To Buy or To Rent.... That is the question 

May 2013 saw property transactions rise to 89,050 up from 75,350 the previous May, a increase of 137,000.

These figures would make us believe that buying a house is getting easier and the property market is on the up, but is it?

These figures don't tell us who is buying these properties and with wage increases still very weak compared to inflation and house price growth coupled with record low interest rates keeping borrowing low, it would be easy to think FTBs were back in the running, however with lending criteria stricker than ever and the average house price five times the average wage as well as 20pc+ deposits needed, it could be fair to say that FTBs are still no closer to getting on the property ladder.

The buy-to-let market on the other hand is on the increase this is the first time since the 60s that more people have been in private rentals than living in local authority housing.

An estimated 17pc of UK households are now in Private rental accommodation that's approx 8million people with almost 1/2 of these renters over 35 and a 3rd with children.

So is buying really still the dream we all aspire to? The UK as a whole has a culture of owning your own home, however just across the water France and Germany have an opposite mindset where renting is the norm seeing the average tenancy signed for 5yrs+, so is renting the way forward for the next UK generation? Let's weight up the options.

Buying

Owning your own home can offer stability as most people stay in a property for many years, but this option also offers less flexibility should your circumstances change, redundancy is a reality for everyone and should the worst happen, you could be stuck with a house on the market and increasing mortgage arrears.

On the flip side, should you need a few extra ££s each month, as a home owner you can rent out a spareroom to a lodger, something tenants in a rental property would not be allowed to do.

Then there's the costs, your home will need regular maintenance and of course the dreaded unforeseen problems such as a broken down washing machine or even a new boiler, all expenses that you may not have budgeted for but will need to be covered.

Owning your own home does offer investment for the future depending on the type of mortgage you have and as long as house prices stick or grow, you can also relax and live in your home how you wish, you can decorate,put up pictures and even have a family pet, in most cases tenants are tied to tight restrictions in these areas.

Finally, but by no means the end of the pros and cons, is the cost, FTBs will be faced with a big initial outlay including deposit, mortgage fee, surveys, stamp duty (house prices £125k and over) and not forgetting the estate agents cut.

Renting

Renting is no longer frowned upon as a 'poor' option as it may have been in the past, with the number of landlords increasing the availability of good quality affordable homes is changing the view of renting and giving young professionals and families the homes they currently wouldn't be able to get a mortgage for.

Renting offers many options including trying a new area for a few months before committing to buy there, flexibility and freedom to move around with work or to upsize or downsize as needed.

The finances stack up in rentals favour too, the initial outlay is minimal compared to buying, a 6week deposit, 1st months rent and agent fees is all a renter needs to budget for. But renting means you don't have the property at the end and money that could have been paid towards your mortgage is actually paying someone else's.

But as a tenant you save on the maintenance costs, broken appliances and general repairs are a cost that would fall to your landlord not you and the set amount of rent being paid each month will make it easy to budget and put away savings that you know won't be 'dipped into' by unforeseen expenses.

More and more people are renting so is it really better to rent or buy? The page is still unwritten for that chapter

To charge or not to charge...

This morning the media is once again awash with reports of Letting agents 'ripping off' tenants by charging high fees to create a tenancy.

On BBC radio 4 this morning Shelter stated that they believe letting agents should not charge tenants anything other than rent and deposit as they landlord is already paying for the same service.

I sit on two fences here, 1 as a letting agent and 2 as a a tenant, so I see this from 3 angles, as  a business, as tenant and I also see my landlords point of view on this too.

Firstly, to correct Shelters comments, the tenant and the landlord do not pay for the same service, the landlord is my client and paying me for my service, this includes, ensuring the property is fit to rent out (you'd be surprised what some landlords will try and rent) 

Advise on the correct and achievable rental value (not necessarily what the landlord thinks its worth) 

Inform the landlord of his legal obligations and ensure all the legal inspections are done, Gas cert, EPC, electrical test(although not a legal requirement it is strongly recommended)

Then we advertise the property and with the extremly high costs of the property portals as well as local papers this in itself can eat into any landlords budget.

This list obviously is not exhausted but it gives an idea. Now with all this in mind we have to do all this and more for a fee that both us as a business and the landlord as the client is happy with.

On the flipside, as a tenant I'm afraid there are a few costs involved there, the landlord does not pay for you to be referenced, if he did just think how many applicants he may have to pay for. 

So this cost falls to the potential tenants, this shows that someone is serious about renting the property, now the cost for this should not break the bank, at the risk of putting my head above the parapit here, a good full reference will cost an agent between £20-£30 per tenant, so with a profit in mind, I can not see why any agent could charge a tenant over £100? 

The issue we have is an increase in people needing to rent and an increase in agents who know full well that there is nothing stopping them setting their own prices.

We do not need to follow in Scotlands' footsteps and abolish tenants fees altogether because all this will do is increase the cost to landlords, who in turn will cover these costs by increasing rents.

All we need to do is set the bar on reasonable fees and unlike all other legislation which comes in and slips under the public radar, the government needs to ensure there is a full media campaign to make sure the people that matter, the public are aware of what they should be expecting to be charged by a letting agent.