HI folks, been a while, hope you are well, been settling into my new home so been very busy, well it’s nice to be back, today I would like to talk about

PRIVATE RENTING.

When I decided to pack up and come down to England, I knew I would have to rent privately, unlike Scotland, it is ver near impossible to get a council home unless you are homeless or have medical reasons, and when I say medical reasons, I am talking about one foot in the grave LOL. Everyone knows in this country there is a shortage of housing, the homeless figures are astronomical, there are people who prefer to live on the streets and wouldn’t know what to do, or couldn’t cope if they got a place to live, that is their choice and it should be respected, however there are people who cannot for love nor money get a council or housing association home for love nor money.

So I moved down here, my daughters kindly sought a rental home for me, so I could move down to be with them, they chose a lovely house, 1 bedroom in a village called Broadbridge Heath, a quiet (then) now it is like a city with new developments popping up everywhere, The rents are astronomical in this neck of the woods, back in 2009 when I arrived I was paying 550.00 per calendar month, which then was very expensive considering I left a 2 bed huge flat in Edinburgh paying roughly 400. I just had to accept this as I needed somewhere to live. So not only do you have the rent, you also have to pay fees, deposits and admin charges, so the bill accumulates into a large figure before you even move in. The landlady I had was amazing, she really took an interest in her tenant and carried out improvements without even seeing the property.

I was very happy in this property until my landlady sadly passed away and her daughter took over, that’s when the fun started, I will give her ,her due, she kept the rent at 550.00 for a few years, but last year she put in a new bathroom and decided to hike the rent up to 750.00 pcm. This was too much for me to afford and it resulted in me paying too much rent, giving me the opportunity to get on the housing list under affordability.I know there are millions in the position I was in, and I really think it’s a licence to print money, you have not got many rights and if the rent goes up you either pay or leave, that’s the options you have, landlords have you by the short and curlies. I am now happy in an affordable home, and the pressure has lifted immensely. The moral of this story is, you’re not alone, many people struggle daily with high rents and some properties are awful. I hope you have a nice day.. William.