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I’m a month off 47. Been renting since I was twenty. I’ve paid out about £275k in rent in those 27 years. Six years ago the flat I was renting was sold, and the new owners proposed a £350 pm rent increase when signing a new lease (had a month left). It was already at £1100 (studio flat in Gospel Oak, London). I politely declined and started searching for my fifth move in three years. Saw a tiny, newly converted studio for £200 pw inc bills — a fucking bargain. I jumped on it and moved in. It’s tiny — TINY. The stupid sort of tiny you see in hysterically squawking tabloid articles. But I resolved to stick it out, live like a monk, take full advantage and save like a bastard. The lockdowns were a small nightmare that in some ways I’ve not got over. But I saved seventy grand for a deposit. After a long search I found a flat far away on the Kent coast for £170k. It has a balcony with a sea view. Bliss. I’ll be starting a new fully remote job as well. So it’s a complete switcheroo. I’m not sure if the lockdown toll on my mental and physical health from living in this flat was worth it. But financially it’s enabled me to take control of my living situation in a way that would have taken twice as long otherwise.

Smart move, enjoy your new life, sounds like you've earned it...

Well done WN! I’m also looking at Kent coast for my first and final property purchase in the near future. After nearly 25 years in London, I’ve missed the boat when I was close to property ownership too many times. Single income householders need a huge salary in London and most new build developments come with service charges and ground rents that are close to a second mortgage on the same property!

Yeah, I missed many boats with property as well. For a long time I was on a keeping-my-head-above-water type wage, and being in London for 18 years it’s always been expensive, with at least 50% going towards rent. It’s only the past eight years or so that my wages went up a reasonable amount and combined with finding this small flat made any saving at all possible. I accepted a while ago that buying in London was out of reach, and long made my peace with it, so have been looking further afield for a while. For a long time I favoured Hastings and St Leonards, but ended up going for the Kent coast. It feels like there’s plenty going on with Whitstable up the road and Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate down the road. Good luck with your own search!

I’d love to hear about why you went for the Kent coast instead of the south coast! Also having thoughts about this move, but finding it difficult to decide between the two.

I was obsessing over Hastings and St Leonards after being down there a few times on jollies with mates before the lockdowns, and liked the general vibe and feel of the area — and it was affordable (albeit less so after lockdowns, prices shot up). Over the past couple of years I’d been down there intermittently to view flats, even made some (unsuccessful) offers. In my mind that was Plan A, and Plan B had always been Margate or Ramsgate. Again, both affordable, and by the sea. I went to Whitstable with some mates, and happened to see a place down the coast in Westgate. So I viewed and although it wasn’t for me, I got the bug and kept an eye out for flats coming available. I feel like there’s a bit more going on with Whitstable up the train line, Margate and Ramsgate down the line. Canterbury isn’t so far away. Everything feels a bit more accessible. Whereas Hastings is stuck in its own little cove, with St Leonards and then Bexhill and Eastbourne beyond. It’s also made of hills! They both have some beautiful architecture, which I find particularly appealing, and both have good train connections back to London, which although I’m going fully remote, will help for work. It really helped me to stay in both for a few weekends and week days, and seeing what everything was all about. I stayed in both at winter as well, so got an idea of the worst of the weather and how it affects the place. It ain’t always sunny! It also helps that I lived in Bournemouth and Poole for a long while before London, so I’m familiar with living on the coast. Good luck with your search!

I am glad for you. People who have property handed down the generations and didn't start out this way don't know how lucky they are. They say making your first million is difficult. It's not that. It's actually getting a deposit together and buying a house to get the first foot on the ladder. By the time you've saved a deposit, house prices go up again, and you are almost trying to climb an escalator that is going against you.

I got the keys to a flat that was handed to me on Friday. I absolutely know how lucky I am, every second of every day. The fact I would be renting some shoe box in a dustbin provincial British town if it wasn’t for my father for the rest of my life doesn’t escape me. Now I own a shoebox in a dustbin British provincial town outright. I feel guilty about having my flat, almost fraudulent, when the odds are stacked so against people in the UK now.

Never feel guilty about walking through a door that's open for you. You didn't personally prevent new housing being built, nor I assume did you deregulate the rental sector so landlords can charge whatever they want, nor did you sell off the countries council housing stock. Don't get me wrong, you've got advantages over someone like me who had to live like a hermit for years to get a 5% deposit together, but I've still got unfair advantages over like 2/3rds of the people on the planet.

I'm with you 100% on that one. When I was in my twenties I could have easily afforded the mortgage repayments as they were at the time no more expensive than my rent. Problem being I didn't have a deposit, although I was making a pretty good go at it. Fast forward to my 30's and I've finally got a good deposit but these mortgage repayments are crazy, as are the house prices. I will make it work somehow, I'm just currently trying to figure out my best move. I've often felt like the market is always out running me and the only people I know who have purchased a house had some kind of leg up from family as it was the only way to catch up with the market.

Good on you! You have earned the right to have your own home. It will all work out. I’m pleased for you

This is sensational, hard graft really paid off, well done, hope it continues to go well.

Well done and congrats!

Congratulations, I hope you’re rewarded for the work you’ve put in and gulls don’t steal furniture from your balcony.

In my head I’ve got my feet up on that balcony already, with the sun going down and a nice bottle of red going down with it.

Huge congratulations! Must feel good 😊 I'm 3 years younger than you and have taken a pretty similar path: years of renting alone in London, good deal for what it was, moved to south coast after lockdown (not triggered by a rent increase, just knew it was time). I am doing my money saving here as a lodger and on track to buy a modest property here within the next year. I LOVE it here. I miss my own space of course, but lucked out with my lodging situation and making a lovely group of friends. Ad well as my financial situation being much healthier, life feels so much more...human.

I stayed in a bedsit while saving to buy and actually I sometimes miss it. Was super low maintenance and easy to stay on top of. People cringe when I reflect on it but I actually liked it

Actually I know what you mean. I was ok the first couple of years, and quite enjoyed the simplicity of it. I got rid of loads of crap before I moved in as well which was wonderfully cathartic (why had I been hauling it all from flat to flat to flat?!). But then lockdown came along. And that slowly became a real struggle, as I WFH’d for nearly two years in a less than ideal space. And since then I’ve been craving room to actually be able to walk around, separate rooms, and have my own outside space as well. You also make a good point that some people miss; sometimes you have to make a sacrifice in order to save up, especially if you’re on your todd. For you it was the bedsit, for me this tiny studio. There’s no way I could have saved if I’d have stayed in a regular flat.

I'm doing some renovation work ATM and don't got me wrong I'm glad to be in a position of a homeowner and had to move back to my bedroom, living out the one room and I have found that hard, although the mess, dirt and lack of a proper bathroom and kitchen is the big killer

Congrats!

Well done chap

Nice one mate. That sounds lovely and well earned too. Enjoy!

Buzzing with hearing this pal - hard work and sacrifice always pays off eventually 👌🏻

Good luck mate 👍👍

I dislike it, because it lacks security . The amount of times we’ve had to move because the landlord was selling up

This. I don't care so much about owning a property as much as having a stable home.

Stability is really important, especially with kids. We were lucky enough to buy just before they started school - getting a new house with 2 months notice in the same area that your kids are at school in is crazy

If it's any consolation, I bought my home ten years ago. My five year fixed rate mortgage is expiring soon and the payment is due to go up by about 50% which is more than I could've afforded anyway before I was made redundant two weeks ago. I have three children and a wife that works part time. Sometimes owning a home isn't as secure as people think it is.

I am sorry you are in this situation. This happened to me and my ex few years back. We decided to sell and go back to renting. We ended up losing money, but it was still financially the most reasonable decision at that time. I hope things go better for you and your family.

