I hate DIY...why don’t we have a decent rental sector for everyone in the UK?

I have spent most of this Bank “holiday” weekend painting and decorating (Ugh)! Tomorrow I will try and finish off the living room. I now look up at the freshly painted ceiling and it still looks a bit of a mess. I freely admit to being really, really rubbish at DIY.

I had the simply awful experience of having to go to the local “B&Q” last weekend (“the horror!, the horror...!”) to get paint and stuff and then to nearby Homebase yesterday (don’t ask) to get the things that I had forgotten to get or couldn’t face looking for in B&Q.

In most civilised parts of the world people rent all their lives and don’t share the British obsession with home ownership. Friends working aboard tell me that it is perfectly normal for them to pay reasonable rents for well maintained (and professionally decorated!!!!) homes.

A major reason for this is that unlike in the UK most European countries expect home owners to pay fair taxes on any capital appreciation in the value of their properties.  This helps level out the "housing tenure" playing field.   

Video - the Royal Family (and twiggy!) show us how DIY really should be done.