Why Do Renters Pay More BUT Receive Less?
- Kieron Lynch
- Sep 7, 2020
- 4 min read
WHY DO RENTERS PAY MORE BUT RECEIVE LESS?
Home buyers in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England are struggling.
House prices remain high, mortgages are hard to come by, and deposits are difficult to find.
Many are now renting out of necessity as to buy is not a current option.
They feel stigma, somehow lesser by this.
Yet in Europe and many other parts of the world, renting is the norm, even when money is no object.
This is in the main because there is the supply of good-high-quality-rental-residences.
On average UK renters pay way more than those who pay a mortgage, yet the quality and value of the residence is normally way less than that of the similar
mortgaged one – that is wrong all day long.
(Affordable Social Housing is even more important than private renting to my mind. Even more deserving of proper design and investment, and its current failings while those involved pat themselves on the back, is a topic for real discussion on its own.
For this blog the focus will be on Private Housing).
Before we start, something many are mistaken by, YOU DO NOT OWN YOUR HOME UNTIL TO HAVE SETTLED THE LAST MORTAGE PAYMENT, until that point it belongs to someone else as your home is secured against that debt. Just like any other secured debt, you default, they will reposess it to cover their losses.
Why then the snobbery of renting versus mortgage payers?
You could be an apprentice, a factory worker, a carer , an admin assistant, a young farmer, a nurse, a coach driver, a politician, a surgeon, an astronaut…yet you rent.
Nothing wrong with that.
Circumstances mean that for now (and maybe well into the future) this is the option that best suits your situation, lifestyle, your personal life , your employment.
Your work colleagues most likely live nearby in many situations, so why do renters receive less for their money in the same area? You pay into the community with similar contributions and taxes , you shop locally , you patron local services , your kids may use the same schools, YOU ARE A GOOD CITIZEN AND CONTRIBUTE WELL TO SOCIETY – so why does your money , the same currency as the mortgage payers – give you less.
TO MY MIND IT IS RIDICULOUS, FOR ANY OTHER CONSUMER PRODUCT OR EXPERIENCE YOU PAY MORE YOU GET MORE – NOT LESS!!!
Tired fabric and facilities, most likely out of date, expensive heating, poor external spaces, AND COSTING MORE THAN A MORTGAGE…its madness!
So why if you pay a rental, have a great track record of paying a rental, the mortgage granters deem you not worthy, ALTHOUGH YOU PAY MORE EACH MONTH THAN A MORTAGE PAYER?
Could it be the landlords priorities are mis-aligned with that of their resident…yes resident.
Think of motor homes, caravans, yachts, hotels, holiday home rentals, if you gave inferior products to your residents …well TripAdvisor would light up like a Christmas tree.
“…but I have to maintain my profit , I have overheads, the interest rates, my lending is a buy to let, my insurance, my, my, my…” DON”T HEAR MUCH THERE ABOUT WHAT THE RESIDENT’S NEEDS AND WANTS .
2008 opened up the worlds eyes – modern bankers are gamblers - yes we do need money lending, but in a responsible way, a way that is invested in all our lives and communities. Profits do and have to get made, otherwise who is paying for progress, investment in the good stuff and breakthroughs the modern world needs – MAKING AND GIVING VALUE CAN COEXIST WITH THIS APPROACH - make just a little less now, give a lot more now, make the more longer term.
Taking a long-term view of how to invest in our built environment, benefits us all, wealth is not to sit on, wealth is to circulate, to do good, to add value – everyone benefits, a better built environment, a better place to live and work, better jobs are attracted, local services improve, property values go up over time – short termism is rubbish!
SCREW THE STATUS QUO! For the many it’s not working.
Some companies are making H-U-G-E profits…make just a little less, do a lot more.
Are you in it to build homes, or is it a commodity that has a margin and allows the cheapest way you get away with doing it, pretty simple LESS THAN 6% OF NEW HOMES IN THE UK INVOLVE AN ARCHITECT – GO FIGURE.
Why do you think that is – they are too expensive ,,, DAMN RIGHT THEY ARE.
It takes training , time, skill and expertise to do things right.
When you are getting a life saving operation, you don’t ask if the surgeon is expensive….
How we live singularly, as a couple , as a family, as a community – is complex.
The smallest allowed ‘NODDY BOX’ approach that has infected these nations of ours, is criminal.
Who said that is the size it has to be….”Oh the project can’t afford bigger, we have costs, the land is so expensive, we have shareholders …” ENOUGH YOUR MODEL IS SELF SERVING, END OF.
Time we changed that model then. Invest in the design now, allow the RESIDENTS to enjoy living there, letting their lives enhance the community, and wait for the profits …don’t take the money now and wash your hands of the RUBBISH you have left behind.
A new approach must be adopted, this approach has been around for a very long time.
It’s not easy, it takes vision, flair, belief, will and courage.
Serious developers are also Architects, they invest in their buildings design and its value for their residents, they adopt different financial approaches, they have “skin in the game”, they retain ownership over the longer term, they are ‘on the block’, they wait for their harvest BECAUSE THEIR FOCUS IS ON THE RESIDENT, THE BUILDING AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AROUND THEIR HOME, so they use a different financial model. They are long term stakeholders in their built environment’s successes.
We are doing our bit to change the imbalances of renting a home.
Renters pay more than mortgage payers, so with us, they will get more!
AETHER is “Regenerating Liveability with Renting People”
Why not join us in disrupting the status quo?
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