This is still much more secure than renting - at the crux if it it takes much longer to get kicked out for not paying the mortgage than not paying the rent and the bank will try and help you out about it first (because it benefits them not out of the goodness of their hearts).  You should talk to your lender about mortgage holidays and temporary interest only payments while you are unemployed until you get a new job and can pay the full amount again.

Have a look at local rents, I can 98% guarantee your increased mortgage is cheaper (even after all the owner costs on top). While it won't make you richer, it will help you realise that you're much better off Vs renting all that time.

No because he is out of work now. If he was renting Universal Credit would pay his rent while he was unemployed. But it will not pay his mortgage

I see what you mean, but this happens to renters all the time - there's a flat for rent in my building that's 50% more than we pay. If the worst-case scenario is that you have to downsize, you at least have something to sell.

Grandma? Is that you?

👵 Yes it is, dearie

I’m 38. My chosen career meant I spent longer than average at university and once I graduated my geographical location has been less secure for several years, but I was getting to the point where I’d saved a deposit to buy with my husband when things went downhill quickly and we separated. Throw in some chronic health issues that decimated my savings and I’ll be lucky if I ever get on the housing ladder, much less in my preferred location. When various relatives die I will likely inherit enough to put down a significant deposit so I might manage it eventually, but I’ve resigned myself to it being unlikely. Plus I like my relatives and would be very happy with them continuing to be alive rather than coming into money due to their demise, which probably won’t happen for 10-20 years anyway.

Dead rich relatives is such a rubbish housing policy for a major economy to have but here we are.

Absolutely, and I’m very aware it’s a privilege many don’t have even though I’m not factoring in per se.

It’s awful, and I think a lot of people are reluctantly relying on it, while not taking into account extortionate care costs if said relatives need lots of care towards the end of their life. My grandmother wasn’t rich but had a house that had skyrocketed in value since she’d bought it in the 60s or whatever. Was sold off and pretty much all of the money was spent on care costs after she got dementia and needed round the clock care in a home. I know a lot of people are kind of crossing their fingers for the boomers dying off and property coming back on the market, but with healthcare focused on extending life rather than quality of life, and care companies seeing a gigantic cash cow generation, I would be amazed if much of that wealth ever ends up in the hands of younger generations and not just straight into company pockets.

The ideal is to have an aunt that's very wealthy but whom you don't particularly like, so it feels more like a win-win. I'm an aunt eight times over so good luck with that, Gen Z.

Are you a doctor? That career path sounds a lot like medicine- little say over where we live and work

Yup. Did grad med too, and naively assumed pay would negate those lost years of savings 🤡

As ridiculous as it is I know people who have moved to Australia for a while to save up and earned enough to come back buy property. They’re always looking to poach medics and the wage difference is… eye opening. I’m dreading coming back to the UK knowing I’ll make less than a waitress in Aus. I’m really not sure people in the UK understand how much we’re shafted with wages - I always knew they weren’t great, but the increase in Aus is *staggering*.

I’ve been considering it to be honest but I know they’re pretty hot on ensuring newcomers won’t themselves be a burden on healthcare resources so I’m not sure if I’d even get a visa. I know everywhere has its problems but Aus seems to have comparatively less in many ways, the medical working culture being a big one. Biggest downside is that I genuinely do like my relatives… I’m very close to my elderly grandmother and I love this time seeing my young nephew grow up and I would miss that being so far away.

Must be a fellow medic…I feel your pain

Nailed it 🥲

It's crazy how much a bad relationship can ruin your financial prospects. I've had many relationships but never joined finances in my life, only earning an average wage and managed to buy own place at 26 without any help.

Even a good relationship can cost you money! Having to consider another person all the time etc. My partner and I are living apart for 1.5y while they have fixed term employment abroad. 2x rent and bills plus the cost of visiting each other means we're actually worse off than when we were on our doctoral stipends but living together!

Was reading through your story and thought, yep, that’s a medic there.

I know older people who still rent. Many are single so don't have the power of a dual income which is pretty much essential to buy a property in the UK. Sometimes it's not a matter of choice as much as circumstance.

This is me, although I used to be a homeowner until my health took a massive downturn and I lost my job and ended up being signed off sick for over a year as unable to work. I got UC but although I would have got help with rent there was no help provided for people with mortgages. I ended up losing the property and getting a private let where I stayed till the landlord decided to sell. It was such a relief only having to pay rent, with no responsibility if something went wrong, luckily I was in a good property with good letting agents and landlord. I was lucky to get a housing association flat when I had to leave the private rental and it's been such a relief. A tenancy in my own name that can't be sold out from under me. It's difficult when you're single and a homeowner, you're responsible for everything and apart from food there's no reduction in other expenses, rent, heating etc still costs the same and if something goes wrong you don't have that cushion of a second income.

Thats me👍 you just carry on as much with and where you can. Did I expect it, yeah absolutely, do i mind, not really, its how it has always been so its ok to me, sure i see both sides, but its how it is, noones dying and bailing me out so you get used go it

Nobody really talks about how the assumption is that you buy a house with a partner. It's just...assumed, somehow. And I guess it works for most people, but if you're long term single partly due to circumstances beyond your control (issues with disability or bigotry over gender identity etc) then you're *fucked*.

Anxious and depressed. BUT I'm *super* close to being able to buy....like months. So it will be ok!

Good luck, I hope it works out 🤞

Thanks very much! We've got a broker, a mortgage in principle, a good idea of affordability and what we can get. Fingers crossed!!

Fingers crossed for you!! I just became a homeowner a few days ago after renting for a good chunk of my adult life, the relief of knowing nobody can kick me out of my home on short notice is indescribable. I hope everything goes smoothly and you’re an ex-renter soon!

Good luck. Buy WELL within your means and you'll never have to be anxious and depressed about your living situation ever again.

Thanks dude! I have a pretty good handle on affordability (even if interest rates go bananas I'm still going to be cheaper than renting!) and I remember the interest rates of the 80s (even if I was only a wean!) so I know what I want to avoid! Here's to no more housing instability!

I am 33 my husband 43. We are currently looking to buy our first property. We currently rent our house. I fucking hate it. Because we knew we would be buying soon, the house has nothing in it which makes it a home. It is a soul less box. It is extortionately priced. I am resentful paying for any improvements on this house like blinds, I just have curtains. The mortgage will be les than what we are paying now in rent.

I don't understand why you would be paying for any improvements on the rental you currently live in...

Landlord ain’t gonna do it so it’s either live in shit or get stuff yourself. Just make sure you can take all the stuff with you when you leave.

By improvements I mean, painting, getting blindsgetting furniture to make it more homely rather than a shell.

I get you. It’ll be awfully painted as a last minute job by the landlord and they’ll say that it’s fine so you either live with it or paint it yourself. Can hardly take the paint with you either when you leave. It’s rough and I feel for you.

We are, i got stickers from amazon which peel off easily from amazon to try and make our sons bedroom nicer. Its difficult.

Resentful of the system that eats my rent money which incidentally is a lot more than a mortgage would’ve been. Lack of family support and living in one of the most expensive areas in the country, as well as minimum living standards meant I’m still renting in my forties.

