Does your rented house feel like home?

[Belle25]

We will be renting for the first time soon. Would like to hear off those who rent.

Does your rented house feel like home? Or does it always feel like some one else's?
Also, how often should/does your landlord check your house?

X

 

[Incubus]

Our previous two houses felt like home but never properly ours, I hated not being to decorate! We used to have inspections every 3 months.

We still rent now but it's a rent to buy property so we can decorate, change the carpet, never have inspections and they can't ask us to leave for 5 years so its much more like a home, we can also buy it whenever we want to. I love being able to paint a room when I get bored I'm terrible for getting bored with my house and wanting to change but its better now I decorate to change things up a bit!

 

[Pirate]

We currently rent and it feels very much like home. Basically I define "home" as wherever my husband, my dog, and the things that have meaning to me are. I haven't lived in the same place for more than two consecutive years since I was 18 (I'm 32 now) and I've lived in three different states. I mean, it does stink that I can't change paint color or flooring, (or, more accurately I haven't wanted to invest the money into a place that we didn't own), but to me home really isn't about the physical structure. The move to the city we live in now is permanent and we hope to buy in the next 18 months or so.

I haven't talked to our landlord since May or June and haven't seen him since the winter. Basically he had no need to contact us since the rent check clears every month and we have no need to contact him unless something breaks. We live in the US so it may be different for you. I have always preferred to rent privately as opposed to a management company.

 

[Kittycat155]

We rented while I was growing up and I never felt it was not home until we were getting ready to move out at end of lease(few houses but we were always at houses 4-12 years)

When I moved into apartment I was always at ease. We were able to do alot as long as we painted it back to white or payed them to do it. Go full deposit back no issues and we had done a few things.

 

[lovelylaura]

Yeah it feels like home to us. The longer your in house the more it feels like home. We only get checked once a year but if something goes wrong he comes round and has a quick look.

 

[KayBea]

no mine doesnt feel like home. but i think thats because we have so many problems with the property im on the phone to estate agents once a week usually.. even for simple crap like the seal around the plug hole in the bath has had it, 10 min job i can do but im not allowed. so far ive made 12 phone calls & had 4 people come & look at it.

we have inspections every 4-5 months which bother me quite a bit as i want to make sure im home so they dont go snooping & landlady picks at every little bit, ie madams finger prints on thw walls.. easy to wipe off but an easy thing to forget as they are at madams height & i dont look closely.


also we cant decorate so everywhere is just covered in wall stickers & psintings/pictures xx

 

[jenny82]

We own our home but moved out just over a year ago to rent and rent it out to someone else. We just moved 2 weeks ago into a different house and yes, already it feels like home. As long as the toys are here and pictures up on the walls, we are happy. I do put up new curtains, add decorative things though. I hated the house we own, as the space wasn't right and we couldn't do much with it. The type of houses we have rented though are more suited to us and we (I) did a lot of research to pick the perfect house.

I should add that the house we have recently left - i loooved that house but the landlady has turned into something of a nightmare. Hopefully nearly through dealing with her but yeah, that aspect of renting i do not enjoy.

 

[shellie]

My house feels like home. I think I've been lucky with my landlord. My landlord is private and not through an agency.

When I moved in he had just done all the house up and put a new kitchen and new floors in. He said to treat it as my own, so I can decorate if I want.

I never hear from him, the rent is in his account each month so I doubt I'd hear from him unless it wasnt. When there are any problems I phone him and he sends someone straight out to sort it. So far theres been a slight leak in the bathrom and a sllight leak in one of the downstairs radiators, but they both got sorted the same day I called him.

I have rented through an agency in the past though and it was a headache trying to get any repairs done, they would send someone out to look at the problem, then send someone out to fix the problem, then send another person out to fix the problem again as it was never done properly the first time. Plus the last house was full of damp that they were dragging their feet about sorting. I had to go through environmental health about it and ended up moving out.

