Mental Rental

I don't know how many of you who read this rent the home you live in. I do. I'd love to buy a house one day but right now it's just not possible. At least not anywhere near where we'd like to live so we're stuck being tenants for now. That does sometimes have its advantages but they don't outweigh the benefits of being a homeowner. I've owned one before. For a start, when you're a tenant you can't let your kids loose with some sticky tape and posters of all boy bands. If your two year old decides he wants to learn to write the alpahabet on the wall using a wax crayon it causes you to stress and fret for weeks until you find some magic formula for removing it. It is however very nice to be able to call the landlord and tell him when the plumbing goes haywire, or the electrics don't work, or the dishwasher packs it in...or it would be nice if we were taken seriously.

We've had it good as far as the amount of rent we pay...up till now. We fully acknowledge that. But because of the low rent we have put up with a lot of things that we wouldn't normally. The rent is about to increase. Fair enough. It's going to rise substantially in one hit however. Because of this I asked for some things to be taken care of. Things that I have in the past asked for but have not received. One major problem, which required the services of a tradesman, was looked into and it seems something may eventually be done about it. The tradie arrived today. He's been here before and he's in deep with the landlord and so takes nothing I say seriously. Obviously he's been directed to do it as inexpensively as possible. I don't care as long as it gets fixed. What does irk me is that when he shows up he leaves his respect in his van. He walks through the house in muddy boots. Leaves a mess of garganutan proportions all over the place, uses the bathroom to wash his hands, splashes dirty water all over the place and then wipes it on my towels. He uses the toilet and flushes it using his mud covered hands.

I know these things are pretty typical of tradespeople but it seems when you're a tenant they care even less. It's no big deal to them if they leave a mess. They're doing a job for someone who's going to claim the cost as an expense at tax time and who only wants to pay the bare minimum in the first place. I'm tired of it but there's a certain game that needs to be played. Right now the rental market is tight. Rents are exhorbitant and they can pick and choose who they rent to at will. They won't take a lease that's longer than six months because as soon as it expires they'll raise the rent higher.

I regularly read an investors forum, just to see what all these property investors are saying. None of them care much about their tenants in this time of prosperity. They see them only as dollar symbols. Gone are the days when a good tenant would be rewarded and treated fairly and justly. We've been lucky up until now and so the decision for us now is whether to move to a nicer house in which all things work as they should for the same amount we're going to have to pay or stay here. But of course moving house doesn't come cheaply. It's inconvenient and stressful but it sure would be nice to walk away.