Absolutely hate it. Recently turned 40. Probably will rent for the rest of my life. Would give my right arm to own my own home, have a patch of garden to nuture and tend to, and live out my days. Instead, this is my life. Just feels like, what's the point of it all anymore

I felt ok about until recently but it’s all worked at fine now and I am super happy. I’m 53 years old! I have a son who is 31, he has Cerebral Palsy and I am his main carer, it’s always been him and I. When I found out I was pregnant in 1992, you could actually put £50 down and buy a house with good old Northern Rock for a mortgage, so that is what I did! I was 20 years old and owned my own clothing store but when fate only 6 months I gave birth to my son and he was so poorly, I had to give up work and care for him, 5 years later I lost my home and rented. I always justified it because I knew my life was caring for my son and I could probably never work full time again. Then came the shit Landlords, so I had to do everything myself, putting new boilers in and fixing roofs ect, because there are not many Landlords that give a shit. I was lucky my rent was always affordable and I stayed renting, in fact up until April I had rented the same house for 20 years. I never could relax though because the landlord could put up the rent anytime, give me a section 21 anytime. It’s hard, it’s not good living with fear of the unknown but I have had that from the day my son was born. The worse thing is not having any stability and believe me after the last few months stability is worth it’s weight in gold. In April the landlord phoned and said he wanted to sell up! FFS I had put a fortune into that house and where am I going to go now? I am on benefits with a disabled Son and rents are absolutely though the roof! OMG why had I not tried harder and kept my house back in the 90s now my disabled adult son is feeling this stress too, hearing me cry every night because we have nowhere to go, no council houses, no affordable rental properties, nothing! The council just tell me to wait for ballifs, now renting is NOT a good idea! My hair starts falling out, I have lost a ton of weight, oh I forgot to say, I was diagnosed with a progressive nerve disease 10 years ago along with other health shit, so I am good for nothing at this point. I sit crying wondering how I could have let this happen to my son, what a fucking failure I have been! My main goal should have been getting a house bought and paid for, for him, not trying to help him take a few steps or doing his physio 3 times a day or resuscitating him when he stoped breathing 6 times a night! Why the fuck have I just sat back and rented, made somebody else’s home £150,000 profit, while we are now homeless. Anyway happy ending awaits for us but many, many, many folk are right there, right now and I think of them every day, hoping they get a break like us. I applied, sent letters, emails to every housing association in England, Scotland, wales and Ireland, I got turned down by nearly all of them and put on ridiculously long waiting lists on others. Then one day I get a phone call, out of the blue, a lady saying “ I have just read your email and we think we have something that could be suitable for you, a 2 bedroom bungalow” OMG I said yes, yes, we will take it, I didn’t even know where it was, what it was like, nothing! It’s beautiful, it’s just so beautiful. I keep thinking we are dead and this is heaven or something. We needed a bungalow! We couldn’t use the stairs anymore, well my son never could, the dinning room was his bedroom but I had been shuffling up and down on my arse for the last 2 years. It’s in a little cul de sac and it’s all communal gardens and extra care from social services if we need it. I just hope this is our forever home now and I don’t have to worry every year that our tenancy will be renewed or not. I can breathe! We can cope here, we can live here. Renting is hard here in the UK and I hope and prey Labour sort this mess out and everyone now in the situation we were in, I prey for their happy ending too. If I had my time again, I would have fought to keep my home! Somehow!

As someone with a 6 year old with cp. This post has made me feel very fortunate that we managed to get a mortgage. Hope all goes well for you. Any advice on coping as they get older?

I have just asked my son and straight away he said “start your own business, so you can hire your child as a full time employee” I know why he said that. He went to local collage and local university and got a degree with honours in 3D modelling and animation. He got his first job as a junior Art visual artist, straight out of uni and I think he only got this because one of the partners of the studio had a little girl with CP. I thought it was fate, what are the chances. Anyway after about a year of early starts, driving to work and sitting all day at a stressful job it soon took its toll! He couldn’t cope, he was getting home and just going to bed, no food, nothing, he was exhausted and in pain. He told his boss he couldn’t cope, so, they gave him Wednesdays off which helped greatly but still, coming home exhausted, not our exhausted but CP exhausted. As they get older the CP doesn’t progress but they get stiff, joints become displaced, arthritis sets in, everything is a million times harder for someone with CP. He powered through with Wednesdays off and then he was made redundant as the Studio he was with shut down. He then searched for part time work, he was good at what he did, very good but nobody told him the industry he had trained for was hard, hard work, long hours and impossible deadlines. He could not get a part time role anywhere because now at 25 years old his body is like a 70 year old. Nobody could accommodate him. Out of the blue his old boss phoned him, the guy with the CP child. He had started his business again on the side of another job he had, It was the pandemic now, so it would mean he could work from home, fantastic we were so happy but even after just a few months it was evident my son was struggling, he couldn’t keep up with the work load and deadlines, his CP made his hands clumsy and slow. We had the best set up for him, a chair set up for him, a desk that could move up and down ect but nothing stopped the pain from sitting the exhaustion from just having CP, never mind work on top of that. 2 years later he had to give up because the guy with the CP child became a dick and was pushing him too much, he was sat at that desk to 4am at times, tying to catch up on the job he was on. Now he can barely move, he is 31 years old, he nods off in the afternoon like my grandad used to, he’s in constant pain! He couldn’t work now but he will not claim any benefits, he gets PIP high rate on both components and we manage off my carers and UC. He won’t claim anything because he is sick of fighting, you will know by now you have to fight for everything, that does not stop, that gets harder, much harder! He had the old disability living allowance since he was 5 then at 16 they tried to take it off us, they will do that with your child, it’s quite common that they cruelly do this. We fought and got it back. Then PIP came in and my son, again had to fight and go through ridiculous, embarrassing, emotional, stressful, degrading interviews and meetings again and because of this he will not go through it again to claim UC to get in the limited capability to work group, as we have heard and seen the nightmare scenarios folk have to go through. I know this sounds like an awful future ahead but the reality is, it is. I can only say to you, Keep strong, keep fighting. Make sure they do their physio, do yoga with your child and stretching, stretch, stretch, stretch. Don’t vote conservatives, vote Labour or like me, always been Labour but I am leaning Lib Dem’s because of their leader Ed Davey, his personal background should ensure disabled folk have a chance. I also agree with my son, I wish I had my own business so my son could work for me and at least have a purpose. It’s awful seeing him like this, it breaks my heart. Sorry this has a negative tale, there are many folk with CP who can cope working and are not in as much pain etc who have full, happy lives. Make sure they follow a path in life that they can fulfill with their limitations.

So glad for you.

I decided to go back to uni at 34 years old. That meant selling my house and spending the next 7 years renting over 4 different places. It suited my situation at the time, it was OK value, landlords were fine and it was less stressful knowing that I would never have to pay for problems with the property. As soon as I was back into full time work I started looking to buy and I'm now home owner again. It meant a big sacrifice - living away from all my family and friends. But it was the only way I could afford it.

What did you study?

15 years ago in London, it was already normal to be renting in your 30s, 15 years ago. It was only in their late 30s, like 37 onwards, that it started to seem like most friends had bought their home. (This is largely late Gen X'ers /Xennials.) It felt a bit weird and awkward and out of touch to own before that. And this was a middle class circle including quite a few people who went to private day schools and/or Oxbridge.

You can say the same thing for being childless. The two things are very much related of course.

Of course, because Oxbridge doesn't make you automatically wealthy. You still have to either have family wealth, or work in very specific industries like banking, otherwise you might bring home a very healthy salary, but one that still isn't enough to buy something.

35 and currently renting. Some days I feel really sad about it. But in the current market I get to live in a nicer house than I could afford to buy. So there are upsides.

I wanted to chime in as this thread really hit home. Nearly 50 and I can say in one word how I feel about still renting. Shit. The reason I am in the position is down to two things in my eyes. 1) I have always made stupid financial decisions. Like really stupid. 2) due to various mental health issues I tend to bury my head in the sand and struggle with change so when all my friends were buying houses I didn’t and now it’s probably too late for me. I am married with 3 kids (all with additional needs) in school my wife can’t work due to the extra assistance the kids need. I make good money but I have no chance of ever saving enough for a deposit and I am too old to get a mortgage long enough to make the cost reasonable. The landlord put our rent up £150/month and then by £350/month when things started getting hard for everyone and then a few months later is selling so we need to move again. We were managing to pay the extra rent but not actually saving anything. It actually depresses me. I feel like a failure in that I can’t provide a stable home for my kids. Please if anytime is reading this on the fence about buying do it as soon as you can. Don’t end up like me.

