The Many Ages Of Renting

Every now and again, I receive an email asking why I don’t just buy a home. Wow. Great idea! The thought has never occurred to me.

The person cycling around your neighbourhood with a megaphone shouting ‘Hey Einstein: if it was that easy to buy a home, don’t you think I would?’ Yeah - that’s me. If not the for the restraining order…

Renting is a long term, fact of life. Even people who live in exclusive gated country houses do not escape the shackles of renting. Elsewhere, many start as children, surviving with a landlord who understands the needs of families, close to a good school. Ha.Ha.Ha.

Then it’s time to leave home - what an adventure: freedom, privacy, and independence. Also: damp, rogue landlords (who prey on the inexperienced) extortionate fees from letting agents like checks on guarantors (new tenants have no credit history). Say hello to bad furniture, relying on shabby sofas, stained mattresses and rickety tables.

Student housing varies, from grandly appointed ‘rooms’ at Oxbridge, to cell-like student blocks, and horrible houses in multiple occupation. The mushrooms growing close by are not going to make ‘soup’ of any kind (hallucinogenic or not) but are recorded for a lengthy complaint to Environmental Health, who are overstretched and anyway, know you will vacate in June.

So to saving to buy that first home. It’s usually a flat, and what joy it is. Until selling up to purchase the first family home – there might be kids on the way, the neighbourhood might be unsuitable. You try and move but become a forced tenant, reluctant, grumpy and unable to sell up because of negative equity, or saving for a deposit. You sourly scan the property ads and realise that it’s actually cheaper to pay a mortgage than it is to rent a house that meets your needs (ie a room for every child of different age and sex – perhaps even caring for elderly or disabled family.)

Then you might become a landlord: well, the mortgage is paid off, and you can afford a buy-to-let mortgage. Unless that is, you lost your job and were repossessed or never managed to get a foothold on the renting ladder, and are back renting. Or are separated.

With age comes downsizing, perhaps a city-centre flat, releasing equity to help adult kids buy homes. You aren’t renting, but are surrounded by tenants abandoned by amateur, untrained, unregulated buy-to-let landlords, tenants who hold loud parties, sublet the flats and move on regularly. It affects every waking day and every sleepless night. You are left living in a wasteland, as prices drop, and your investment has lost thousands.

Then maybe, a retirement flat, or sheltered housing, rented reluctantly, where residents must discard beloved possessions due to lack of space.

Renting touches everyone, and it is bleak. Even on holiday, in a home that is being let to tourists, rather than house locals, renting embraces and ensnares us all, like an octopus with a grip of doom. Some of us will never be free.

The Letting Agent and The Piece of Paper.

It was only a simple piece of paper, but it made me bang my head against the wall. Perfectly ordinary text - casual and everyday, but it made me whine and scream and punch myself in the face as there was no else around to punch.

It’s all Molly’s fault. My friends know I am not keen on letting agents, which is putting it mildly, and that I pass on details of their transgressions to ‘the appropriate authorities.’ Molly is currently house-hunting, and was keen for my opinion regarding a document passed on by her letting agent - basically a menu of charges. Just another piece of paper, then.

But what was written down was outrageous. There were fifteen conditions: one mentions a holding deposit of £150 (supposedly keeping the place off the market for two weeks). Amongst the usual rubbish about a deposit etc. is a £95 ‘check out’ fee (the latest wheeze for cheating new tenants.)

There was also a £30 tenant assessment fee and a short lease premium. Amazingly: they charge £150 for a lease of less than six months. Please remember, this is in Scotland, where all tenant premiums are illegal. That’s right – they can’t lawfully charge for any of this.

But these villains make everything worse by demanding written proof of contents insurance (none of their business frankly, since landlords must have their own insurance and the property is unfurnished.)

