Why Germans Love Renting Their Homes

CLAPTON

Tancred wrote: »

Not crazy at all. When you rent there it's basically a permanent arrangement - effectively 'for life'. Moving is rare. They have strong 'anti-chav' laws to stop anti-social behaviour and the police will enforce these laws assiduously. In the UK the coppers just do jack sh*t about anti-social behaviour.

do you have any figures to support the low level of moving in Germany?

antrobus

CLAPTON wrote: »

do you have any figures to support the low level of moving in Germany?

Quick, let's Google 'Labour mobility in Germany'!

It is shown that labour mobility is highest in Germany, followed by France, and Italy.

http://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/zewdip/5260.html

ruggedtoast

movilogo wrote: »

Couple of months back there was a BBC Panorama show on TV regarding German culture.

There are loads of dissimilarities between them and us.

Women there raise kids at home. They don't commute half the country every day to earn few quids more. They still have some good manufacturing (compare with our financial service based economy).

Although, I didn't agree with their rental philosophy. When you rent a house in UK, you get a fitted kitchen (even in unfurnished house). But in Germany, you just get a room designated as kitchen and then you fit all your cabinets at your expense and then you take them away (even though they won't fit elsewhere) when you vacate the house! Crazy ideas!

On other hand, their tenants get lot more protection. They can't be kicked out with 2 months notice.

Family is very important to Germans and there is a strong social contract.

The BTL and AST policies we have here wouldn't come into being in Germany because they would, rightly, be perceived as toxic to communities and family life.

iolanthe07

Renting isn't always a bad idea. I lived in a 'tied' house all my working life. On retirement three years ago I was provided with a modern three bedroom detached house, in a location I chose, with the written guarantee that my wife and I (or if one of us dies, the survivor) can occupy for the rest of our lives. The rent is guaranteed never to exceed 30% of our total income, so if I was to die and my wife lose my pension, the rent would reduce commensurate with her income. The rent is actually about 22% of our household income at present.

Although I used to own a house, it was nothing but a burden and expense to me. I am glad to be shot of home ownership. If anything goes wrong I merely have to pick up the 'phone, and I don't have to worry about outside repairs and maintenance or buildings insurance. There are few restrictions - we have a dog, for example - and we can make improvements at our own expense knowing that we are here for the long term.

The only downside is lack of capital to leave to our children, but they both own their properties and know that their inheritance will be minimal.

I can't understand this obsession with home ownership, but I do appreciate that I am lucky to have the kind of security and protection that seems to be common elsewhere in Europe.

CLAPTON

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Family is very important to Germans and there is a strong social contract.

The BTL and AST policies we have here wouldn't come into being in Germany because they would, rightly, be perceived as toxic to communities and family life.

Do you have any evidence that family is more important in Germany that the UK or is it based on racial stereotyping?

System

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Renting isn't always a bad idea. I lived in a 'tied' house all my working life. On retirement three years ago I was provided with a modern three bedroom detached house, in a location I chose, with the written guarantee that my wife and I (or if one of us dies, the survivor) can occupy for the rest of our lives. The rent is guaranteed never to exceed 30% of our total income, so if I was to die and my wife lose my pension, the rent would reduce commensurate with her income. The rent is actually about 22% of our household income at present.

Although I used to own a house, it was nothing but a burden and expense to me. I am glad to be shot of home ownership. If anything goes wrong I merely have to pick up the 'phone, and I don't have to worry about outside repairs and maintenance or buildings insurance. There are few restrictions - we have a dog, for example - and we can make improvements at our own expense knowing that we are here for the long term.

The only downside is lack of capital to leave to our children, but they both own their properties and know that their inheritance will be minimal.

I can't understand this obsession with home ownership, but I do appreciate that I am lucky to have the kind of security and protection that seems to be common elsewhere in Europe.

I couldn't agree more ,after 20 yrs of "owning" a house we sold up and moved into social housing last June. It was the best thing we have ever done , no big bills to worry about just general living costs.

Conrad

I'll try and find a link to back up what I'm about to say.........


I did own a couple of places in Eastern Germany including Berlin and Germans from the west were keen to point out to me about 70% owned in the former west, that the rentier class lived in the former communist side, unused to ownership.

Tancred

michaels wrote: »

So either the maths works in which case there is nothing stopping you from making the same level of contributions here for the same benefit on retirement, or actually they are not paying enough given life expectancy etc and the reason it looks a good deeal is because it is a ponzi scheme.

The big difference is that there it'a defined benefit, guaranteed by the state. Private provision guarantees nothing, as you are at the mercy of the stockmarket.

Tancred

CLAPTON wrote: »

Do you have any evidence that family is more important in Germany that the UK or is it based on racial stereotyping?

Not much racial difference between UK and Germany - I assume you mean national stereotyping. Germany is a country with much more traditional values and socially conservative than the UK. Closer to Ireland, I dare say.

Conrad

Here is a link pointing towards the Eastern part of Germany skewing the ownership statistics;




In the west German states, the share is a good deal higher (around 60%) while the east German Bundeslaender have a share of around 13%. Berlin has a share of 15%.




http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/16/new-europe-germany-property