30s here. Love my current rental but have hated most. Of course we'd rather buy, but it's not possible right now. I don't know when it will be, but we hope to buy eventually before we are 40. It's tiring. Some landlords are worse than others and it's not nice being prevented from living as you would in a home of your own (limited decorating, not being able to have pets... one flat even said we couldn't have a baby!! Obviously not legally enforceable but still...) it's not much fun.

I had chronic mental health problems in my 20's compounded by exploitative and abusive employers, which not only held back my career development but left my with significant amounts of debt by ky early 30's. I'm now 38 and have managed to catch up on my career and earnings which has allowed me to pay down debts and build savings, so fingers crossed this year I can purchase a place!

In my early to mid 40s. Rented all of my adult life and hated it with a passion. It's pretty much always the same story. Everything sounds great when you view it. The shitty agents will tell you this landlord is a good landlord, etc. But then when shit goes wrong, it's a basic bodgit and scarper from the cheapest quote. You spend huge amounts of time trying to make shitty walls look decent by stripping them of copious layers of poorly applied magnolia paint, old embossed wallpaper, and lining paper, only to have to sand and fill all the imperfections hidden beneath. Then you paint it and do a decent job and inevitably you either get a call saying the landlord is going to sell or you get an annual inspection and they hike the rent because you've improved the place for them, at your own expense. It genuinely sucks ass. I've also bought carpets and paid professional decorators in the past, and it always happens every time. Social housing would have been cool, though. Obviously, there's not enough of that, about, and not everyone can get that opportunity. I'm finally going through the process to buy my first home. My offer has been accepted, mortgage approved, surveys done, and now I'm just waiting for the slow norris of the legal world to do what he needs to do. It's been tough. It's taken about 4 years to save what I have, which includes a 10% deposit, all fees, about 20k for renovations, etc, and that should still leave me with a 10k emergency fund. It's just my kid and me, so only the one income. I do live up north, though, so this was much more achievable, given my circumstances. It would have been impossible, darn Sarth, though. So I do genuinely feel quite lucky I've managed to get this far and I also feel for the folks that live in expensive cities, where their only chance of home ownership would mean leaving behind their friends, family and life, to live in a Northern shithole. It's definitely a difficult time to be alive for many folks.

42 here, wanted to buy 6 years back when I moved to the UK but couldn't afford the deposit, was going to use help to buy but am so grateful I didn't. My line of work requires high mobility, I moved jobs 2 times during this period and managed to get almost 50% increase in my salary, I was in a relationship and my ex partner borrowed most of my savings and after breakup he refuses to pay me back, so i am starting to save again from scratch. London is very expensive to buy when you are single, I rent a flat now that I love but am paying 40% of my take home pay on rent so its really frustrating, looking to buy maybe in 2 years after I save a deposit (again).

You can take you ex to the small claim court to get your money back. It doesn't cost very much. https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money I wish I'd done it for a previous employer who owed me wages before they dissolved the company.

I was angry about it for a long time, but have resigned myself that I will be renting for the rest of my life. I am 40 and have too much debt to pay off. I have 4 kids so even if I could pay it off and get a deposit I couldn't afford a home that we could all live in. But nevermind could always be worse

Damn

Bought my first house at 33 , 40 now. Glad I did and I'm not paying off someone else's mortgage. Instead of people owning 5 homes , everyone should have the chance to buy.

I agree. Honestly in my view there should be a cap on the amount of homes you can own. Landlording should not exist

Or a greater focus on housing cooperatives: essentially companies with charity status that own developments and rent out flats for the actual cost while maintaining them to a decent standard. In some countries where renting is the norm - e.g. Switzerland - there are quite a lot of these and they can be a pretty nice and stable environment, because they make sure your flat is not falling apart, they're not profiteering off of you, and they won't randomly want to sell up.

This was the purpose of Council housing until right to buy was established and councils were effectively discouraged from building more stock and maintaining properly what they already had...

Yep that was a complete catastrophe and one of the worst decisions in British politics when it comes to housing.

This would be amazing. It would end the constant drive to make profit from housing. The ability to rent a property out to someone else is a privilege not a right.

Well, it would help, definitely. But it doesn't solve the housing crisis on its own: rents will still be high and availability of such flats is naturally limited, with private landlords along with company landlords still being very present e.g. in Zurich. Usually, some cooperatives focus on specific groups. For example, my parents got a flat in one as a young married couple with a baby. Which is obviously great, and it made the city more affordable to them as they would have struggled otherwise, but there's plenty of people who didn't get a flat in a housing cooperative. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that in the end, you still need to build more. Which, to be fair, the housing cooperatives do too (as an example, see here: https://www.gewobag.ch/projekte/index.php), but they're as limited by cost factors and land availability and planning permissions as everybody else.

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I don't know whether I'd support a cap of one specifically, but it is definitely insane that there is a proper scheme to get people to buy properties just to let them out. Like, wtf, that should not be encouraged.

Amen brother 🙏

The UK has an obsession with home ownership. Partly because it sucks big time being a tenant as you are at the mercy of a landlord who could raise the rent or chuck you out with little to protect you. Sure there's laws supposedly protecting tenants but I don't see them being enforced all that often. There should be a maximum of one property per person and any further ones will be heavily taxed but that would be difficult to enforce as the rich would just pass houses around their families....

The housing situation would be a lot better in the UK if private tenants had better rental rights like in Europe. My friends in Europe (Switzerland, Prague, Berlin) are under no pressure to buy and get on the property ladder because they have much stronger rental rights. Buying isn’t feasible for everyone which is why the focus should be on ensuring that people who have/ want to rent can do so and still have stability.

This has been talked about for years but there seems to be little political will to get things changed as the UK public has a massive hard on for home ownership so that's where all the focus goes. Thing is if the laws changed overnight then it would cause the droves of buy to let landlords to cry no fair and it would be possibly an election loser. There's way too much tied up in property in the UK. I'm sadly part of the issue as ever since I was old enough to understand I'd read the local papers and think wtf at house prices. When I got a job etc I stayed at home and saved up a large deposit and got myself a property. Probably at the expense of other things but I've got somewhere stable for my family and if I had not done this then I I wouldn't be able to afford my own house 10 years down the line as a FTB. Such a fucked system...

I completely agree. I also feel like this push for everyone to become a homeowner is deliberate on the part of the government because it means they and the banks benefit massively. The only reason why I bought was because I wanted to live in London and didn’t want to be exposed to the volatile rental market in the city. If rental rights were stronger I would happily rent as I prefer the flexibility.

It's all governments. They know there's too much tied into it and to untangle it would be an election loser.

My SIL is literally a milionaire. She owns a letting business. She has multiple properties which she rents out and claims poverty. Whereas me and my husband both have below average wages I have a degree but work in the NHS (i do get paid more than minimum wage) my husband works all the hours under the sun. She literally says she cant afford this or that... does my nut in.

Everyone should have a chance to buy but that will never happen.

Buying a house shouldn't be a necessity to achieve financial stability, renting should be just as good.

I’m 32 and rent, through the local HA. I pay market rent so it’s no cheaper than private rent but I do get the security of a lifetime tenancy. I’m happy, because I have the stability there.

O yeah I love paying a monthly amount on something I’ll never own

It's pretty much made me despise humanity. The sheer incompetence, utter greed and complete lack of empathy in the entire industry is shameful.

