The Joy of Lets

Having rented flats and houses for almost ten years, I have experienced several situations that at best could be termed interesting, and at worst border-line illegal. I feel quite well equipped to identify problems with potential properties now, and know how important it is to read all small print, even if the letting agent is impatiently tutting, and making obvious glances at their watch.

Letting can have its advantages though.  For one you don’t need to worry about finding hundreds of pounds to fix a broken boiler.  You just have to wait for some else to pay for repairs, although that in itself can be a challenge.  I remember once when the toilet in our flat in Scotland suddenly decided to randomly spurt out raw sewage.  Since it was indeed random, and not just when the flush was pulled, Husband and I decided not to risk using it until it was fixed – the thought of a bidet rife with typhoid was not a pleasant one.  So we spent four days peeing in a bucket and then pouring it down the loo before the Landlord finally got someone in to fix it. 

Four days wasn’t too bad really.  In another property we spent the entire tenancy waiting for a curtain pole to be fixed back into the wall.  I would combat-crawl naked under the window to get to my clothes until the tree in the garden grew into a modesty shield.  Unfortunately, on one of the Landlord’s inspections he decided the tree was becoming too large for his ‘natural style nature garden’ (read ‘unkempt weed pit’), and had it trimmed back.  I didn’t go back to combat crawling.  The neighbours could look at my white arse and damn well be glad of the opportunity.

Another advantage is not having to worry too much about decoration and the cost of its upkeep.  The downside to this is that you have to endure someone else’s taste, which may not be congruent with your own. Although I don’t think an avocado green bathroom is compatible with anything (it’s amazing what you will put up with for low rent).  Generally, though, rental properties are a uniform magnolia.  I am so freaking sick of magnolia.

Renting gives you the opportunity to sample different areas in a city before you are ready to buy, and if you don’t like the house/area, you can move quite swiftly as you’re not tied into a mortgage.  Although this lack of security is very apparent when you don’t want to move, as you can be kicked out of your home with little notice, as I recently found out.

Some of the less savoury points of renting include the blatant rip-off fees that some letting agencies charge.  For example, we recently had to pay a compulsory ‘check-in’ fee to have an agent cast an unobservant eye over the house to check for any pre-existing damage.  It took them 5 minutes, and we later had to email them with a list of things they missed.  So, they charged us £90, and we did their job (I sometimes think I am totally in the wrong occupation). After noticing our disgruntled expressions at this cost, they tried to appease us by informing us they also charge the Landlord a ‘check-out’ fee, as though knowing they’re also ripping off our Landlord should mollify us.

The worst Landlord we had rented a property to us that turned out to be infested with bedbugs, which is another post in itself.

After almost a decade of renting Husband and I would be ecstatic to finally get on the property ladder.  So that’s the plan over the next few years.  Merely  holding the ladder is no longer satisfying - we’ve had far too many falling objects drop on our heads.
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Do you have any rental horror stories?  Or even tales of a Landlord gem?