housing update, or why I have to move

[waider]

For the last year, I have paid €1,200/mo to a semi-retired optometrist (or somesuch eyedoctoring) living in a big house around the corner from me. As landlords go, he's been pretty good; doesn't hassle me, in fact if it hadn't been for the washing machine giving trouble (as mentioned elsewhere on this journal) I'd not have seen him for the entire duration of the lease. The house is a two-bedroom two-storey terraced affair within a gated enclosure (burbclave, if you wish) except that the gates haven't ever worked while I've lived there. Recent surges in the property market have pushed the cost of one of these houses to €300,000 or more, which is nice, but ten years ago you'd have snapped it up for €100,000 or less. Even taking that into account, 1200 per month is easily covering the mortgage and then some.

So basically my lease ran out yesterday.

The landlord called over last night to discuss renewing the lease, and made some mention of costs he's paying that have increased: property management fees and refuse collection, plus some registration fee or other. He then used these increases to suggest he should raise the rent. Fact of the matter is that I'm just about breaking even with the rent as-is; I can't afford to pay more. He asked if I'd consider taking on a room-mate; I pointed out that the whole reason I'm in a two-bedroom in the first place is so I can use the spare bedroom as an office. So much muttering and the like later, nothing was really resolved. Having said early on that he'd think about what I'd said (that I couldn't pay more, and in fact am hoping to pay less), on leaving he appeared to have made up his mind not to budge as he suggested that I call him after I'd thought about it some more. Mmmhmm. I've thought about it all I want to, and what I want is to pay less money. So now I'm looking for new digs and trying not to move too far away.

Comments

Euro 1200 per month?

[(Anonymous)]

According to my calculations on the back of this envelope, you're paying as much in rent for a place in Dublin as I am for a *mortgage* in Hong Kong.

That's scary.

dave

Re: Euro 1200 per month?

[waider.livejournal.com]

Wow, it's amazing who turns up at livejournal... yes, that is a mortgage and then some. In fact, if I had enough money to put down a deposit on a house, and get the maximum possible mortgage that the banks are willing to give me, I'd still be paying in the order of two to three hundred euro less than I'm currently paying in rent.

Re: Euro 1200 per month?

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

That's very similar to the situation over here: rents typically exceed mortgage repayments by 20-50%. The idea seems to be that the owner makes a tidy profit from the tenant (or at the very least covers any unusual expenses, such as washing machines that self-destruct and trash the kitchen), and makes another tidy profit upon selling the property. If I could stand the idea of being in my current job for more than another year, I would be looking to buy...

Current music? "Let's lynch the landlord", of course, but it's Faith No More's bebop cover version.