What made me scream, lash out and wail is the a mandatory annual rent increase of 3.5% per annum, no matter what. No wonder rents are rising: there is no need for this - none whatsoever. Rents in certain cities are increasing so fast that tenant’s faces wobble with G forces as if riding in rockets headed to space. Rents race onwards and ever upwards because agents demand that they should (and agents earn a percentage of the monthly rent.)

Now, Shelter Scotland are raising awareness of the illegality of these charges, encouraging tenants to reclaim. But Molly didn’t get that far: she calmly questioned the legality of the proposed fees. Her letting agency had compounded their offence by trying to charge both Molly and her partner separately (it’s joint tenancy for a one bed flat, and not exactly Versaille.) The agency agreed to clarify their facts, but rang back saying that entirely by coincidence, they had let the flat to another couple. How odd.

When there is a mass extinction event for letting agents, I truly hope this lot go bust early and with extreme prejudice. They are often conning money from students and first time renters, who know no better and are too scared to use the simple procedure of reclaiming their fees.

When people move home, they are vulnerable. Tenants must leap through flaming hoops to get as far as signing a tenancy agreement and letting agents circle, drooling over the scent of desperation. Vultures, pure and simple. Vultures is what they are.

Who will charge agents with extortion? Letting agents who demand illegal fees in Scotland, or extortionate fees in England (where fees are lawful) could - and must - be jailed.

Share The Joy

Renting is horrible. I am fed up with bad news, and it’s going to get a lot, lot worse in the next year, with benefit caps biting and that dreaded incoming spare room tax. I wanted to be positive, and therefore thank a recent correspondent for this story:

‘After 18 years of being treated like "rental scum", I've finally found a good one. The flat I'm renting belonged to my LL's mum, who passed away nearly a decade ago. So she's not in it for the money. I found it on Gumtree (I know!), and thought it sounded too good to be true (at least £200 pcm less than other flats in the area, idyllic canalside spot with a gorgeous park on the other side of the water), but after 2 months of seeing overpriced hovels through agents, I decided to risk the cauldron of crazy that is Gumtree.’

Lovely turn of phrase for describing G******. She goes on to list why her landlady is ‘awesome’:

’She had the entire flat repainted before I moved in. She also left a bottle of wine and a welcome card on the dining table.

- When I mentioned I had my own bed, she immediately offered to put hers into storage. (I rented this place furnished. When I started renting 18 years ago, unfurnished places seemed to be more common, but now it's the opposite. Up until now I've either had to give away or sell some of my lovely furniture at knockdown prices, or live with two of everything in an already cramped space.)

- The new kitchen cupboard doors Sarah had ordered were going to be a week late, and the shower needed replacing, so on the day I moved in, she gave me a cheque for one week's rent. I tried to tell her that it really wasn't a big deal, most landlords wouldn't have bothered replacing them at all, and the shower seemed to work fine when I'd tested during the flat viewing, but she wouldn't hear of it.

- She happily allows pets. She offers to come round and feed my 2 cats if I go on holiday.

- When I locked myself out of the flat on a Tuesday morning in my nightgown, she sent a friend round in a taxi with a spare key (she was on holiday in Europe at the time). She wouldn't let me reimburse her for the taxi. "It's all part of the service."

- She was over the moon when I had the cream carpets professionally cleaned. "But that's my responsibility. It's my carpet." she said.

- When the previous tenants suffered a break-in, she had an alarm system installed, at her own expense, the following week.

- I've been here nearly 2 years, and she hasn't raised the rent. She could easily get more for this flat, particularly as this area has become more popular in the past 2 years.

I could go on, but there are some good landlords out there. Of course, it did take me 18 years to find one.’

My own landlady is also humane and understanding. She solved my water pressure nightmare by installing a shower (she is a reluctant landlady – blighted by negative equity and must sit tight for at least another five years, I reckon, so she’s broke.) She used up her bank of relative favours, and they were sometimes late or didn’t show, but I have a shower now. As a thank you for waiting, she sent a package of lovely smelly stuff.

