From climbing rents to the property ladder

Buying your own home may signal the end of enduring a landlord's terrible decor, but it is the beginning of a new set of responsibilities for a whole generation of twentysomethings. Who do you call when you can't work the heating timer?

Renting accommodation is, for the majority of people, a hassle-free existence - if your washing machine breaks down then you call the landlord, a plumber arrives and the situation is resolved. However when you own the house and the washing machine, nothing is quite so simple. So how easy do people find making the transition from being a tenant to being the owner?

"I spent nine years living with someone's else's idea of `nice decor'. I've seen my fair share of landlords, rented accommodation and damp patches on the wall, and now that I finally own my own home I do admit to being more than a little bit apprehensive," says Elaine Horgan, who is now living with her boyfriend in a three-bedroom house in Rathfarnham.

The first year was the hardest says Elaine, and points out that although she has quite a responsible job she felt incapable of running her new home. While the new financial responsibility was by far the biggest burden she believes that the transition from being a tenant to being a homeowner sent her stress levels soaring.

"There were evenings when we stood there looking at one another blankly, neither of us knowing how to fix something. I just never stopped to think of all the small details that we now had to take care of. Who do you call when you forget the code for the alarm? We took it in turns to call our mothers to ask for advice, we didn't want to appear too helpless."

Hassle-free is how she describes her renting years. Before this, this Elaine lived in a house in Donnybrook with two other girls, where the bills and housework were divided amongst the three. She says that nobody worried about the house, things just seemed to take care of themselves and the landlord carried out most of the maintenance work.

"Owning your own home is a wonderful feeling, and there are so many advantages. It's great to be able to come home and throw yourself on your own couch with nobody to be polite to and to think `I finally have my own home'. And then when something goes wrong you just panic. Our heating broke last January and neither of us had the first clue what to do, but you learn. I must say though that it is so much easier to just be able to call the landlord and have him take care of everything.

For this couple, the garden was the litmus test of responsibility. "The garden was never a priority. If it's a choice between buying a lawnmower or something snazzy for the house, there's just no competition. So we've just agreed to pay a gardener to take care of it, and maybe to give us a few lessons on how to maintain it."

"Dead money" is the biggest disadvantage to renting, according to Robert Van Dongen who has just signed the papers on his new apartment on the southside of Dublin. You may be paying the equivalent to a monthly mortgage repayment but "you don't ever get any return on the money" he says. Originally from Waalre in the Netherlands, Van Dongen has been renting shared accommodation on Dublin's northside for the past 13 months and says "it will definitely be a big relief to be able to decorate our home according to our own tastes". But he may miss the flexibility that is one of the advantages of renting accommodation, a big consideration for many contract workers. "Other than the weekly rent, there is no responsibility whatsoever and there are no problems when things break down. There are a lot of things to think about now, like bills and insurance."

Sterile is the word that Louise McDonald uses to describe her previous living environment. "I lived in rented accommodation for four years before buying my own house and the difference in mental attidude was a big surprise for me. I had gotten used to living in a home environment created by someone else, where there were no personal touches of my own." The financial responsibilities involved in being a homeowner have been quite considerable for Louise McDonald, but she says "it's worth it in the long term. I've been living here now for two years, and have only recently finished decorating. I bought a new house because I wanted the excitement of decorating. "The biggest headache was the first few months. I had to take quite a few days off work to take delivery of carpets and supervise the builders and painter. I work in Dublin, so for the first few months I was rushing back home to Naas every evening, but that all seems long ago now. I've settled in and it really does feel like my home."

The constant change of address was an irritation for Elaine Horgan in her renting years. "From when I started college to when I bought my house in Rathfarnham, I changed address seven times. It's exhausting."

But that is all behind her now. "Last Christmas was a big event for us. Up until now, I always spent Christmas at my parents' home. But this year was different, we wanted to spend some of the holidays in our new home and have friends and family over to visit. I never thought I'd fall into the `house-proud' category - but I do admit that now I may be, at least a teeny bit."