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I get what you're saying, and I don't disagree with the reality in this country, and it's hard to imagine how with get to my idealised counterfactual, but I think that view is much more influenced by my two points.
I like owning and hoarding things, so I would probably want to own a house regardless. But if I could get 2 x 5yr leases back to back, and if renting was cheaper so that I could put money into savings and invest my deposit rather than sinking it into a house Idk if it would be an obvious choice.
Our housemate who sublet us part of our apartment in New York had the whole place to her taste, with her furniture and the LL painted it the colours she asked for. Similarly a mate there had their apartment to their style. I know a LL isn't going to spunk a load of money installing supermarket flooring and swapping the kitchen cupboards doors for ply, but I think you're underestimating the stamp you can put on a place.
I don't think any of my colleagues in Berlin own. Then again on teams their apartments look dull af.
hugo7-
if renting was cheaper so that I could put money into savings and invest my deposit rather than sinking it into a house Idk if it would be an obvious choice
Yeah, if we could get there the choice wouldn't be so obvious, which would be a great position to be in! Those that want to fuck around with kitchens and whatnot can, and those who really couldn't care less have a perfectly reasonable alternative where someone else manages it, without a financial downside. Doubtful that this will apply to the private rental sector any time soon though.
I think you're underestimating the stamp you can put on a place.
Yeah, a little for dramatic effect I guess. We've improved places we've lived as much as we can, painted neutral colours, fixed walls/doors/trims/etc. More from a position of wanting to live in a nice place (despite paying through the nose, the places were still pretty rough). You still get the feeling that you're just making the place nicer so they can rinse you next year though.
Anyway, that stuff was more my personal take, although I wouldn't be surprised if the 2010s trends of minimalist possessions or places filled with houseplants at least partially come out of that transience or inability to change your local environment.
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I think the real bar to a lot of renting stuff in the UK is the inability to get a secure long let.
Places I've rented I never had a personal relationship with the landlord so it's always been a matter of not knowing when you're leaving so you don't want to spend any time/money doing stuff.
High point was some cunt who put the place on the market about a month after we'd moved in (and we found out when the estate agent shoved a note under the door saying there was going to be a viewing). Unsurprisingly it was still on the market when we moved out, telling everyone having a viewing that I wouldn't trust the guy an inch and there's no way I'd risk buying a property off him probably didn't help...
slippers
aggi
Not just that, but sacrificing a level of agency and control over your own environment, like the ability to plant things in the garden and see it grow, or express yourself with decoration. To be actively engaged in material stuff where your actions have a physical and aesthetic/cultural/emotional effect I think is so important, and I can't see how being forced into a transient and limited existence without it is good for the soul.
That you're often expected to undo your creative work at the end of the tenancy, so it's as if you never existed at all, is just depressing. We're meant to live in these places, not just exist!
Anyway, enough rambling, here's a chart for who wants to be an owner-occupier in 2 and 10 years.