Notice to Terminate Tenancy

Not certain about Switzerland but in Belgium and France most of the landlords I have met tend to be private.

I would not like to rent in the UK. (though I do like to own property and rent it out in the UK)

Andy

It is, but not on so short a timescale, hence we have lots of disgruntled people who expect to be able to buy but find that they can't. Give it 20 years and things may be different.

At that rate, it's a nursing home that I will be needing by the time this shift occurs, not a house! :-)

Funnily enough, I am considering buying a Nursing Home. :)

You're on a decent salary yet you can't afford to buy? I suspect you are looking for something too good.

50k could get you a 200k mortgage and 40k could get you 160k morgage. Even if it was a bit less than those figures you could find something reasonable in Reading.

If you were coming to me and saying that you didn't have a job but could you rent my property and I suggested 6 months in advance and you started arguing about it I'd rent to someone else.

I was on around £30k which is already a decent salary I would say. I was led to believe that you could get a mortgage for up to 3 times your earnings. That would be £90,000. You will not find a decent house at £90,000 in Reading. Not even £120,000. £200,000 is closer to reality.

Now, you have to come up with a huge deposit and your credit rating must be perfect. Now I have no black spots on my credit file, but I have moved so frequently that I would probably be disqualified from most lenders.

That is, if you can find someone else. At the end of the day, I make you an offer, you refuse, I'll move on. I'm sure there will be a Landlord who will be happy to take it.

So you changed your mind from when you said: "However, I get the impression that although I have a fair amount of cash in my bank account, nobody would rent me anything because I have no job. Any ideas on what I could do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated."?

Yes and no. I asked this question just after I had got that Notice to terminate. A few things have happened since then.

First I found out we are being kicked out because the Landlord is selling the house. 2nd time this happens and I suspect not the last one.

The landlord also got his Notice to Terminate wrong, so it was extended. It appears that once you get given notice, you can turn back and give one notice. I wish I had known that before. It was actually our Landlord who told me that.

Then, I started looking for houses. It was actually easier than I thought. Although you were right in that all of them require 6 months, there seemed to be a bit of leeway on the rent because I'm paying 6 months in advance. We have now selected the property we were interested in and fingers crossed the landlord will accept our offer.

Why do you need a house? What's wrong with a flat?

Despite this I've seen three houses advertised in Reading for 145k,

150k and 160k at Ashley Charles Estate Agents.

I've also seen flats at 80k and 95k advertised in Reading.

I'd go for 3.25 times one income or 2.5 times total of two incomes.

You would seem to have had plenty of options if you had wanted to buy.

Nothing wrong with a flat. The areas I'm interested must be walkable to the railway station since I have no driving licence. Also, I have a family so it would have to be a 2 bedroom, ideally a 3. I looked at buying a house some time ago but quickly discarded it. Sure, I might find somewhere to live in the rougher parts of Reading or very far from the centre, but there is only so much I'm willing to sacrifice.

By an interesting twist of fate, I have never had so much money since I haven't been working. I don't think I could have afforded the deposit when I was working. But I suspect my chances of getting a mortgage are even worse now!

The houses I mentioned were two bedrooms. I think your problem is to do with the order of your lifestyle. You have gone for a family before buying a home. It's better to do it the other way round.

Well, accidents do happen, so you don't always get to chose.

This said, I'm not sure why it would be better the other way round. I have nothing against renting. I think my problem comes from the fact that in the UK, you more often than not rent from a private landlord whereas where I come from, you generally rent from a company so obviously the expectations are different.

Do you live in cloud cuckoo land? I knwo "decent" is subjective, but to infer 40-50k from it does go a bit far.

Where are you from?

I was born in Switzerland and lived in cities, so obviously the vast majority of housing is flats, hence less likely to be owned by a private landlords.

I had to start somewhere!

You should have agreed a contract where the Landlord has certain obligations too - eg being responsible for necessary maintenance & repair. If (s)he then refuses to do this, you should get the work done yourself & sue him/her for the cost - just as the landlord would have to sue you if you trashed his/her house.

Now - where's the difference?