How many people have been encouraged to decorate their rental properties, on the understanding that the landlord won't be selling up, only to be warned that they're putting the property on the market a few months later?
I'm in shock, but this has just happened to our small family. It seems very wrong to me, but life is what it is, and I'm taking it as a learning lesson – I'll never spend so much of our money on a rental property again.
For background, we're a professional couple who have always paid our rent early, had no complaints made against us, get on well with all the neighbours, and have lived here for almost four years, with our daughter in the local school nearby. Since we've been here, we've improved the property, as it was really run down when we moved in.
We were a no-fault eviction on our previous rental because the owner wanted to sell at the beginning of the pandemic. At the time, there were only three properties available to rent on the market, and run down as this place was, it was the best available. We thought this place was a safe home for us, as the landlords had inherited the house as homeowners already and described the rent as 'pocket money' for them. We decided we would make the best of our situation and make it work.
Earlier this year, their fitted oven nearly set fire to the neighbouring cabinets. We reached out to them through the agency, but they didn't respond, so, eight weeks later, we fitted a new oven ourselves so that we could cook again. We sent an email to the agency to let them know and received no response.
Three months ago, we asked if we could decorate as there was wallpaper peeling off the walls, terribly stained carpet we had been covering with rugs etc., and they told us to go ahead with redecoration, as they had no intention of selling.
The following month, they put our rent up by 10%, citing the cost of living crisis. Two months after that, after an almost full internal repaint has been completed by us and they believe we've also laid new flooring (thankfully we had a car repair and hadn't completed this as planned), they've told us they will be selling as they'd like to enjoy an early retirement.
The moral of the story, I guess, is never decorate for landlords! Even when you feel like their house is your home, it just isn't.
I'm moving on and staying positive, we've just bid on another rental we like and am hoping to put the experience behind us, keep our child in the same school. Our child has been hit the hardest by this, with many tears shed about leaving the house, as they 'feel like it is home for us'.
I understand everyone is struggling at the moment, and we've still got a lot to be grateful for. I also know there are so many people in the same boat as us. I guess I just wanted to share what happened to us to see if this had happened to anybody else, as I'm feeling pretty silly about the whole situation. I also wanted to warn others not to be tempted to decorate at the moment, in case this also happens to them, as it's hard not to feel like we haven't just been taken advantage of, by people much better off than us.
Thanks for reading.