Rental Anxiety: Being A Parent In Generation Rent

It’s a very common problem now. Going back 30 years or so, every family unit owned their own home, but the reality of the situation is now, so many young parents are never going to own their own house. In fact, in the millennial generation, one-third of them will not own a property. So, for parents wanting to raise a family, but have to answer to the landlord, what sort of stresses are these people under?

The One Month’s Notice Period

Probably the biggest concern every parent faces when they rent a property is that they could get evicted at any point. You may be the perfect tenant, but as soon as that letter comes in saying you’ve got 30 days to vacate your property, what can you do? And sometimes, there may be less notice than 30 days! But this isn’t legal, and there are landlord and tenant solicitors that can provide information relating to this. This doesn’t stop it being a very stressful issue, where you have to find somewhere new to live in a short space of time and potentially uproot your entire family. It’s good to check renting a single family home guide for more information about this. Another major issue that comes with renting a property is the constant fear of inspection. Most landlords will carry out inspections regularly to ensure their property is being well maintained, and this can be an added level of stress on top of your everyday life.

The Difficulty In Saving

It’s something that is difficult for everyone. While a mortgage is cheaper and rent is so high, saving for a mortgage is nigh on impossible. And while there are “help to buy” schemes, the fact of the matter is, you still have to save for a substantial down payment, ideally 10%, so your mortgage repayments won’t amount to much. The less down payment you have, the more you will be paying on a monthly basis. And there are arguments as to whether it cost more to pay for a mortgage, especially when you add up other costs, such as home insurance and the like, it still appears to be cheaper to get a mortgage.

The Lifelong Instability

Not only this, but you are preparing yourself for a life of instability if you continue to rent and because of personal circumstances, such as your children growing up, if your children get ripped apart from everything they know, such as school, this can have a lifelong impact on them. And while there’s nothing we can do about this, save a major cash windfall, we have to accept that it’s a part of the modern world. It can be very difficult to deal with if you are trying to maintain a family home, but it’s not really your home anyway. From those little annoyances, such as having to contact the landlord so you can put a nail in the wall or redecorate, all the way through to bi-annual inspections, these are little problems that we could do without.

Generation Rent is not the happiest of circumstances, but there’s nothing much else that can be done. A lot of people have tried their hardest to save up for a property, only to find that there are more hurdles along the way. The typical life used to be that you’d get married, buy a house, and then have children. Nowadays, it’s not in that order, because everything is so expensive. As a result, future generations may have to prepare themselves for a lifetime of rental stress.

*This is a collaborative post.