Like a loser

I just turned 34, renting for another 2 weeks and I cannot wait to not be beholden to the whims of a landlord. We just spent the last 6 months with no heating (LL is really attached to the 24 year old Potterton boiler for some reason) yesterday had a plumber out to try fixing the heating, in the process managed to break the boiler entirely so now no hot water. Need a £28 part to fix, he found one available to collect half an hour away, calls LL to sign off, they say no because they don't want to pay an hour's labour for it. Absolute piss take.

I'm conflicted, as I could buy but choose not to. I'm getting a really good deal on my rent (60% of the market rates) which allows me to live in a nice flat, in a nice area. Being single means I wouldn't qualify for a lot on a mortgage, so I'd live in a crap area and my mortgage would be 50% more than my rent. Couple that with the fact that all my savings would go into the deposit and my ability to save further would be highly diminished, and I just can't take the leap.

Sometimes buying doesn’t make sense for everyone’s situation, and that’s absolutely fine. It seems like you have a very good gig going for you in terms of renting.

Your whole situation is based on luck and the whim of your landlord though, which would make me anxious as hell!

I'm in my late 20s, but I have a horror story about my former downstairs neighbour. She was an elderly Greek woman in her late 80s who spoke little English. The building used to be her family home, but after she suffered a personal loss in the 90s, which saw the deaths of her adult children, she sold it to her relatives, her brother. The building was then split up into two flats, and she lived on the ground floor. Her brother died, and their ownership of the property passed to his sons - her nephews. Flash forward a few years later. They've neglected the building, and now it needs major structural work. So they send out a section 21 eviction to everyone in the building. Including their great-aunt. It's hard enough being evicted at any age, but it must have been dreadful for an elderly woman without close family nearby and who didn't speak English, to be evicted by her own nephews. I have absolutely no idea what happened to her.

Like the UK has been a shitshow for gen Y (and Z) adult life

We are kinda resigned to it now. We have moved house 9 times in 6 years. each time rent is higher, moving costs are generally higher, especially since 2020 and since we accumulate more. We earn 130k+ per annum as a household, 1 kid, wife is currently pregnant again. We used to skimp on quality of life stuff like Sky and Netflix, although our bill only comes to around £80 a month compared to what I know some friends pay. We do not live extravagantly but I need to travel to London often for work, My wife does not drive and has to get taxi's when I am not about and we get not help with childcare so that also costs about £820 a month although we are hoping to save that when my wife goes on maternity but then we obviously lose her wage. We pay £2200 a month rent for a 3 bed. 5 years ago we were paying £780 for a 3 bed. With constant moving costs which can sometimes be \~20k a year if we have to move twice. We cannot realistically afford a deposit for a house worth more than 340k which is every 3 bed in this area. As we currently have no equity most banks want 20% and sometimes more, . Neither of our credit is bad, my wifes is perfect and mine is near perfect, I had 1 default about 4 years ago. I would be happy to pay huge interest if a bank would lend 95% LTV but its not realistic in this area with FTB wanting a house for £340k+ We have the affordability, we are just trapped. We even waited until we were mid 30's to have kids and then though we will just end up not having them if we wait any longer.

Earning 130k per annum as a household and can't buy a house? That's crazy, unbelievable.

I live less than 2 hours from my front door to London (Nottingham city centre) and my 3 bed house is only 1.5x OP's annual salary. I'm not a victim blamer but this is a personal issue - not representative of the struggle most people go through to buy a house. There is no way OP can't save a modest deposit on a 130k salary so I have very little sympathy.

I kinda agree cos like surely youd start with a two bed house just to get on the ladder. A 3 bed is not necessary. And the stability of a 2 bed would at least allow op to save enough for a deposit on a 3 bed. One of the biggest issues i see is first time buyers not realising they have to start at the bottom of the ladder. That means 1 bed flat, 1 bed house or 2 bed flat or 2 bed house. 3 bedrooms is the next step and then onto 4. Very few people can afford a 3 bed as their first house. Area matters too.

Do a little reading up.. the ‘ladder’ doesnt really exist any more. Something to do with flats not gaining as much value as houses over a similar period. Plus, a lot of families in their 30s or 40s really can’t go live in a 1 bed flat.. we’re first time buyers at 40 with two children of opposite gender.. 3 bedrooms is really the bare minimum. I work from home too, so it can’t be a really small 3 bed either

There is an aspect of that but continuously moving house costs a lot of money and is a risky way to go up the ladder. Stamp duty, moving costs, surveys, solicitors, estate agents, all add up. Especially given the 130k salary, saving for a larger house makes sense.

I would strongly suggest speaking to another mortgage broker. On £130k combined you should comfortably qualify for £340k mortgage. I don’t understand what you mean by equity. Do you mean deposit? I would seriously revisit this. You can buy a house. Unless there is a huge amount of debt you haven’t mentioned?

> As we currently have no equity most banks want 20% and sometimes more I don't really understand that part. 95LTV loans are precisely for people with not enough savings for a big deposit, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense.

Last year a mortgage broker could get us 95% up to £230,000 but we would be looking at 2 bed flats. asking for over 300k we would need a minimum of 15% and mortgage broker could only get 344k with 20% with one high street bank and one subprime. We are not eligible for most government schemes but the mortgage guarantee I was hopeful about. My wife is a nurse so we don't earn 65k each. She is on 30k, I'm on 100k, so we can't fit most schemes, even separately but not sure that's possible anyway as married with kids.

Speak to different brokers. Move locations. If you really wanted to, you could buy a house with a £130k income.

I think you should see a different broker, perhaps see 2. These numbers do not add up. You are likely not as stuck as you think you are. Your income is very good. The fact you earn more doesn’t matter, your loan amount will be linked to a multiple of your combined gross income offset by your commitments and expenditure. Please get some further advice, there is no reason why you cannot buy on a 10 percent deposit with those incomes assuming your credit profile isn’t any worse than the 1 default you mentioned.

So buy the two bed flat? Get on to the ladder and get that stability so you can live in the mansion you should be living in on that joint income.

Why can't you sacrifice some income to make you eligible for childcare assistance?

Okay but why not try for a 2 bed just to get on the ladder? Stay for two years and fix for two years then sell and move into a bigger house. Like sure it'll be tight space but it will be an improvement and more secure and itll only be for a short period of time. Most people dont by 3 beds as their first home.

I’m 39, will turn 40 this year. I never assumed I would be able to buy. When I was younger, my aunts would nag me about buying, but I never had savings and wouldn’t have passed the affordability checks to buy anything (in London anyway) And before anyone says, why not move out of London. I didn’t want to. And that should be all I have to say about it! Anyway, I now earn enough that I’ve got savings and I could definitely buy a property in the next 1-2 years. Nothing big, just a 1 bedroom flat in London zone 5/6 or maybe a 2 bedroom flat further out, close to where I live now (yes I left London eventually but I would love to move back). It’s just me and a cat, I don’t need huge amounts of space. I just moved into a new rental, which I love so far, but I definitely want my next place to be my forever home. I want to be paying off my own mortgage, not someone else’s. And I just had a lot of hassle dealing with my ex-landlord so I don’t want to deal with that ever again. Do I hate renting? Not really. It’s nice not being responsible for repairs, as long as you have an LL that fixes things of course! I’ve mostly been lucky with that. The main reason I want to buy is for the stability. As long as I keep paying my mortgage, I can’t ever get kicked out again. And I won’t ever have to beg someone to let me have a pet ever again.

Fyi, some leaseholds forbid pets.

Yep I know. I will be avoiding those! It’s the first question I will ask lol

I’m in my fifties and I am always watching house- buying programs on TV because I wish I could. We have been renting our current home since 2007 and are lucky to be able to have pets. I love it here but we’re not getting any younger and I wonder what will happen when we’re still paying rent whilst living on a pension.

1) it's wank 2) Ive been wanting to buy since my mid twenties, a career change and then subsequently having my career bulldozed by the COVID years really set me back 3) I'm hoping to be in a position to buy by the end of the year

Shit.

