Tim Harman is a 68-year-old retired carpenter.
In March 2002, Tim rented a country cottage in the small village of Tarring Neville in East Sussex.
This is a 2 bedroom semi-detached house nestled in a beautiful mountain wilderness surrounded by greenery and stunning views.
At the time, the house was renting only £550 a month, making it a bargain. Although the monthly rent has since risen to £920, it is still very cheap compared to the market price of similar properties in the area.
In this way, Tim spent year after year in this house, slowly making it his home, and lived in it for 22 years.
But not long ago, Tim's landlord announced that in order to repossess the property, he must leave within 8 weeks.
Tim was furious when he heard the news, saying that he thought he would be able to spend the rest of his life here, but he didn't expect to be homeless.
Tim's anger, apart from the fact that the house is being repossessed, is that he has spent more than £25,000 over the past 20 years to renovate the rental property. He believes that he has invested so much, and now that the landlord has repossessed the house, all his investment will be wasted.
"I only had eight weeks to leave the Victorian cottage and since then I've struggled to resist the eviction," says Tim. If I can't reach an agreement, I could face a court trial, and the court may grant my deportation order. ”
But the landlord insisted that Tim leave in order to repossess his house to house the farm workers.
In fact, Tim's rented house is part of the Glynde Estate, which is owned by Francis Anthony Brand, the sixth Lord Hampden. The family manages a range of properties on the estate and rents them out.
Tim believes that he was "picked" to repossess the property because he paid relatively low rent.
The carpenter, who is not married and has children, said: "I have lived here for more than 20 years, and when I first moved in, it was nothing more than a dilapidated shell. ”
Tim says he put a lot of effort and money into the house, paying for a brand new bathroom, installing new doors, redecorating partially broken walls, replacing baseboards, and redesigning the landscape in the back garden.
"I also installed a brand new kitchen myself – although to be fair, the cost was paid for by the homeowner," he says. But I put a lot of love and energy into this cottage to keep improving it. ”
Tim considers himself a very qualified tenant, saying: "My rent is really cheaper than some of my neighbours', who pay more than £1,300 a month for similarly sized properties. But I've always been an exemplary tenant, always paying on time and taking good care of the home. ”
"At my age, I don't want to leave and look for another house," he added. But the landlord didn't mean to mediate. They didn't even ask me if I would be willing to pay more rent. ”
"They didn't offer me any other accommodation either. They didn't seem to care if I was homeless. It's so disappointing. ”
Tim used to run his own carpentry company, employing up to 50 people, but he went bankrupt during the 1992 recession and subsequently became a self-employed carpenter.
When the estate was in the hands of the 5th Lord Hampden, Anthony David Brand, Tim rented two residences and moved to his current property in 2002.
Tim said: "The previous Lord Hampden recommended this cottage to me because he knew I loved it. He gave me a nice lease agreement and in return I renovated the house myself and covered most of the renovation costs. But since his death in 2008, my relationship with my current owner has not been good. ”
"I was supposed to move out of the cottage by July 31, but I'm still here and don't want to go anywhere," he added. What they're doing is too much. ”
The current Lord Hampden is 53 years old and lives with his wife Caroline and children in Glynde Place, a magnificent estate built in 1569.
For the past 500 years, the family has owned the entire land of the village of Tarring Neville, as well as the neighbouring village of Glynde.
Nestled within the United Kingdom's National Park in the South Downs National Park, these hamlets are blessed by nature and are among the most beautiful in the south of England.
In response to Tim's allegations, the estate management explained: "There has been a lot of change in the way real estate is structured, which creates new jobs. ”
"Traditionally, the cottages on the estate were reserved for workers. Recently we repossessed the farm and land, and now they will be managed by the estate. ”
"Our plan is for farm workers to live on or near the land, and this cottage is perfect for workers. There is a farmhouse directly opposite the property, which is currently vacant, but this is a six-bedroom house and is not suitable for workers. ”
The management also stated: "We really sympathize with Mr. Tim Harman, but this is in line with standard legal procedures. We realized that this was a real threat to tenants, but we weren't malicious. ”
A spokesperson for the estate said farmworkers may rent the cottage at a subsidized rate as part of their employment agreement. They have no plans to put the cottage on the open market for rent and have offered to work with Mr. Tim Harman to provide him with alternative accommodation.
It is reported that if the 1950s cottage were rented out on the open market, the monthly rent could be between £1,300 and £1,400.
However, after Tim's story was reported, netizens expressed a different opinion. Most people think that Tim's approach is highly undesirable because the house is not his, regardless of the amount of money he has invested.
Some netizens said:
"Why do tenants spend so much money on other people's houses? I can accept that they want to be as comfortable as possible, but even spending £25,000 over that long time is a risky ......"
It was stated that:
"I'm sorry. It's not your home. It's like I wouldn't rent a car and spend money to upgrade the interior for as long as I want. ”
Others said:
"This is his home, not his property. There's a difference! ”
Others think that Tim doesn't spend a lot of money:
Over the years, he spent an average of around £20 a week to make himself comfortable. It's really not much, especially since he also enjoys a cheap rent. ”
Others said:
"Many people know that if you make these improvements to a property that is not yours, you run the risk of being asked to leave."
In addition to this, it is also pointed out in the article that the £25,000 was spent over 20 years, and like all improvements made over time, depreciation is taken into account. In addition, the rent he pays has been below the market price, and although it is unfortunate for him, the landlord's situation has changed and the tenant seems to have enjoyed a good deal for more than 20 years. ”
Someone else uses another example to illustrate the problem, "The problem is that when you live in a place for a long time, you start to feel that [the house] is yours." You end up forgetting about reality. ”
"There's a similar example where Kevin Costner's wife of 18 years wanted to take possession of their $145 million beach house when they broke up because she had gotten used to being there and lived there for a long time, even though he owned the house before he knew her. She forgot that she had signed a prenuptial agreement. Reality and perspective can be very different. ”
Well, whether you are a homeowner or a tenant, it is understandable that you want to live comfortably, but if you really don't like the style of the rental house, you need to spend a lot of money to renovate and renovate, or buy your own house.
After all, as netizens said, rental housing is just the tenant's "home", but it is the owner's "property", and you can't want to live in it forever just because you spend money to renovate someone else's house.
What do you think about this?