Rob Seddon, 48, has decided to continue renting a property, rather than buy, thanks to the level of autonomy it provides him.
He said: “My life has been extremely transient having lived in Australia, Italy, Scotland, Cyprus and the UK. Renting has given me the flexibility of being able to move if I needed to or wanted to for work or to take some time off from the UK.”
Rob, who is self-employed and the owner of Cooper’s Markets, currently rents in Buckinghamshire and admits he has never felt the need to buy, as he feels like it would tie him down.
He is not alone – data from SpareRoom found 14 per cent of renters thought they would never get on the property ladder, with 11 per cent of those saying it was because they actually preferred to rent.
This is despite the cost of renting rising, with average monthly payments hitting £1,377 in the UK this March, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
The mortgage market is one reason why many don’t feel confident in buying a property with rates seeing much volatility in recent months.
Since the conflict in the Middle East began earlier this year, sub-4 per cent interest rates on mortgages slowly vanished from the market, with the average two-year rate now sitting at 5.75 per cent, rising from 4.83 per cent in March.
Rob is paying £1,200 a month in rent and despite enjoying the freedom it affords him, says the steady rent increases in the market are worrying, especially as he lives alone and has “to pay the ‘single tax’ of paying for everything like bills and rent.”
He said his friends and family have urged him to buy, but admitted “something about being tied down to a property doesn’t sit right with me,” adding that being self-employed makes it very hard to buy.
He has also been lucky with the landlords he has had thus far and described them as being understanding and happy to fix things when they went wrong.
“Broken boilers, water leaks, one even installed new windows and doors as the draft through the old front door and single pane windows was driving up my fuel prices,” he said.
Another person opting to rent is 26-year-old Maxwell Marlow, who lives in Chelsea and has been renting since 2018.
Although Maxwell has the savings to buy a property worth between £400,000 to £500,000, he is choosing not to.
Maxwell Marlow recounts having positive experiences with rentingHe said: “The London market is in an exceptionally precarious position.
“Circumstances also mean I’d rather stay where I am. I have an exceptionally good landlord who provides an exceptionally nice flat, and I enjoy living with my current flatmate in a lovely area of London. Finally, the money I have saved is performing much better invested in the economy (or other economies) than in the much riskier housing market.”
Maxwell is currently paying £1,140 a month in rent and although he doesn’t believe he will always rent he doesn’t see the appeal of taking the money he has invested to enter a market he describes as currently being “poor” for first-time buyers.
“I also don’t see the appeal of adding more turmoil to my professional and personal life when, truth be told, things are going alright for me. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The rising cost of rent is something that worries Maxwell but he still believes financially it is much better for young people and professionals to rent with a good landlord.
He said: “I don’t have to worry about the various costs of maintaining a house (bar the cleaning and minor maintenance we do to keep our flat in a good condition), and dealing with the building’s management authorities.”
It comes as millions of renters across England have been given a swathe of new rights under the Renters’ Rights Act this month.
Landlords can no longer issue so-called no-fault notices to evict tenants; they will only be able to increase rents once a year using a formal 13 notice and fixed-term tenancies have ended – with all renters now on rolling contracts with no end date.
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