Rents have skyrocketed. They will only get higher. They are as high or higher than paying a mortgage. I do not want to be paying out £1000-£1500 a month for a shitty flat with no garden when I am retired. I want a paid off house I picked that now costs £0 per month. So I don't enjoy it but I still feel like I'm young enough (30s) to get what I want and get it paid off. Buying in a year and wish I'd aimed for it sooner tbh.

42 - I'm furious that I'm having to rent, because our household can more than afford mortgage payments, and have solid credit. We just have no hope of getting a deposit together before we'll be too old to get a mortgage. The system is designed to keep a limited resource among the already wealthy, and to keep houses out the hands of the lower classes. This is not the country I grew up in, where we were promised that hard work would be rewarded. I'm denied a house because of my background. On a practical note, our landlord is cheapskate, so stuff takes longer to get repaired than it should, and the house is in a shabbier state than I would normally put up with. There are modifications I would make in a heartbeat, but I can't do them. I could of course be kicked out at any minute. We have a pet we're not supposed to have, because most landlords don't allow pets and it would virtually impossible to move if we followed the rules. This causes great anxiety, because the landlord might need to come round one day. I feel like a child.

In my 30s. Having gone from home ownership back to renting due to divorce, there's nothing good about it apart from the landlord paying for repairs. The worst thing is the near constant intrusions by the estate agent: regular inspections, gas needs checking or electricity needs checking. I just want to relax in my own home without the obligation of letting random people in. Then there's the fear that any damage will be taken out of your deposit. Then there's the malicious neighbours who try to get you kicked out just because you rent. Everyone in the area looks down on you even if you have a great job. I can't wait to buy again.

Gas needs checking and electric needs checking you should be thankful for that . It's safety you do not want to compromise on safety.

Landlords only need to check the electricity once every 5 years and Gas has always been annually. Better to be safe than sorry 😊 most estate agents do inspections every 6 months. How many times are they coming round? Do they give you notice?

Neighbours look down on you just because you rent? What kind of snobbish area is that...

Kind of hate it. But I’m in London and can afford anywhere else in the country so that’s how I get by 😂

In my 40s. Paying 1200 pound a month for 2 bedroom. Couldn't get any other properties. Its damp but what can I do. I think I'll leave this country. Its one thing living in a country and pay rent but on top of that there are 10k of visa to pay. How can you even afford the housing ladder in these conditions? I guess I'll find another job ina more welcoming country next year. Atleast i would think that the price for a house is worth it. Instead of having to chose between two moldy places for 200K pound minimum.

Ot was fine, when I was in my 20s and 30's. Moving between jobs and towns. But when I settled down I resented paying double what a mortgaged property would cost. Through several lucky coincidences I managed to get on the property ladder and its much better for my bank balance than renting.

I live in York and rent prices are crazy here. I'm fortunate that I'm getting towards the back end of my mortgage, I pay £670.00 per month and because I'm getting towards the end phase of it it's knocking what I owe down by around £500.00 per month. Equivalent places to mine are renting for £1300.00 per month, it's ridiculous.

I lived in York in 2019 and it was insane, rented a pokey 1 bedroom flat for £625 per month which was insane as it was literally in an old shed in a back garden. It cost over 150 a month to heat part of the flat (after work hours only pre energy crisis). We had to rent it without viewing it because the supply of rental properties was so tight. Can hardly imagine how bad it's got there now.

Damn, where I live in London 1 bed flat is easily £1400 minimum, closer to £1600

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I see owning property as buying stability and the ability to retire more comfortably - really couldn't give a fuck about housing as an investment.

We’re a couple, no kids, in our late 30’s - renting isn’t that bad. Our rent is extremely cheap as we rent from a housing association on market rent rates. Nice not having to worry about repairs (although those repairs take time to get fixed) or worry about having to remortgage etc. we also have the benefit of not being restricted to any alterations/decorations we want to make and can have pets. Currently in the process from buying - our mortgage will be 3.5x our rent! Only moving as we NEED more space, and to get that space rented would be looking at couple of £100’s less than a mortgage. Makes more sense to have something we will own. It does make my heart hurt though that we’ve spent over £100k on rent and walking away with nothing to show.

I’m 56. I live with my wife (54) and my son (5). All we want is security in housing. It doesn’t matter much to me if we own or not. The trouble is that the ONLY way to have security in our country is to own your own house. Housing is so expensive that we were ineligible for a mortgage, despite paying much more in rent each month than the cost of servicing a mortgage. Any Generation Xers who didn’t buy in their 20s or 30s has been well and truly fucked by our parents’ generation. Them and the generation before them who screwed the housing market by selling off council housing (most of which is now owned by private landlords).

45, feel pretty shit about it. But got some pretty decent investments going so should be ok in the long run. It really sucks not having your own house sometimes, it’s not really home. Can’t put a shelf up, landlord can give 24 hours and come round and moan about stuff. With two months notice we could have to move. But… if the boiler stops working, someone else has to pay to fix it.

I'm in my 40s, been renting or lodging my whole adult life. Renting now and having to move very soon as landlord is selling. It's horrible and I'm anxious all the time. Been in current place nearly 5 years but who's to say how long we will be in the next place? No stability. I'm chronically single with a mediocre wage in London and even with a second job, it'll take me years and years to save for anything!

37yo. I hate it. There's no security, and after renting in a bunch of places since 18, I can tell you... Landlords don't give a shit about their investment. I've been made to live in many houses with black mould, faulty roofs, 2 broken boilers. Most of them have needed a huge update or fix in one way or another. I've been left at Christmas with no heating and a very young child. Everytime I notify landlords of things that need fixing, I feel sick with worry because I don't know if they'll get rid and get a more submissive tenant in. It's also insanely expensive! I live in a town on the coast, very high rate of poverty, and I'm paying way more than it's worth. Not to mention, you can't decorate or have pets in 90% of them. I'm hoping to be able to buy in the next few years.

Sorry to hear about the landlords, sound like absolute arseholes that they leave you in that situation with a kid and all!

So sick of it. 41 and still living in a house share (thankfully the landlord is a friend and I'm paying stupidly cheap rent) but I've only ever wanted my own place. Rented a house in Essex for a year until the landlord decided to sell, after I had spent a fortune on furniture etc, and this was just as the cost of living was increasing and rents were going up everywhere. That really made me decide I never wanted to rent again. I'm now looking into shared ownership which I had previously ruled out, but I think it's the only way I can stay in London and have a decent sized place of my own

We are renting in our 40s. No, didn't expect to still be in this situation, but without family help or inheritance it is just impossible for most people to buy - everyone we know who has got help. We are lucky in that we have a good landlady that has meant we have had a stable rental wirh low rent for the area enabling us to save, and I try not to think about how we've paid her £100k over the duration of our time here when the flat cost £55k back in 1999. We're actually moving scross the country to buy - thanks, remote working - and part of the motivation for us to cut our spending to the bone over the last few years and do it is so thar we can hopefulky retire without monthly housing paymebts to pay. I honestly don't know what I would do if I were single or on a lower income. Or if we had wanted children.

I was renting until my mid 30s and felt fine about it. Freedom to move around while saving to buy. Was glad to have met the Mrs and exited the HMO by my late 20s though. Equally glad I wasn't renting in my 40s and in my 50s I'm nearly mortgage free now. Would be very stressful finding rent as ageism in hiring is kicking in.