The only problem (for her) is this: the letting agents are eating up a massive percentage of her income, despite which she has arranged all the repairs, as she can’t afford to use their contractors. The agents seem to maintain that despite answering my water pressure queries only after I had signed the lease with an ‘but it’s always been like that,’ they are insisting wrongly they not liable. In the meantime, I carry on with minor repairs, and don’t bother her unless its necessary.

But the water pressure was dealt with amicably, proof that we all benefit when landlords and tenants do their best to cooperate. Let’s not fight. Letting agents on the other hand…

Ask Aunty Rentergirl

Over the past year or so, I have noticed something both flattering and disturbing. Readers are beginning to email me requesting advice about certain delicate problems and dilemmas. I don’t mean shy queries about erectile disfunction, etiquette clarification or whether they should marry, but help with various housing difficulties.

I like it when readers share their stories: it proves that I am not alone in finding renting to be, generally, truly awful. But I am not a lawyer - not a trained housing professional. I can only offer what I have learned, underlined by a prominent disclaimer that I am not an expert, not am I a qualified, trained advisor.

Recently, I was consulted by an acquaintance. His girlfriend was being bullied by her ex-landlady, a grasping vicious rentier who sounds truly horrible (even the letting agents agreed.) Despite having scoured the flat before vacating, this tenant was presented with a bill for cleaning. The brass-necked landlady included costs for her own efforts, then added charges for the professional cleaner she was obliged to hire because the place was supposedly so filthy.

Fortunately my friend had taken pictures, keen to challenge the landlady, whose bill (completely by coincidence, of course) came to virtually the same amount as her deposit. I advised her to check if, and where, her deposit was protected, and then use the dispute service.

This tenant backed down, thoroughly intimidated. That’s what agents and landlords rely on: renters feel threatened by the idea of challenging their overlord, especially in court which they imagine is governed by a thundering aristocrat in a white wig, not umpired by am approachable, reasonable person keen to make the process accessible.

Elsewhere, the tenant I have written about in the post below now wishes to relocate – or rather, knows she cannot stay forever, as she is homeless (albeit not roofless) and can’t sublet a room in that nurses home forever. My advice was to tell the truth: that she is subletting casually and temporarily, before seeking a reasonable landlord online who might appreciate a good tenant, albeit one with precarious work security. I am convinced such a creature exists. Don’t they?

Which begs the question: where do tenants go for advice? Legal Aid is being effectively abolished, neighbourhood advice centres, the CAB (where my mixed experiences have been, shall we…’mixed’) and law centres have queues down the road. Council tenancy relations officers are snowed under. Sometimes people just want to be guided through their options, or are seeking reassurance.

While I’m flattered to be consulted, I worry about that many readers are harassed, bullied and given notice but have nowhere left to turn. I will always do my best, and occasionally find your emails upsetting (or with increasing rarity, amusing.)

Once again, it’s the low level misery of renting that proves the most destructive - not the minority, heinous, criminal ‘rogue’ landlords wrongfully evicting and assaulting tenants, but the slow erosion of security and the feeling that there is no help available. Private landlords count on this to avoid responsibilities. It’s horrible.

Could It Be That It Was All So Simple Then?

Remember the good old days, when landlords were professionals, and tenants were secure: no computerised protocols or ‘affordability assessments.’ You found a place within your budget; prices were stable (if they went too high the rent officer would intervene) so nobody really cared if tenants were in work. Letting agents were rare.

But one reader’s situation exemplifies recent changes, notably the appalling ‘bedroom tax’:

‘I lost my job at the beginning of the year and was already renting the house I'm in now and had some money saved that would last me a year if used to top up my housing benefit (I'm in a 2 bedroom house as my son stays with me on the weekends) as they will only pay out for a one bedroom property. 6 months later and still no job so I am thinking I need to move whilst I still have some money left to do so (hiring a van etc) but as you no doubt know the big agents won't take people on benefits (I was respectable 6 months ago but not now apparently?) so I am looking at private landlords.

