Public behaviour... or lack of it

[Bar Wench]

Renting vs owning. Is an interesting question. Yes I don't have to pay for upkeep etc however, I would like to put up a shelf, paint a wall etc without having to ask for it in triplicate first. Likewise the bathroom and kitchen, I'd love to redo them and we could just afford to however, the landlord isn't interested for some reason. Plus there is the throwing money the drain arguement.

I acutally don't mind renting all that much, but I would like to be able to dig up the garden and paint. Perhaps if landlords found a longterm tennancy more of an attractive option and allowed some leeway then it wouldn't be as bad as it is.

But this thread isn't about my situation, which whilst I understand isn't that bad it isn't that great either.

[Mrs TG]

Renting vs owning. Is an interesting question. Yes I don't have to pay for upkeep etc however, I would like to put up a shelf, paint a wall etc without having to ask for it in triplicate first. Likewise the bathroom and kitchen, I'd love to redo them and we could just afford to however, the landlord isn't interested for some reason. Plus there is the throwing money the drain arguement.

I acutally don't mind renting all that much, but I would like to be able to dig up the garden and paint. Perhaps if landlords found a longterm tennancy more of an attractive option and allowed some leeway then it wouldn't be as bad as it is.

But this thread isn't about my situation, which whilst I understand isn't that bad it isn't that great either.

Our landlord just about remembers he owns this house! we have painted it all and just put new flooring down in kitchen, also hoping to get a new carpet for back room, ooppps and fitted catflap in back door, as he ok as long as we dont trash it, not really expensive things etc. if it was our own there would be major changes but not worth throwing that money at it.

We aint got much choice in renting vs buying etc as we never would get on property ladder due to the average house being about 120k we  both on 2nd marriage so left i left behind my own home to my ex which will now go directly to kids at some point 
so until we come into dosh or lotto win renting it is. 

[Snoopy]

Renting vs owning. Is an interesting question. Yes I don't have to pay for upkeep etc however, I would like to put up a shelf, paint a wall etc without having to ask for it in triplicate first. Likewise the bathroom and kitchen, I'd love to redo them and we could just afford to however, the landlord isn't interested for some reason. Plus there is the throwing money the drain arguement.

I acutally don't mind renting all that much, but I would like to be able to dig up the garden and paint. Perhaps if landlords found a longterm tennancy more of an attractive option and allowed some leeway then it wouldn't be as bad as it is.

But this thread isn't about my situation, which whilst I understand isn't that bad it isn't that great either.

Wasn't actually having a go about your situation but the British obsession with property ownership in general.

Yes Mrs TG ~ I too (in fact Mrs S#2 has also) done the divorce, give it all away and start again routine.

Wenchy is right ~ it is the type of tenancy that is the problem, which is why I am a strong advocate of Council Houses and the like. I grew up in one and we could do anything internally except structural alterations. The garden likewise we could do anything with, except keep livestock over and above household pets, strangely homing pigeons, canary and budgie breeding was permitted ~ some people also bred dogs or cats but the council drew the line at chickens or pigs.

[Bar Wench]

See this is probably where my inner snob comes out too. I would be willing to live in a council property but not in the ones that currently exist. And it has nothing to do with it actually being council and more to do with the surrounding tennants.

[Snoopy]

Know what you mean ~ I wouldn't want to live next door to me either 


Seriously it does depend on area and quality of neighbourhood. The vast Council Estates of the past could, IMHO, be pulled down and better built, smaller, developments put up in their place. It would not be hard to do .... we did it in the sixties but of course many have exercised their "right to buy" and sold on now so that mass clearance is probably not an option anymore. The "Right to Buy" was the ultimate manifestation of the obsession with ownership that I was talking about, brought about by the archetype middle class warrior Margaret Thatcher. She made two very big mistakes and that was one of them. The other was, of course, the Poll Tax. It was those two factors that ultimately led us to Tony "F'ing" Blair and now Gordon Brown. Without those two mistakes we would probably not be having this debate about Public Behaviour because the seeds were sown then, in the "grab all you can" era of pure greed and selfishness that she created, John Major was too weak to do anything other than nurture the seeds and Blair, assisted by Brown, brought them to full flower.

[Mrs TG]

 was brought up in council house the council estate was pretty ok one too, thats the house my ex now owns.
i wish they had a housing scheme for likes of us who's kids now grown up etc maybe over 40's where we could aquire a little house at reasonable rent, as all we would be offered is flat prob on some sink estate! and i agree its the other tenants who would worry me too!

the only positive thing is we have about private renting is we choose the area we live and its longterm tenancy (i hope)
as i said our landlord is only 23 and a bit scatty and naive to it all. its just that we have to pay 500 a month to do it, where as if we could rent from council/or housing association would be a lot less.

[Snoopy]

Daughter in Milton Keynes rents a two bedroom house (yes it is a bit small) from a Housing Association for around £350 per month + Council Tax and Water Bills of course (which used to be, when I was a lad, all in the rent but no longer). Once you get into the system it can be made to work for you and despite an household income (husband and herself) of double mine and only one child there is no way she would be persuaded to buy a house. Like she says "Am I really pouring money down the drain? I get to live here until I die if I want and if I can't pay the rent then the council will ~ if you (Dad) can't pay the mortgage you are out on your ear." She has a point.

[Mrs TG]

Daughter in Milton Keynes rents a two bedroom house (yes it is a bit small) from a Housing Association for around £350 per month + Council Tax and Water Bills of course (which used to be, when I was a lad, all in the rent but no longer). Once you get into the system it can be made to work for you and despite an household income (husband and herself) of double mine and only one child there is no way she would be persuaded to buy a house. Like she says "Am I really pouring money down the drain? I get to live here until I die if I want and if I can't pay the rent then the council will ~ if you (Dad) can't pay the mortgage you are out on your ear." She has a point.

yep thats very true, i beleive in other countries like germany etc they only rent dont buy, although i hate the dead money i have to pay to live somewhere! but without the risk of it getting repossed if  couldent afford the payments.

[Pastis]

With regard to the OP the meeting has been set for Wednesday, after school. It seems to be getting more timely by the day 

[Snoopy]

Stand by for excuse and platitude overload.

[Grumpmeister]

One of the local MP's has suggested a curfew for kids in one of the more 'colourful' areas of Redruth. The residents & the police love the idea but the kids have claimed it breaches their human rights.

The area is, putting it politely, a shithole & the majority of the affected kids make Damien look like Mother Theresa.

I just give up.