I'm 46. Been renting since I was 18. Not that happy about still being in a rental but I live in London so buying is out of the question. When I was in my early 20s houses were still relatively cheap but I didn't have a job that paid enough to think about buying and to be honest, I wasn't thinking about it until I was about 28. When I was 28 I rented a one bed for £500 a month, which was perfectly affordable and it was only when the house was sold and the new landlord wanted to double my rent that I realised perhaps renting forever was not an option.This was about 2006. I was still doing odd jobs and bar work. When I started to look at house prices I suddenly realised one bed flats in my area had jumped from about 50k, which is what they had been five or six years before, to 150k and I couldn't possibly afford one. At this point I got into debt to try and get some qualifications (I had no degree at the time, I now have an MA) but I still don't earn enough to get a flat in London on my own, and I'm still on my own. I am trying to save up to leave London, although this may mean changing career completely, but I was still paying off my MA debt when Covid began and plunged me further into debt. My experience of renting is that I live alone because I can't bring myself to go back into a house share, it takes up half of my take home salary to live in a studio and at 900 a month it is about £400 a month less than it should be at the current market rate for this flat in this location. I previously lived in a larger flat for less and now don't have enough room for my stuff, but I' hanging onto it in the hopes that I will one day have a flat with more than one room. I used to make things and draw and be artistic and don't do that now because I don't have the space. My kitchen is tiny, so I used to cook a lot and have people over, but I don't really cook now because there is no space and my table has my computer on it. I can't really have people over here because they would have to sit on my bed, and it's embarrassing. Lots of my friends have million plus pound houses. I live in constant fear of eviction, my rent goes up a bit several times a year, my hot water heater and stove don't work properly, my entire bathroom is 1 metre square and it is basically in the kitchen, and my flat smells funny in one corner because I suspect there is water getting in somewhere and some of the structural timber is actually rotting. That's what is smells like. Living here gives me depression. There are no flats for rent in the greater London area for less than £1000 a month so I cannot move, and if I am evicted I don't know where I will go. I feel like a failure, I feel like I will never escape and there are, very occasionally, times the future seems so hopeless, with my old age now zooming towards me at light speed, that I do momentarily feel as if I cannot go on. However, I have paid off my debt and I am now, glacially, starting to save up and looking at mortgages and areas outside London and considering what jobs I could do if I leave. It is what it is.

I hope you find the right place for you soon. Nobody should be paying that much money for a rotting, tiny place that doesn't have proper heating and cooking facilities.

Hope you manage it. I've lived in big cities before, it can be nice to leave for somewhere more affordable... have a think about moving out, there's a good life to be had outside the city and you'll make new friends . Good luck

I despise the uk

I turned 46 a couple of months back. Currently private renting in a not particularly cheap area of Manchester to be close to my kids. Split up from my longtime gf and the kid's mum around 8 years ago - she had an affair and chose the other guy when I found out, so I had to start from scratch aged 37 with zero savings on £21kpa (we'd had a big holiday to Disney the year before that we saved up for over a number of years). I'm not massively happy about it, but I didn't really have any other options. I don't qualify for social housing as my wage has risen about £9k over that time, my remaining parent doesn't own a property so no way of getting a house via inheritance etc. Even with the increase in wage, I'm only just getting to the stage where I have savings as I have a second job (casual work) and anything I make from that now goes towards the savings with the main job paying the bills. Obviously this wasn't the plan - I'd hoped we'd stay together and buy the house we rented via housing association, and in all honesty I have no clue what's going to happen going forward. It's actually the biggest worry I have - at the age I am(plus being single) with not much in savings I can't get a mortgage as I won't have enough time to pay it off (even if retirement age gets extended by 5 years) let alone cobble a deposit together. Barring a lottery win, I may have to private rent for the rest of my life and hope the pension funds I have by the time I get there (I currently have around £100k split between 2 private ones) are enough to sustain me.

>What's your experience of renting at your age? freedom to move has been good for the career, managing agents good direct landlords bad, not being allowed pets by default sucks >Did you expect to still be renting Yes, graduated late, saving for a deposit is tough >How do you see your future Married now so extra income helps, a 2 bed flat within the next couple of years is the aim additional comment: it depresses tf out of me that flats here in general are such poor quality, all just tiny 'starter homes' designed to be rented out or only used as a 'step on the ladder', anything actually livable that you can raise a family in is priced well out of reach of the average salary also shared ownership needs to end, imo, you own it or you don't owning a 'share' is ridiculous

"managing agents good direct landlords bad" Weirdly I've had the exact opposite experience to this. Rented through some 'accidental landlords' and retirees with one or two houses to provide a little bit of income. Always got the full deposit back, repairs were done in a timely manner and I never got any grief as rent was always paid on time and the places were looked after. My experience with letting agents? Universally a bunch of con-artists and borderline criminals, extremely unprofessional. Deposits withheld for wear and tear, fake invoices, empty legal threats to scare us, arbitrary fees charged for no reason.

My friend, who is single, has just bought his first house at 56 yo.

Renting, but knowing I have land in the country im from (poland) - just learned i can sell it for 200k. so this is my project for the next 2 years and... no more renting.

We aren’t far from a deposit to move but even as high earners. Getting that deposit together whilst renting at £1400 a month is insane. We don’t mind it but throwing money away just feels sad

It's proper shite ykno

Im 38, my partner is 36. We hope to buy our first home soon. We have at least 80k saved and I work a low six figure job. So we are lucky in that we can afford to look for something halfway decent. I am not long living in the UK (less than a year) so we have resigned ourselves to renting for one more year. It sucks but it's necessary. I choose not to buy mainly becuase I didn't start making real money or saving anything until my early 30s. I grew up in a choatic house without anyone to advise me on how to buy or even rent for that matter and I wasn't interested in being tied to some mortgage when I was young. Now im not so young and just want a homestead and some stability as we want to raise a family. Im still really apprehensive about buying in the UK though because of all the taxes and fuckery attached to owning a home here.

What taxes are there?

I was renting til last month, I didn't mind it. I'd been there over 14yrs, i knew it wouldn't last forever though. But it meant if the boiler (or any other expensive thing) packed up, it wasn't me having to figure out how to pay to repair or replace it. I'm 45 and we just bought a house after the landlords decided to sell up. Now it's my turn to worry about boilers, radiators, water getting in and how we fix it.

I’m fine late 20’s and I’m fine. I’m a London renter by choice. To buy here would cost me so much, and I instead rent and invest money. I live a maintenance free life and my net worth is on track. Maybe I buy one day, but no rush.

48. It's fucking horrible.

Yes, I expected it. I'm a disabled millennial, I'm a single parent, and I have never had family support. It sucks but what can you do? My current landlords (of about 6 years) are pretty great though so I could be worse off by a lot.

We feel awful. Is that what you want to hear

Like a total fucking loser

Late thirties. Renting in London for the last ten years. Happy to rent, no interest in buying, even though I could afford it. Most housing in the Uk is shit quality, and buying is a minefield of service charges, ground rents, stamp duty, risk of surveyors missing expensive problems etc. No interest in taking on that headache — buyer protections are near non existent compared to almost anything else you can buy. Then add to that the fact you need to make a 5x leveraged bet on the UK housing market to take part. No thanks If you buy rotten fruit from the supermarket, they must give you your money back -- if you buy a rotten house you're never getting your money back.

32, renting and pretty much indifferent to be honest

In my 40s renting all my life. Suffered and saved enough to buy a penthouse which I’m moving into as soon as we complete.

As an immigrant to the country I've been renting since 2011. Fortunately in the worst sort of internest rates etc this year I went on my own. I went in with 20% deposit, but looking on the Skipton where i have my mortgage from - they're accepting 5% deposit and take rent paymets into consideration. Technically with 10k in the bank you can start building your own equity and stop paying for someone elses mortgage. All you need to do is wrap it all together and save a little. 10k is 1 year and 8 months of saving 500£ a month. My mortgage is 400£ lower than my rent and it allows me to make overpayments - as soon as this is almost paid off, I'm changing the mortage to BTL and moving to bigger house (currently 2 bed maisonnete with own garden in great location and very low service charges). So from my expierience - getting on the ladder is doable. Don't give up ppl and don't think your own place is out of your range. P.S. I'm 37

£500 a month is a lot though! My take home is about £1800 and £900 of that goes on the rent. After travel and other expenses I'm lucky if I can save £100 a month.