Thing is they seem to want a guarantor which I cannot get (although I have just found out my sister is still on the mortgage of her ex-husbands house so that may be viable), I suggested I could pay over £400 deposit to make up for it and they could get references from the larger agents I have used in the past and always been a good tenant but still waiting to hear.

Basically I am really worried as there don't seem to be any jobs and if I can't get a cheaper house at all will I be kicked out onto the streets? I seem to be being punished for something that I cannot get around or help.’

Many thousands of tenants will confront such an impossible situation over the next few weeks: no longer allowed to remain in a two bed place, no matter how cheap. If they do remain, they face financial penalties, and are already paid at starvation levels. Desperate, they turn to friends or relatives (whose own financial stability is precarious) for help or somewhere to stay. Frantically, they seek work where there is no work to be had. And are then thrown out of their houses.

This reader contacted me, without self-pity. He was truly worried he would be homeless. I suggested investigating whether his council have a scheme (some do) where accredited landlords house tenants claiming benefits, sometimes accepting any deposit in stages. Social tenants did not pay upfront deposits of perhaps six weeks rent, unlike private tenants, which is a nightmare when forcibly relocating.

I asked my correspondent to stay in touch. He did, and has some positive news. He’s still being forced out (it’s not like he’s a hogging a valuable six bed council house) but he’s found a home:

‘I approached a landlord, who is in a partnership with a group of well known solicitors in my area, with my predicament and they said they couldn't promise anything. Saw 2 houses last Friday and one was better than the other so I approached them on Monday with an offer of paying a large deposit (they only wanted £99 with a guarantor) and they could get references from all my previous landlords. they agreed.’

He makes the point that councils might temporarily cover rent on two places if claimants move into a cheaper home.

But it used to be so straightforward: no meaningless and easily sidestepped credit checks, no massive deposits, no guarantors, no vast array of referees. Although far from perfect, renting seemed better then – easier, with rents at one quarter of income, not two-thirds of earnings as is common now.

So this passes for good news these days: an impoverished man was compelled to provide his landlord with a large loan (that’s the reality of any massive deposit) in order to keep himself off the streets. The son he cares for now has no bedroom. His life was disrupted, money wasted on removal fees and other expenses.

Hooray, and pass the bubbly.

The Renting Times Are-A Changing (We Hope.)

I am trendy, it seems. I am so this season. It’s not the length of my ‘trouser’ (why is it always singular in style magazines?) No: I write about renting, which is quite the thing. I have never ever been in fashion before, and it feels good.

There is something in the air. Everybody is talking about renting (except the Condems; still rabidly anti-reform and sticking to their corrosive delusion that rents are falling.) Otherwise, charities, politicians and even tenants themselves are offering suggestions, or holding hilarious protests in the streets.

As you will be aware, there is much to discuss: rents are soaring/rocketing/escalating (or ‘responding to market forces’ if you believe the tories.) Letting agents have gone rogue en masse, charging astronomical fees with Orwellian Newspeak names and as for landlords…

Shadow Housing Minister Jack Dromey wrote an article containing some significant errors: he misunderstand the nature of protected deposits, but bless him, he means well. Why the sudden interest in tenants from Labour? After all, they oversaw the march of the zombie letting agents, and turned away during the buy-to-let boom which forced rents upwards.

Labour have suddenly begun to care about renting, tenants and abusive landlords, despite having put their fingers in their ears ignored the rented sector for years. Rogue landlords were mentioned: a minority, are bad, but the worst thing about renting is the insecurity. The private sector will house growing numbers, alls saving to buy, forced out through bankruptcy or job loss, perhaps just unable to buy full stop (nobody mentions poor pay.)

But could it be that Labour have finally grasped that many of the voters they lost are tenants? It’s like Shadow Minister Hilary Benn has just woken up. Oh, cynical me. Let’s hope some good comes of it, anyway.

