Elizabeth Davies discovers ownership means everything and home occupancy doesn’t even entitle you to the basic right of answering your own door

By Elizabeth Davies

I used to think that renting was a phase like wearing flared jeans or getting piercings, eventually I would grow out of it. Please forgive my naivety.

With house prices on the rise and more and more families renting either out of choice or more likely necessity, I’m forced to confront the idea that renting will be a part of my life for a very long time to come.

However I refuse to embrace it as an ideal alternative to home ownership. For me renting will always be a necessary evil. If you sense a touch of bitterness in this statement perhaps you will understand when I explain my experiences over the last month. Needless to say I’m feeling more than a little disillusioned with the rental scenario.

My partner and I moved into our house about a month ago. We had both moved around a lot and were looking for somewhere to settle down for the next couple of years while we save for our own home.

We were reassured by the property managers that the landlord had no intentions of moving in, demolishing or selling. We were careful as always and signed a six month fixed-term tenancy agreement just in case the neighbours were cooking P in the kitchen or our financial circumstances took a turn for the worse.

There were problems from week one. The shower was leaking onto an already rotten floor and all the pipes were broken meaning shower waste water was going straight onto the bare ground beneath the house.

After three weeks of chasing the property managers we managed to get a plumber around to fix the shower and patch the dodgy floor. The same day I got a call from one of the agents vaguely mentioning that someone would be coming around to look at the house in a couple of days.

I was immediately concerned and asked if the house was on the market. I was reassured that it was not.

A few hours later my partner came home and directed my attention to the man hammering a sign in our front yard. The sign informed us that the house would be auctioned in an urgent sale in less than a month and there would be open homes over the weekend.

I fought the urge to panic, thinking there was a good chance our landlord would change but nothing else would. I quickly scanned Trade Me for the inevitable listing.

There it was in black and white, the house was being advertised as a development opportunity for apartments. My heart sank.

A quick call to the tenants advisory hotline and we were assured that we can’t be evicted before the end of our six month agreement. I felt slightly better but still incredibly disappointed. My plans for transforming this house into our home were crushed.

To make matters worse when the real estate agent turned up the next day she didn’t even knock on our door. She let herself in with a key then gave us a somewhat blank look. She assumed we weren’t going to be home.

I’ve never felt so disrespected. Clearly ownership means everything and occupancy doesn’t even entitle you to the basic right of answering your own door.

I know that renting can be a positive experience. In the past I’ve always had good relationships with my landlords and appreciated the mutual benefits of having a place to live and the freedom to move on when I was ready.

However this latest experience has left a bad taste in my mouth. For the first time I’m not grateful for the freedom that comes with renting, I’m resentful of the insecurity and the fear of having my home ripped out from underneath me when least expected.

At the end of the day I’m left feeling that my financial status deems me unworthy of either communication or respect, and it doesn’t feel great.

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*Elizabeth Davies is a 23 year old post graduate journalism student at Auckland University of Technology. She lives with her partner in Epsom and spends her free time refurbishing vintage furniture and attempting to bake while fighting a daily battle against her bank balance. She writes a weekly article for interest.co.nz on money matters and financial struggles from a young person's perspective.