiming to prove that there are a lot of problems in rental property.

I do actually think the rental laws need tightening (or least enforcing better) but I think your assertion that rental problems are more common from the example you have given is incorrect.