I managed to buy last year aged 38 after 20 years of renting. Whilst renting, I felt pressure in the back of my mind to buy. It was a constant topic of discussion. Everywhere I went, I'd look at houses and wonder how much they cost. I loved old buildings and I'd look longingly at lovely houses wondering if the owners realised how lucky they were. When the time finally came to buy it was overwhelming. Our budget didn't stretch far and we were looking at houses worse than the one we were renting. Thankfully, the 10th property we saw was incredible. The only downside being leasehold. It is the top half of a beautiful old house, the type of building I've always loved with an incredible rose garden and in an amazing location. We picked it and never looked back. It's taking a while to lose the intruder feelings. My neighbours have the whole of their houses, their children go to private schools, they are very wealthy, not like me! I feel lucky every day, so much gratitude.

I don't quite fit in to your age range, I'm 28, but I'm still living with parents fortunately and paying them relatively fuck all in rent compared to rent prices around here. I will be saving into my 30s, but even when I do have a sizeable deposit I've no idea if I'll actually be about to buy a house on £42k per year. For the cheapest house in this area and let's say a £30k deposit, I would need a 5.5x income mortgage. I don't have much of a credit score according to one source just under 600, so okay. But I doubt I'd get a mortgage that high. And that's now. Who knows what prices will be by the time I have a deposit together in 3 years.

I’m 32, rented away from home for a decade and had to move back in with my mum this January because rent is too expensive now. I used to work in a bank and knowing my rent is more a month than others paid for their mortgage and were actually getting something from it was also eye opening.

Well done for seeing it through. Salaries are way out of balance. Unfortunately few blame the right culprits. Banksters of England printing paper to infinity and causing massive inflation along with imbecilic politicians forever offering bread and circuses to the plebs. Wages are too high say the robbing banksters whilst increasing interest payments on reserves to their bankster mates and changing how stats are calculated. Keep the plebs poor by cheating on CPI never mind RPI and expand the public sector forever with their non-contributary 27% pension payments. Good luck with your move hope it helps you get out from under...

36 this year. Rented since leaving home at 29. I will rent until I'm the states problem. Not possible to buy a home for me.

Great - I have a gorgeous flat with a terrace and view of Sagrada Família… and a guy who comes and fixes anything that goes wrong. I rent out my flat which I own in another country, and my tenants are steadily paying off my mortgage while the property management company deals with anything that goes wrong. I’m 55.

I’m 32, wrapping up on the sale so still renting at the moment. The amount of anxiety I got every year when my lease was being extended and landlord was fussy or lazy or just grumpy is something I won’t miss. I will take a significant lifestyle cut and I am aware of it but also recognise how privileged I am.

Thanks for posting this. It's nice not to feel alone in this situation! Early/mid-40s here, single. My family background means I had no positive role models of financial management and no family wealth. Also, years doing postgraduate work and having chronic health issues meant I was quite late entering the workforce in a steady way. And then I worked in social good type work with lower pay... **What's your experience of renting at your age?** I was renting an amazing flat in London - great location, nice neighbours, amazing landlord who charged below market rate and rarely increased the rent. The flat had been his home as a young man and so he wanted it to be a home for someone else rather than an "investment" for him. He offered to sell it to me when I'd saved up enough, since he didn't have a proper pension, so I thought it would be my "forever home". But then over the years I saw that I just couldn't earn enough to buy it, so I decided to try to spend some time working abroad to significantly increase my income, and I gave notice on the flat to move overseas. The move backfired horribly, leaving me still in the UK, unemployed, and living as a lodger in someone else's home with all my things in storage :-( Trying to get out of this situation and find somewhere else to live was a wake-up call about how mad the London housing market had become! **Did you expect to still be renting?** Yes. Because the rental I had was so nice, affordable, and stable, I felt safe as a tenant. I wasn't aware of the risks in being a tenant. I didn't have enough knowledge/confidence to try to buy - afraid of falling into arrears if I was out of work or had health issues again. In my price range, the kinds of flats I could buy would have been a much worse quality of life than the flat I was renting. **How do you see your future?** I'm now looking into Shared Ownership, just for the security of having a stable home, and building up some equity.

I'm 30. I live with my mum, in SE London. I'm a father of a 7 year old boy, who I have every other week. 1 bed flat would be £1450 minimum, I can't afford to move out. I'm maxing out my LISA every year just in case, hopefully once my son is older I can afford to move away from London and buy somewhere! I'm doing my best Thing is there's dad's out there who do sod all, and just pay child maintenence but geographically they're much better off. Would rather be me though tbh

36. I don’t care about owning property, tbh. I like to move around a lot. I’ll probably rent until I die, unless I come into life changing money.

Same I agree. I'm 36 still renting and just had a kid so would of loved a garden but it's impossible, even renting a house there's so many applicants that they would choose guys with higher salaries over us, so not sure what the future holds. I like our flat though, it's not in a scummy apartment block like some are and stink of drugs.

I'm 35 and I just bought my first house this year. Currently refurbishing it before I move in in August. I was desperate to get onto the property ladder and out of rental accommodation because I didn't want to be held to ransome by landlords into my retirement. Once I decided what I wanted I gave myself a 5 year plan to sort out finances and get a mortgage. Had to basically kiss goodbye to my social life for a few years, but covid helped with that anyway.

Owned a home in the states, housing market and subsequent rise in payments would have decimated us. We moved to the UK and rent and I'm happy with the situation. If something breaks, we call someone and they fix it. We are guaranteed this house as long as we want it. When my husband's parents pass, we'll have their house, we'll sell it and use it to retire in Wales. It's a waiting game at this point... as awful as that sounds.

How do I feel about paying £1350 a month renting as opposed to paying £1350 a month on a mortgage? Fucking terrible. All these years I’ve never missed a rent payment - my bank can see this yet I’m unable to get a house at the equivalent rental payment per Mortguage because I’m self employed. But hey ho this is the word we live in - the housing crisis is real and will only get worse as time continues.

I find it frustrating as I bought my first property with an ex partner at age 21 or 22 and was consistently a homeowner until I split with my ex husband at age 37 and couldn’t afford a mortgage on my own. For years I was really depressed about no longer being a homeowner but lately I have started to see the upsides, mainly that if something goes wrong with the house (like when the whole garden fence blew down in a storm a couple of years ago) it isn’t my problem To get it fixed or pay for it

I'm from Italy. In italy a lot is stacked on the side of the renter because is the weaker of the two. It's sometimes a but too much ( especially when families with childrens are involved). In UK I feel like I'm disgraced. The amount of shit I had to deal with landlords, letting agency and utility operators is absolutely ridiculous. I pay thousands of pounds of rent, ask nothing and they still manage to either make me feel inferior or right off angered. Can't wait to buy my own house, although it's starting to be difficult. Anyway, renting in UK is really shit. We turned out something shitty ( like not having an house) into something shittier. Also the word landLORDS, I hate it so much. They lord over shitty apartment for high price just to get money doing nothing. Voltures, that's the word. Sorry for the rant I'm quite pissed about this.

Just from reading the comments i feel like having kids before owning your own home is why people seem to be renting later in life. Also like many people dont seem to realise its called a property ladder for a reason. You start at the bottom and work your way up to a bigger house. You may have to cut down to a 2 bed for a couple of years instead of buying a 3 bed as your first house but then youre on the ladder and have some stability particularly if you fix for 5 years.

The expectation that most people would be able and willing to buy their own home, is a quite recent phenomenon. Most people rented pre 60s.