I think it depends on your landlord/agency as to how at home you feel. If they leave you to enjoy the house it will feel like home. If they are on the phone every 5 minutes or leave you with problems they wont sort then I dont think I would feel like it was my home. xxx

 

[Pearls18]

As a PP says my home is where my husband and son are, as cheesy as it may sound but we have had to spend years apart as a result of my husband's job so to now be able to all live together under one roof is a privilege we often take for granted. We have moved 5 times in 2.5 years, most recently just last week and will probably move again in about 18 months to a completely different part of the country....but my house still feels like home, it has my family in, my belongings in and I wouldn't be anywhere else. We will buy one day when my husband leaves the military, we are saving, and it will be incredibly exciting I have no doubt it will be our homeliness home yet, but in the meantime I am genuinely grateful for a roof over my head (something we also take for granted I have realised since moving to London and seeing so many homeless people) and one with my family

 

[staceymxxx]

Yep mine does, housing assocation & we can do what we want in it, we could even change windows if we wanted or add extensions like other people have aslong as we ask first they say yes to everything... x

 

[highhopes19]

Yes mine does its housing assosiation so we can pretty much do what we like to it, we've lived there since may and its only just recently starting to feel like home x

 

[Pandora11]

My home feels like home to an extent. It has my husband, pets, memories and stuff in it, so it is home, but it feels more like it's a place to keep our things. When we had our first rented place we knew we weren't staying in that city so it felt temporary, but our space. Then when we got our first unfurnished house, we decorated and bought new curtains, furniture, spent endless money and hours fixing up the garden and we thought that was where we would live for years and so it felt like home. Then our landlord wanted it back, since then we've lived in places we couldn't put a drawing pin in, let alone decorate. Also, after having to move more times, not by choice, nowhere has felt as much like home as the the other place, because in the backs of our minds we are waiting for bad luck and having to move again.

We also haven't put much money into gardens etc because we've lost money on the places we've fixed up and had to leave. Here we had to wait about 6months before we were allowed to hand pictures and our bedroom needs decorating where i had to rip damp wallpaper off when we had a mould problem last yr but they are in no hurry to do anything about it. I don't want to get too attached.

It's frustrating how different landlords allow you to do different things, but i understand why. ILs rent a house to a family put their by the council and they think it's their own. They trashed the place, ripped up lovely gardens, disposed of furniture that came with the house, knocked garden wall down with car, damaged walls, doors, built in furniture and got pets without asking which have ruined the carpets etc. Now the places is suitable damaged, they don't wanna live there anymore. Ils end up with the bill for damage and have to stump up further to make it livable for the next family and that is the 2nd time it's happened.

 

[stephx]

Yes, although it's a council house so we have done our own flooring and decorating and we are the 1st people to live here. The tenancy is secure and I can do what I like with it eg extensions etc I feel very lucky to have this house and I think we will live here forever tbh.

Although I have lived in 5 privately rented properties since leaving home and they never really felt homely or 'ours' just for the fact that the landlord could sell up or something meant I could never really feel rooted and didn't want to spend money on a place that we could move from in the near future.

 

[Mummy May]

Yeah mine feels like home, my children and OH are here! And were allowed to decorate if we want, I love my house xx

 

[Twinkl3]

We've been renting for about 3 years now and it certainly feels like home, although we are planning on moving but that due to new circumstances. For me, home is where my OH is, us as a unit makes 'home' what it is

Luckily we are through a private landlord who is quite elderly, he has never checked on us once. The only time we see him is at the end of our 6 months contract and thats only to sign a new one.

Initially he was against pets living in the house due to his previous tennant but allowed us to have ours, we told him we would replace anything if he damaged it. He never has though, anyway we have done so much more to the property like putting blinds in and new carpet, etc that he can hardly complain about us.

 

[nugget80]

Yes... But its council so can do what i like and as I've been here 11 years it really does feel like home. Also as we plan to buy it i don't plan on leaving here ever!

 

[amytrisha]

We were told we could decorate after 6 months of living here.
In the 1 year & 5 months we've lived here our landlord has NEVER visited..

It very much feels like home I'd still move though, I love changing scenery lol

 

[mummylove]

When we rented it didnt feel like home. It just felt like we had to watch whatever we did

 

[snowfia]

Mine does
It didn't at first as I was just a bit worried about everything :L Now though, it's definitely our home. Our landlord is really laid back and he's been round here twice, once to meet us and the second time to fix a door. We haven't been here long, but I don't think he's gonna be round much at all :L