Don't demonise renters

Danien

JosephK said:

As ever, the negative publicity is always about the bad minority of both landlords and tenants and that is the way the media will always portray it. Meanwhile, the majority just get on with life. 

I can see this from both sides. I've rented most of my life. Never had a problem with rent increases, but other than that, only one of our landlords was actually good and professional and they were first time landlords.

The other landlords all caused problems, from the worst who was basically an aggressive slum lord and had to get police involved, to a landlord who tried to stop me claiming housing benefit during a short period of joblessness (he didn't want hmrc/council to know he was a landlord), landlord doing dodgy tax scams and the house being repossessed under us (despite us always paying rent on time), landlord weirdly obsessed with garden and had very specific requirements for it, didn't care about the house, just the garden, and another landlord who aggressively told us after we moved in that they didn't want to hear from us even if there was a repair - the house had damp issues painted over, not good with a lung disease.

We paid rent on time, moved out when we supposed to, didn't damage anything and got all the places professionally cleaned on move out.

Now in housing association due to severe disability and the feeling of security is amazing. We've put our own money into upgrades, we plan to live here the rest of our lives.

But on the other hand I used to work in housing support for a couple of years for a housing association, and saw the way some tenants live and how some tenants will leave a place. I dealt with anything from people with no idea about cleaning, people who damaged the properties, hoarders and a poor lady with dementia and incontinence who unintentionally caused damage to floor. Plus just the regular rent arrears. So I do know not all tenants are like me. Some need an amount of tenancy support in order to maintain their tenancy properly. People have physical and mental health issues, difficult life circumstances or simply have never learned the life skills necessary like budgeting, cleaning etc Very few tenants are deliberately nefarious or inconsiderate and tenancy support often helped fix most issues. This sort of service should be available to private tenants too.

motorman99

I’ve been a landlord for 30 years, and I respect my tenants, deal with any problems as soon as humanly possible and ask that they contact me first if they can’t pay their rent on time so that we can sort it out .
however with new restrictions likely under the law, in future EVERY tenant will need a guarantor, good personal references, and have to go thru a good estate agent, even if I accept a lower rent. 

not worth the risks anymore

Ditzy_Mitzy

Alright, you've got me: I'm a terrible landlord.  I charge £48,000 a month for an ex-council, lock-up roadworkers' hut in Bayswater which is haunted by the ghost of Peter Rachman - the spectre is mostly benign but has a habit of shouting 'gannet on a stick' at inopportune moments.  Six months ago the tenant had the temerity to ask for me to pay for three sheets of newspaper to cover a hole in the roof, so I laughed in his face and then spent every night standing outside playing "Here Comes Sheriff Fatman" by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine on a 6,000 watt boombox until the tenant agreed to buy his own copy of the Daily Express.  He knows his place...  

maxmycardagain

mick15 said:

Why is it people who rent appear to be looked down on in the UK. 

Not by the "Buy to let" landlors....... more as victims to take the money off, often for sub standard housing and retention of deposits, 1 almost killed us on a xmas eve with carbon monoxide from a gas boiler

knightstyle

Felt I had to post on this.  Lots of you say renters get a bad reputation because of a minority.  Well IMO that should be a majority.
We bought a new build in 2006 lovely small estate, good mix of 2 3 and 4 bed houses, the first ten years were very good with neighbourhood events etc.  But gradually the original purchasers moved on and landlords moved in, some terrible tenants came along, dumped furniture and cars on the green, nothing done to gardens, balifs and police came regularly etc.  In the end we sold as nearly 3/4 of the houses were let.
Because of all the renters we had to sell at a loss 15 years later!


So now we live in a different town, one neighbour, a lovely older neighbour who was always tending the garden died and her son let the house, here is the front garden three years later!

Notice how the curtains are drawn in the middle of the day! 

elsien

The implication you are giving for the curtains are that renters are lazy and still in bed at midday. 

Bit of a presumption. My renter neighbour on one side is a family with two full/time parents, two well behaved teenage sons, and the living room curtains drawn all the time.
Other side also working full time and curtains also drawn all the time.
Best guess is that the landlord hasn’t provided blinds and as it’s almost straight into the street  they don’t want people looking in.

I find it odd. I couldn’t live like that. I also don’t use it to make presumptions about my neighbours, both of whom are quiet and courteous. 

MattMattMattUK

I do not think renters are demonised, bad renters yes and unfortunately there are many tens of thousands, of not hundreds of thousands of them, even if they are a minority of renters overall. I only know one person who has had a problem with their landlord, I know three people who have had issues with tenants when they were landlords (all no longer are) and I know many people who have issues with social renters and their anti-social behaviour causing issues in their community. 

I know people used to complain about sink estates, but at least they kept those people away from the rest of us. 

Grumpy_chap

knightstyle said:

Notice how the curtains are drawn in the middle of the day! 

I am not sure what might be concluded from the state of the curtains during the day, other than possible prejudice.
There are many reasons for curtains to be closed during the day:

• Essential key worker on night shift sleeping
• Worker with an early start who chooses not to open the curtains before leaving while it is still dark
• Shade internally against bright sunlight
• Worker internally avoiding glare to PC screen

Tucosalamanca

Grumpy_chap said:

knightstyle said:

Notice how the curtains are drawn in the middle of the day! 

I am not sure what might be concluded from the state of the curtains during the day, other than possible prejudice.
There are many reasons for curtains to be closed during the day:

• Essential key worker on night shift sleeping
• Worker with an early start who chooses not to open the curtains before leaving while it is still dark
• Shade internally against bright sunlight
• Worker internally avoiding glare to PC screen

Agreed.

• They could also be managing the temperature within the house, like many Europeans do
• Might be enjoying the home cinema experience
• Might have an aquarium and keep the curtains closed to reduce algae growth in the tank
• Might want to stop the prying eyes of potential burglars or nosey neighbours
• Might suffer from migraines or other eye related condition 

I could go on. The entire post seems a little odd if I'm honest....

isplumm

knightstyle said:

Felt I had to post on this.  Lots of you say renters get a bad reputation because of a minority.  Well IMO that should be a majority.
We bought a new build in 2006 lovely small estate, good mix of 2 3 and 4 bed houses, the first ten years were very good with neighbourhood events etc.  But gradually the original purchasers moved on and landlords moved in, some terrible tenants came along, dumped furniture and cars on the green, nothing done to gardens, balifs and police came regularly etc.  In the end we sold as nearly 3/4 of the houses were let.
Because of all the renters we had to sell at a loss 15 years later!


So now we live in a different town, one neighbour, a lovely older neighbour who was always tending the garden died and her son let the house, here is the front garden three years later!

Notice how the curtains are drawn in the middle of the day! 

Our blinds are often closed during the day - mainly cause I am upstairs working & my wife goes off to work at 6:30 - so I forget to open them - especially the lounge ones!