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

Matching_MjMyODI=

Transcript

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!

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.

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.

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.

Task 1

Grouping_MjM0MDU=.xml

Task 2

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Discussion

Do you think renting or buying a house is better?

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Language level

C1 - Advanced

Topics

house and home

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From my point of view, while you are studying at university it is good, that you are renting an apartment, but when you have a well-paid job it is better to have your own house. Thus, you will not overpay for your accommodation.

I think buying is one hundred percent better. When you rent a house you waste money. I mean if you don’t have enough salary to buy a house, you could get a bank loan or even a family loan. Having your own house is the best investment because land never goes down in price, and if you regret it, you can sell it and get extra money.

I think buying a lego house is better. ;)

I think that it’s a very generic question, otherwise I believe that, having the possibility, it is better buying a house rather than renting it. If you buy a house, you can make an investment, if you rent it, no.

About the verb "To give notice", what I read in the Cambridge Dictionary is that "to ask someone who works for you to leave one's job usually after a period of time." But here is different. Could you explain it? How about using "hand in my notice"?

Hello Kien Alang,

The meaning of notice here is warning. We can use it in the phrase without notice to mean that something was sudden and unexpected:

The storm hit without warning.

In the context of jobs and work, warning means information that a person is leaving their job. This may come from the worker or from the company, and this is difference between the two phrases:

If I want to leave my job then I give in my notice or I give them my notice.

If the company wants me to leave then they give me my notice.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

well, I guess it depends on how high your income is, so if you can afford buying a house then this will be a better option, but also it rely on peoples preferences .

From my point of view, i think buying a house is better.

As a person that has rented several apartments in different cities, I think affording an apartment is not the most important point for buying one. I would buy an apartment where I am sure that I am going to stay for a long period of time. Of course, I assumed I afford it! My own apartment brings me the freedom of how to decorate it, not being worried of the owner or making a small hole in the wall for the board, etc. However, it is costlier than a rental apartment, on short time scales, since I need a loan to pay for it. Hence, I would go for buying an apartment whenever I am very much sure that I am going to live there for years and years.

Personally, I think that most of the time it's better to buy a house if you can afford it, of course, but also it depends on the situation if you are a person who moves very often you should rent a house instead. buying a house nowadays is too difficult for an average person even for a family and it's getting worse each day everything gets more expensive, so if you have the opportunity of buying a house you should think carefully about what kind of house and neighborhood you want to live in.