Aaaaa-nway, the common enemy of tenants, landlords, and now politicians are parasitical letting agents, who must be aware that their heyday is over. Charges should be paid only by landlords, just as they are in Scotland. Imposing fees on tenants is like charging an entrance fee to a supermarket. The business must pays the costs, the user pays for the expenses incurred in paying for the service in the cost of the goods (ie rent.) All that’s being mentioned is ‘control’ or fairness when fees charged to tenants when quite simply – they shouldn’t pay fees.

Ken Livingstone also wrote on housing, mostly about the badlands of renting in London, and remembered trying to set up an equitable agency at county hall, where landlords could find tenants. Like everybody, he wants more homes built.

The main problem in London is price, as rents conspire to bankrupt everyone. I am in favour of rent controls. I think a ceiling is now required, as levels are currently set by a pulling a figure out of thin air, and doubling it. Tenants need a return to registered fair rents with increases linked to inflation and controlled by rent officers. The market won’t control prices. The market works against fairness.

I’m glad the world is finally listening. I hope things will change, and fast. But… onwards and upwards, the struggle continues: now for social housing.

It's Plain It's A Studio Flat

I’ve recently seen several articles about building new homes fit for our brave future. Apparently we must design compactly. But whether renting or buying, we must take what we are given. Descriptions use a special, secret code, which using complex computer programmes I have broken, and share with you here.

‘Studio Flat.’ Beware: it’s a cupboard. Definitely a cupboard, but somehow the following have been shoehorned in: a bath (with shower over bath) a fully fitted kitchen with all those new hi-tech appliances you’ve dreamed of, a bedroom featuring a luxurious divan, and a lounge with a sofa and other niceties like a coffee and bookshelves. Yes, they really did cram all that in, but by folding and combining: the bath folds out into a double bed, and the kitchen doubles up for a parking space, and also serves as the bedroom/sleeping space (at night).

‘One bedroom.’ Also a cupboard, but slightly larger. The selling point is that separate bedroom, but beware: it’s certainly large enough for a wardrobe, double bed, chest of drawers, bedside table and chair, but only if your name is Barbie, and you love that cute, pink, plastic furniture.

‘Two bedrooms.’ See above, but with two bedrooms. To be fair, one is larger, but the second is a hollow in the wall, with an inflatable mattress. They used to be called box rooms, and were considered big enough for boxes, or unplanned, surplus children. These days, they are ‘compact’ and rented by four Malaysian engineering students, who exist in shifts and exhale on a strict rota.

‘Three bedrooms.’ Here we are introduced to the concept of ‘The Master Bedroom’, which sounds downright kinky to me. Bedrooms are where mortals go to sleep and fart, or submit reluctantly to clumsy, half-hearted sex, but ‘master bedroom’? The very phrase implies some kind of power relationship, where punishment is assigned, and delivered. The ‘master bedroom’ (sorry - still giggling) is supposed to be larger, but is still only big enough for one double bed, and nothing else whatsoever.

‘Needs refurbishment’? It’s a cave in a valley where the glaciers have only recently retreated. There’s no electricity, space, walls, or water (actually, does an open sewer count as running water?)

‘Ideal family home?’ A sturdy compound, with all rooms separated by barbed wire fencing, or a concrete ‘peace’ wall. The basement provides for secure solitary confinement. There is large room used only on those national celebrations when the family are pretending to get on, say at Xmas, but this is fitted with a sprinkler system, to dampen dissent. UN hostage negotiators and the SAS are constantly on call. Well that’s my ideal family home.

‘City Centre pied-a-terre?’ A shoebox under an expressway.

Basement? Hello vitamin D deficiency!

Penthouse flat? A tiny awkward space at the centre of Pirenesian labyrinth of stairs, with a Jenga of beams on which to bump your aching head.

Ideal First Home? It’s free. That’s everybody’s ideal first home.

Now: go forth and house yourself, tenants. Be happy, and go gently to your ‘master bedroom.’ Architects and developers – I’ll leave you to start the improvements, shall I?

http://rentergirl.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/stu-stu-studio-flats.html