Renting a house

Renting a house

Listen to four different people talking about their experiences with renting accommodation to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

A

We saw the ad in the summer, in about July, I think, but we weren't really serious about moving then so we didn't even go and see it. It wasn't until November when they readvertised it that we got in touch with the agency and had a look. They'd put the price down since the summer too, I suppose because it had been empty so long, so that made it more affordable for us which helped us make up our minds. It was perfect – a bigger garden for the kids and enough space for an office. In winter it was lovely, very cosy, in fact, which is important to me as I really feel the cold, whereas my husband will open a window when it's minus temperatures outside! Anyway, in July when summer really started and we had that heatwave, we understood why no one had wanted to rent it over summer. It was boiling! All those lovely big windows that made the flat so light and open were like a greenhouse as soon as it got warmer. From about 8 in the morning until 7 in the evening, it was like living in a sauna! We couldn't stand being at home, and weekends were especially bad. No air conditioning, of course. If only we'd gone to see it when it was first advertised in July, we'd never have moved in!


B

I always rent apartments when I go on holiday, rather than staying in hotels. Hotels are so impersonal, aren't they? This way you get to feel like you really live in the place you're visiting. It's the first time I've done it the other way round, though, and rented out my place … but it seemed like a good way of making some extra money. The website is really easy to use and they only charge five per cent commission, which is lower than a lot of the other holiday rental sites. It's all about the photos and the reviews. Get the photos right and the place can look really upmarket and spacious, but you don't want to make it look too much better than it really is or you end up with a bad review. It's better to undersell and overdeliver so guests are pleasantly surprised and leave an extra positive review. So far, I'm averaging three stars because of one bad review that brought my average down from four and a half stars, but hopefully I'll get it back up during the busy season.


C

Buying a house seems so far out of my reach it's almost impossible, as it is for loads of people my age these days. My parents always told me renting was throwing money away, but it was different in their day. Then people could afford to buy a house on a normal salary, but nowadays house prices are so high and no bank will look at you unless you've got a huge deposit. The problem with my dream of buying is that it's never going to come true. Not unless my parents help me out, but I've got two sisters and we're all in the same position. At least they've both got good jobs. Not good enough to buy a house, but at least they can afford to rent places of their own in nice areas. I just don't earn enough to rent around here. Even if I get promoted to manager, it'll be tough to find somewhere unless I share, and call me fussy, but there aren't that many people I want to share a bathroom and kitchen with. Some days I think I'll be stuck living with my parents forever – even renting is like a dream to me.


D

At first our landlord was really helpful, couldn't do enough for us. You hear stories of nightmare landlords and we felt like we were really lucky, or so we thought anyway. He redecorated the whole place, from top to bottom, and let us keep all the bills in his name so we didn't have the bother of contacting all the companies ourselves. He even offered to come round and do the gardening as he knew we both worked long hours and might not have time. That's where the problems started now I look back. Then he'd pop round 'just to check everything's OK for you' … once a month, then twice a month. Soon he was coming every week with some excuse or other. In the beginning we'd invite him in for tea, but it was only encouraging him, so when we realised, we'd try to have the conversation on the doorstep instead. It got so bad we pretended to be on our way out if we saw him coming up the path. We'd grab our coats and walk round the block until he'd gone. I don't know if he was just lonely or just didn't trust us not to ruin his precious house. In the end we gave our notice and found somewhere else. It's a shame because we really loved that house, but at least it's more peaceful in the new place.

Discussion

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Submitted by JULIETTTTT on Mon, 16/10/2023 - 19:06

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I would love to rent a house with my cousin so that I live next to my college and she lives next to her uni. I think it will be a fun experience.

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Submitted by vanenglish on Thu, 13/04/2023 - 18:57

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To me buying a house is better than renting. When the house is ours, we can make all the decision we want, we could put music out loud. But when we are renting a house, we even can´t put a picture on the wall without permision, it is very limitated.

I agree, the only negative is that buying a house pressumes a larger financial commitment than renting one out, reason why most people ultimately end up choosing to rent, even those with enough financial means to buy one, might still opt to rent depending on their needs.

Submitted by Ehsan on Sat, 05/11/2022 - 05:30

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in our country it is better to buy, but unfortunately economic inflation is very high and buying a house is very difficult.

Submitted by khinaiko on Sun, 16/10/2022 - 14:27

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when they readvertised or re-advertised

Submitted by jmajo on Thu, 14/07/2022 - 15:33

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Well, that depends on how much money you have at the moment to decide between one or another option, personally I think buying it’s always better if you need a place where to live and stay there in the long term, for example to rise a family, but in a situation where you would have to be working for a limited period of time in some place and then leave, I would rent Instead of buying a property to avoid debts and unaffordable loans.

Thanks for the episode.
Great site!

Submitted by Anamyszka on Mon, 04/07/2022 - 10:13

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I personally would love to have a house of my own, however, I know I'll probably never have one. My work schedule is pretty hectic and I usually jump from one country to another (Czechia to Britain) to study and get a job here and there. I don't have a stable job as I work in the creative industry, so there's no certainty. But coming home to a lovely house is truly an unreachable dream at the moment.

Submitted by villarreal.a.a on Mon, 20/06/2022 - 17:06

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Well, depend situation. Sometimes you'd need rent house when you live in other country (maybe when you travel or studying in different side than you reside) but if they would want live in the rest of their life is better buying a house.

Submitted by misty on Fri, 14/01/2022 - 20:03

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In my personal opinion, either buying a house or renting a house to own is much way better than just renting a house. A house you can call your own home is considered as an accomplishment of myself.

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Submitted by Hennadii on Fri, 21/05/2021 - 09:29

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I think both ways are good enough but in different situations. I used to rent a flat some years ago. It was when we began to date my wife. Well, you know, you just meet a girl you like and you want to date her but you can't predict how you both will get together. Renting a house is the right choice in this case. You can check how it would be in the future - would you match or not. If you don't - well, that happens sometimes - you can just move away to another place and don't need to divide your property as people do during a divorce. Of course, if you live together long enough to feel - yes, I want to live with this person forever - buying a house or a flat is a thing. Why? Because you can do everything you want in your own apartment - change wallpapers, furniture or so. You can have a dog or a cat (many landlords ban that) or you may have kids as well. Your kids in your kid's room in your house. That's lovely. For example, in our flat, I cover a wall with paper with dinosaurs print. My kids were excited and still, they are!