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Owning your own home and renting each have pros and cons.
Many young people strive to own their own home and have a mortgage but there are some real positives to simply renting.
If you are one of the twenty and thirty somethings privately renting instead of stepping on the property ladder, you may be feeling a bit despondent at being part of a statistic referred to as ‘Generation Rent’.
Yes, if you privately rent the monthly cost can seem high and good properties are in high demand but competition for houses to buy is high and the rise in purchase prices are also stretching buyers in the UK. Unless of course you are extortionately wealthy, which most of us aren’t, the cost of living isn’t getting any easier.
The UK seems to be a bit obsessed with home ownership and it sends a message of doom and gloom to the many young and old who are unable to get a foot on the housing ladder.
However, if you take a look at our European cousins, they have been happily renting for years and they are very good at it. Renting does have it’s perks!
1) Freedom to move home when you want
If you decide you want to up sticks and move on a whim, you only have to give your landlord the agreed term of notice.
There is no evaluation, no estate agent, property hunting or endless fees, there is simply a letter of notice in writing and a thorough end of tenancy clean. How liberating!
2) The dread of living in fear of breakages
Replacing or repairing boilers, washing machines, dishwashers and the like can be a costly business and certainly not at the top of everyone’s investment priorities.
Let your landlord take care of the maintenance of such things and enjoy having more control over your monthly budget plan.
3) Housemates
OK so your housemates could be a negative as well as a positive if you don’t get it right. The petty politics can be enough to drive you to the point of insanity but sharing a house can also be the most fun you’ve ever had.
These days, people are living with friends long after university and it can cement friendships in a way that you just can’t recreate by meeting up for weekly coffee or following each other on social media. Negotiating a bathroom schedule and dealing with contentious house rules can be a great exercise in compromise and tolerance, whether you live with friends or move in with your partner for the first time.
So try not to let it get you down if you do feel you are part of the UK’s ‘Generation Rent’.
You are not alone and the Government have been focusing on improving tenant rights and working on making the private rental sector fairer for all in recent years.
