Mum and I were sat there enjoying a morning coffee, Alyssa had gone down for a nap so it was nice and peaceful and the telephone rang. It was the solicitors and after all those months of them dilly dallying around, someone had suddenly lit a fire under them an
d they wanted us to move out… NEXT WEEK! My mum spoke to them rather rapidly and managed to negotiate two weeks but that meant we needed to pack an entire 10 room house, plus outside living cabin and double garage, clean, move it all and find somewhere to rent in just two weeks and NOT the ten weeks we thought we had. I believe our exact response was OH SHIT!
Our first priority had to be finding somewhere to live and we spent hours trawling through lettings sites and set up so many appointments that we had to start writing it all down as one house was rolling 
into another and another. We managed to book 2 days worth of viewings back to back which would involve practically driving back and forth across three counties each day. I have to say from the outset we were not impressed with the estate agents – they either didn’t call you back, didn’t email or were never in the office, so making the appointments themselves was hard enough to begin with.
The first day of property viewings we were booked to see 5 different houses… we only saw 2! Why?! On route to the first we got a phone call saying we couldn’t see it because they hadn’t cleared it with the tenants who it turned out were not prepared t
o let us in that day. Another house we turned up to and sat waiting, phoned the main office and were given the mobile number for their location agent. Rang him… turns out he’s abroad on holiday somewhere and that the property we want to see went off the market THREE weeks before – cheers purple bricks, I mean how do you not even know when your own property is no longer on the market and your agent is away on holiday!! Finally the last one we didn’t get to see was because the people who had seen it earlier in the day had decided to take it – grrrr!
However, it didn’t matter because one house we had seen that morning had been perfect. An old school style farmhouse with big rooms that were light and a lovely garden that looked out onto fields with sheep and cows in – perfect for any little girl to grow up in. We were assured by the letting agent that the landlord would love us and we began filling in the referencing paperwork ready to go. We then received another dreaded phone call – due to the fact the previous tenant had 4 boys ages 5 – 14 in the house and from the landlords perspective had completely destroyed the place, they were no longer accepting children. For a large 3 bedroom house. WTF?! Heartbroken doesn’t even cover it. We tried to explain that a singular 1 year old little girl was very different but the landlord wasn’t budging.
We began looking again and reading the details of properties very carefully and started to notice a horrendous trend on some of the property listings… “Children by Negotiation.” “No Children Allowed.” When we rang about properties one of the first things we were asked were “Do you have any children?” To which obviously we replied yes and in lot of cases were quickly rebuffed. It appears that having children these days is even worse that having pets?! What on earth is wrong with my daughter?!
I know that I shouldn’t take it personally but I did, I mean how can you not?! Someone doesn’t want you to have a home because of your child. Surely that is what security deposits are for? In some cases we even offered to pay a higher deposit in order to secure the property but they weren’t budging and it really and truly was heartbreaking. I felt like I was failing at one of the fundamental parts of parenthood – providing my daughter with a safe and secure home. What on earth were we to do?
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25 Comments
I”m so sorry you had to go through this – I had no idea that landlords could specify no children. It doesn’t seem faif – or legal. We had a hard time finding a place to rent when we moved last time, but that was because of our cat – not our toddler. And the cat is way more destructive than she is! I really hope it all works out, hun. 🙂 #ablogginggoodtime
I’m so sorry 🙁 renting is hard enough as it is without these ridiculous rules. It’s so unfair that there are lovely family homes around but families aren’t allowed to enjoy them! Really hope you find somewhere asap. #ablogginggoodtime
It sounds horrendously stressful for you all. It doesn’t make sense to me that offering a larger security deposit doesn’t reassure the landlord about children. I hope you managed to find somewhere in the end x #ablogginggoodtime
O my word, can I ask how many bottles of wine you went through that week!!? Jeez that sounded a petty horrific ordeal! House moving is so stressful any never mind doing it in such a short space of time!
#ablogginggoodtime
I don’t understand??? I have never ever heard of landlords not allowing children! This is outrageous! I can only imagine the rage you felt! UGH!!!!!!!!!!
#ablogginggoodtime
Ugh it makes me so angry that people letting out FAMILY homes are saying no children!! Just madness. And I can’t believe the stress you’ve been through, some of which would have been avoided if the solicitors had given you fair warning with a moving date! So hope you get sorted soon darling #ablogginggoodtime
This sounds like such a stressful and awful time! We found similar when we moved to Jersey. Many places won’t accept families which is really frustraing when they are family size houses. You can’t help but take it personally because they are basically implying that they don’t want your children ruining their lovely house…..grrr. I hope that it is all sorted now xx
That sounds crazy to me. I would have a really hard time not telling the landlord to F off.
#ablogginggoodtime
Oh goodness, how awful! I can’t believe you can specify no children. We have a terrible couple in our area who own millions of £s worth of rental property and they recently got in trouble for not letting to a particular ethnicity because they don’t like the smell of the food that the people cooked. I can’t believe the discrimination that goes on!
I hope you managed to get sorted…
#ablogginggoodtime
This is just awful and something I had no idea about this. I’m so sorry and I hope something happen to get things sorted for you. #ablogginggoodtime
Oh my goodness what a nightmare, what a horrible landlord X #ablogginggoodtime
#ablogginggoodtime surely this is illegal under the discriminations act? what a palaver…moving its stressful enough when it goes well. This blog feels like it doesn’t have a happy ending???
What a dreadful experience 🙁 surely the landlords take deposits to protect against any damage so this discrimination is unfair?! #ablogginggoodtime
Wow, moving is hard enough! We’re going through it now as well, and all the legal stuff is so tedious and stressful. Then, to add this on top of everything, that is just ridiculous. I really hope that soon you find some place and can settle in. #ablogginggoodtime
What happened?! I can’t believe that some landlords don’t allow children. Isn’t that age discrimination or something.
I hope you’re sorted now
This fills me with absolute dread! We have 8 weeks to find a new rental in a totally different part of the country, and I know from experience the dreaded “do you have kids?” rebuff… I agree with you, surely that’s what the deposits are for?! #ablogginggoodtime
I can’t believe how hard it is to find a rental just because you have children, everying you have been through is just awful. I know from Instagram that you finally secured a house last night thank god. Who knew it could be so hard to get someone to take your hard earned cash each month!
#Ablogginggoodtime
terrible time. I hope it gets better soon #blogginggoodtime
Moving is so hard x wishing you all the best #ablogginggooodtime
It’s awful how people treat others. If they were going through the same they’d be angry too. #ablogginggoodtime
What a horror! That landlord would get an earful from me! #fortheloveofBLOG xoxo
#ablogginggoodtime <3
This is totally horrific. I feel for you so much and to specify no children seems bizarre. Teenagers maybe but not toddlers. I wish you lots of luck. #ablogginggoodtime
I cant believe what they did to you, even offering a higher deposit surely should be enough? it is a joke, it really is! We’ve been looking to get a bigger place as Ben’s room is so tiny and when he gets older he’ll need more space to play and we cant swap rooms as his room doesnt even fit an adult single bed, but nowhere seems family friendly right now. Not sure how we’ll wangle that in time to come =[
So glad you’ve got a lovely place now though! #ablogginggoodtime
This is ridiculous! We had a similar thing when we were trying to rent but that was not letting us rent because we were on housing benefit at the time. It wasn’t our fault that hubby had lost his job. It made a bad situation even more difficult.
I am so sorry to hear you’ve had such a difficult time of it. I hope you’ve managed to find somewhere… #ablogginggoodtime