
I felt like that when I lived in the UK too. And the "agencies" did bugger all once they took your money. I live abroad now, and in Europe owning property isn't as much of an obsession as it seems to be in the UK. There is no stigma in Renting, it's just what people do and the agencies and landlords are less shitty (although like in any market you do get shitty ones sometimes). In the UK, it's almost like a right of passage for many Brits that they must own a house or they have failed at life. This gives the market the "second class" citizen aspect you described and I think helps perpetuate many other related problems.
( , Tue 2 Dec 2014, 7:59, Reply)