Can you make a long term home out of a rented property?

Duskylady

We've lived in our rented house for 5 years. Both of our neighbours have been renting for over 25 years! Never wanted to buy. It's a bit different as we rent from the Westminster estate which means they are very stable and like long long term lets. We are looking to buy soon and I will miss the stress free life of a renter being able to phone someone when things go wrong. Our house just isn't big enough for our 2 kids.

ognum

penthouse89 wrote: »

On the flip side, I know we have some landlords on here.

Do you want your tenants to feel at home in your property, and would you be happy for them to make it their home?

I do want my tenants to feel the property they live in is their home and I always tell my tenants that that is what it is.

Clearly I want to make some money but like other businesses you can be cut throat about squeezing the maximum or you can be less thrusting and still maintain your assets.

I think landlords need to reflect on what they want from a landlord, how they would want to be treated and it would help.

I do want them to make my property their home and everything will be done in consultation with them.

Lifeforms

You can make any place as much as a home without bricks and mortar really. The trick is to make what is in it, and the people, guests, visitors, kids, pets, whatever, as part of the home. Home is you being happy with what you have, and have also created. The home bubble per say.

I don't consider my rented flat shell to be home, but I'm happy creating my home where ever me, my cat, my family, and my stuff goes, outside the obvious of crime areas, noisy neighbours, difficult buildings, but you get those whether you rent or buy.

Lagoon

We're in a position where we've decided not to aim to buy a house, because without a lottery win (and we don't play!), it would be virtually impossible.

Is our rented house our home? As much as it can be. We plan to rent for life, and we're very happy with our current house, though it's never out of your mind that someone else is in control.

We can't make changes to the property itself without the permission of our LL, and to be honest we wouldn't want to. The carpets are torn and worn, there are some holes in the walls, there are gaps in the external walls that allow bugs in all year and whole house is furnished in 60s style complete with original paint that's fading in most rooms, BUT I feel safe, happy and comfortable here, and so does OH. Our concern is that any money we invest into the property is money that's lost if we move out - I've fixed up the bit of the lawn that had turned to mud, and OH recently repainted the stair rail, but we're not going to go making expensive changes.

I could happily live here permanently, raise a family here and settle here for life, but equally I would have no issue moving if LL wanted us out, and I think that's a main consideration. A lot of people say they couldn't rent for life because 'What if the LL wants you gone?'. My opinion is that a house move is a chance to try something new.

On top of the fact that we can't actually afford to buy a house, I guess I like the assurance that our home can match our financial state. At the moment we're paying more than the average rental price to live in the best estate in a nice town, BECAUSE we want somewhere that's good as a long-term home. If we ended up worse off than we currently are, we could reduce our rent by up to 50%. We'd no longer live somewhere nice, or feel safe, but we'd still have a roof over our heads and wouldn't have to worry that we couldn't afford to pay our mortgage.