calvinhobbes Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I moved 2 months ago from a rented house to one a family member is intending to knock down. The house is ok - ideal for students if you know what I mean. It is also rent free which will help me clear my credit card. Anyway, been trying to get a second hand sofa for over a month - they are flying out of the charity shops and second hand shops due to (as one shop owner said) "landlords snapping up anything half decent, they are waiting outside my door" and "they are all moving back in with mums and dads - and I'm talking about 30 year olds" . Incidentally, I help run a local freecycle network - which is a brilliant for helping people out for things just like this. However, I can't use it myself in case I get accused of anything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juvenal Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I moved 2 months ago from a rented house to one a family member is intending to knock down. The house is ok - ideal for students if you know what I mean. It is also rent free which will help me clear my credit card. Anyway, been trying to get a second hand sofa for over a month - they are flying out of the charity shops and second hand shops due to (as one shop owner said) "landlords snapping up anything half decent, they are waiting outside my door" and "they are all moving back in with mums and dads - and I'm talking about 30 year olds" .Incidentally, I help run a local freecycle network - which is a brilliant for helping people out for things just like this. However, I can't use it myself in case I get accused of anything! Why are landlords after sofas, if their tenants are all quitting to move back in with Mum and Dad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvinhobbes Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 Sorry, he explained that many of these young things couldn't afford their mortgages so were being forced to become new landlords and move in with their parents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Lad Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Put an advert in the local paper and do a couple of house clearances - you'll get all sorts for next to nothing... Then cut out the middle man and sell what you dont want to land lords Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartimandua51 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Try the nearest auction rooms that do general rather than purely antique sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvinhobbes Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 Thanks, will seriously consider both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Now or never Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 look on ebay searching by nearest location, you'll bound to find a good deal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwing Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Sorry, he explained that many of these young things couldn't afford their mortgages so were being forced to become new landlords and move in with their parents. So, let me get this right: 30somethings can't afford their mortgages, they can't sell their houses, so they are moving back to live with Mum & Dad and letting out their houses. Why don't they leave the sofa in the house? Surely, they'd have mewed enough to buy a sofa at some time or other? Or, they are so attached to their sofa that it's going into storage for the duration while the tenants get a second-hand charity shop sofa to sit on? Or, they were so stretched to buy in the first place that all the furniture they had was made or tea-chests and orange boxes, so they need to upgrade to charity sofas to make the place furnished? That's the thing with anecdotals, there's not enough data to let us form an opinion of what's really going on. Nice story nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvinhobbes Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 redwing - your guess is as good as mine. I suppose they would have had a nice sofa but have taken them to mum and dads house to update the parents dull and paid for suite with theirs or to store it when they get their house back. We only have hand me down furniture, our debt was gained by helping our son through college and coping with bad payers in my husbands self employed business. We have nothing to show for it but at least we are not going to miss out on living any high life - more of the same. I have however stopped being so soft on our son and stopped doing work up front for dodgy customers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvinhobbes Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 Popped back in today - still no sofas!!!!He told me the reason landlords were buying them was that there are so many empty houses they cannot afford to be choosy with tennants SO are renting them deposit free, hence not wanting to splash out on furniture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19 year mortgage 8itch Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Popped back in today - still no sofas!!!!He told me the reason landlords were buying them was that there are so many empty houses they cannot afford to be choosy with tennants SO are renting them deposit free, hence not wanting to splash out on furniture. There's another motive for that, if you take a deposit you have to register it with the TDS or the tenant can claim 3 x the deposit back. Not taking a deposit will mean that you don't register and there will be no records for the tax man to chase or your, now nationalised, lender to crucify you for using a residential mortgage on a letting property This tactic was previously mooted on the forum, I think as an anecdotal to somewhere else with a deposit protection scheme. Australia maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darwin Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 are you looking on gumtree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Allegro Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Wouldn't you be allowed to use a freecycle network in a neighbouring area? Failing that I'd go for Ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wad Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 In my view, this anecdotal is a real sign of the impact of the credit crunch on the real economy rather than increased demand by LLs. Just look at how few new kitchens are being sold and the likes of MFI struggling as well as home furnishing suppliers more generally (e.g John Lewis). I know a charity that collects old furniture and makes it available to people on benefits etc that need really need stuff, including sofas. The guy who runs the charity told me a few weeks back that what has happened is that people who would previously have been chucking stuff out after buying new stuff (e.g sofa, table, chairs etc) on credit are no longer buying new things so the supply of old stuff has stopped as a direct result. He said it started to happen about 4 months ago. Suddenly, where the charity really had more old furniture than they could handle now they have very little coming in. As he put it, people are rediscovering the virtue of make-do-and mend. He also mentioned that with some people being cut off from credit or being completely at their limit on credit cards they are being forced to come to him to get stuff whereas in the past they might have been buying new on credit and then sending him their old stuff. I suspect the LLs that are turning up to the charity as posted here by calvinhobbes maybe are finding they cannot get stuff at auction rooms or out of small adds so are having to search far and wide - hence the apparent sudden increase in demand he is seeing. A lot of LLs used to hang around the rubbish tips of local authorities and wait for loads to come in and for £50 were able to walk off with a flat full of furniture. That source has dried up as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nohpc Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 My flat was furnished and when I moved to New Zealand the tennats wanted it unfurnished so I had a local charity shop come and clear it out. The tennants wanted the sofa though. Then they moved out and I ended up not going back to London and the next set of tennats wanted the flat unfurnished as well. Maybe london renters have furniture? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvinhobbes Posted October 28, 2008 Author Share Posted October 28, 2008 Thanks, folks. Wad, I think you are right. Many people who would have changed their sofas often (every few years) are making do. I have never had a new sofa but with children who make castles etc out of the furniture I don't see the need for new stuff just to end up nagging them. I enjoy the sound of their laughter. Maybe when they are about 12 we will get a new one! (My husband told me to go on and buy the one I have fancied for a while but I just want to be completely debt free.)You are right though, I have seen several people at bank machines recently who walked away without getting money out - its all a bit shocking. I am going to see on freecycle for myself, there is a neighbouring one to which I could not be blamed for using. Gumtree isn't in our neck of the woods yet as I live in hicksville. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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