How to tell if neighbours own or rent?

DaftyDuck

I've read enough threads on these Forums to be able to tell easily!

• Nice car, smart clothes, leave at 8am for work, back at six, well-kept garden... definitely home-owner.
  
• Older car, supermarket clothes, only out half the day, grass uncut... definitely renting!
  
• Those with junk in the front garden, scruffy as heck, unshaven and smelly, always at home.... those are bound to be social tenants!
  
• Oh, and then there are foreigners... but we don't want to go there, nor live near there... or mention them!

Oh, I nearly forgot... you have to divide the owners into mortgagees and outright owners... it does matter, you know, it so does!

If you are "just wondering"... get to know your neighbours. Chat to them over the garden wall, offer them a cup of tea when they go past, admire their dog and children (if you can tell the difference with the lower-orders, that is!). You may never find out if they rent, but at least you'll recognise them as individuals.

If you are seriously, actually contemplating knocking on a virtual stranger's door, and asking if they own or rent..... well, expect a (or several) short-shrift answers!

Why are so many people so obsessed with the home-status of their neighbours? Some of the nicest neighbours I have known have rented all their long and aged lives!

Judge people (if you even have to do that) by getting to know them, not by the questionnaire-at-the-door approach of:

"Are you now or have you ever been a ...








.... homeowner?"


Tea and cake, tea and cake or, as Dafty recommends, turn up with a bottle and buns and have a chatter!

fairy_lights

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Tea and cake, tea and cake or, as Dafty recommends, turn up with a bottle and buns and have a chatter!

Are you suggesting OP offers to show the neighbours her bum if they agree to tell her if they own or rent? Well, it might work...

franklee

DaftyDuck wrote: »

I've read enough threads on these Forums to be able to tell easily!

• Nice car, smart clothes, leave at 8am for work, back at six, well-kept garden... definitely home-owner.
• Older car, supermarket clothes, only out half the day, grass uncut... definitely renting!
• Those with junk in the front garden, scruffy as heck, unshaven and smelly, always at home.... those are bound to be social tenants!
• Oh, and then there are foreigners... but we don't want to go there, nor live near there... or mention them!

Oh, I nearly forgot... you have to divide the owners into mortgagees and outright owners... it does matter, you know, it so does!

Ha, you missed the curtain test! There was a thread on here some time ago caused a bit of a "discussion". That OP was unhappy about curtains closed till late in the flats of the social tenants.

Just seeing how I measure up ...

Impression: Well-kept garden, supermarket clothes, older car, smelly, always at home, curtains often closed all day ... Oops!

Reality: Own outright - that's why the car is old, boring moneysaving old fart - so the clothes are supermarket, some work on internet - at home a lot, curtains closed - SW facing and gets too hot for much of the year.

OP, what about the DIY test?. If the neighbour spends all weekend in B&Q, up a ladder painting etc. then chances are he's a homeowner.

Conversationally what about starting a moan about interest rates being low - that should sort the mortgaged to the hilt out from the rest!

DaftyDuck

fairy_lights wrote: »

Are you suggesting OP offers to show the neighbours her bum if they agree to tell her if they own or rent? Well, it might work...

Doh! Nuts!

More effective, in my ( ♂ ) experience!

teddysmum

We've owned and lived in our house, bought as a newbuild, for over 44 years as have a number of neighbours.

fairy_lights

franklee wrote: »

Ha, you missed the curtain test! There was a thread on here some time ago caused a bit of a "discussion". That OP was unhappy about curtains closed till late in the flats of the social tenants.

The curtain theory is all backwards IMO - Me and my OH work so rush out of the house in a rush while it's still dark and don't have time to open them, and what's the point if it's going to be dark when we get home anyway?
When I was unemployed a few years ago I always opened the curtains, and because I had time used to make elaborate bows out of the tie backs

My next door neighbours are retired and always keep their blinds closed...or so you might think. They're actually very artfully arranged to allow them to peer out in to the street and be nosy without anyone seeing them :rotfl:

prosaver

you could knock on the door and say your landlord ask me to give you this letter and if they say we own the place, say oh it must be next door.
but if they put their hand out, say hang on, Is this number 2 (when its not),
and say oh sorry, and walk off.
abit tricky ifyour trying to find out about the whole street

BJV

We moved after 13 years in our old house and we love our new one. We don't have any intentions of moving health permitting so we could be there for ????? who knows?

I am dying to know why do you want to know who owns it ? Do you want to buy it? Are they a pain? or are you just being nosey?

P.s I own and wear supermarket / old clothes, the front garden is a mess ( having a new bathroom fitted and pointing done ) one new car, one old one we keep for the dog and because it is just so big. We are in and out most of day.

Reality - we both work, hubby from home sometimes. Supermarket old clothes, because we are painting at work and my hobby is buying houses to rent out so I always have combat pants on normally covered in gosh knows what.

Tammykitty

My parents rented the same private house for 30 years.


Have now bought and have been in it for near 10 years


Length of time in a house isn't an indication of owner status.


As others, I want to know why it matters to you?

kingfisherblue

I've no idea why anyone would want to know whether their neighbours own or rent. I know that most people on my estate own, because they bought at the same time as my dad in the early 1960s, when the houses were first built. My parents home was bought in 1963 and my mum still lives there (my dad passed on several years ago). Round here, it isn't unusual for people to have stayed so long - hence a large number of my neighbours being in their 80s and 90s.

Two houses are rented - one, the owners passed away several years ago and a local businessman bought it. Someone I knew rented it for a couple of years, and it's only because she told me that I knew she hadn't bought it. The other is owned by the adult children of the late owners, and they don't want to sell. I've kept an eye on it a couple of times (at their request) when it has been empty.

As for telling from the outside - our house is occupied most of the day, altohugh if I have errands or appointments, they are usually in the morning. I'm also out three nights a week for around three hours each.

My garden is well kept. I've a couple of pots that need sorting for winter though. My blinds look closed from the outside, but are actually open at an angle (South facing lounge, so it gets very bright on a sunny day). Supermarket clothes. My car is a new one - Motability for my son, who is disabled. I own, with a few short years left on the mortgage.

ETA: a friend rents. She was born in the house and took over the tenancy when her parents passed on. She's never lived anywhere else, not has the desire to. She's in her late 60s.