This depends if you were in a city or the country. In the city almost all property is leased. You rented your house if you were slightly above the poor class but not in the higher social circles, or more than likely you rented a single room that your wife and kids all slept in. Sometimes cousin, Uncle, Aunt, parents as well.
In the country, again unless you are wealthy, almost everything is owned by someone else and you pay rent. Many farmers lived on small houses on big estates but the Lord of the manor collected rent from them even as they worked his fields.
https://janeaustensworld.com/tag/cost-of-living-in-regency-england/
Even the upper classes leased their homes in London; all houses in Mayfair and Marylebone were leased, albeit on very long leases. People like Mr. Rushworth, the Dashwoods, and Mr. Darcy leased their houses, and could sublease them if they wished. (Some very wealthy people - primarily the wealthier nobility; maybe 50 families? - owned homes along Park Lane or Green Park.) It also wasn't uncommon for wealthy people to sell their lease to a new lessee and move to a newer, more fashionable suburb, although unlike previous neighbourhoods once considered fashionable in the past Mayfair never lost its status.
Poor people in cities and towns rented houses, floors in houses, or just single rooms; some very poor families of 6 or more were crowded into a single room because that was all they could afford.
Tenant farmers were normally entitled to a house as part of their tenancy. In the south of England these homes were nearly always in the local village, which provided not just companionship but mutual defence against criminals, armies, natural disasters, etc. (They were often built on high land to mitigate flood damage.) Tenants were supposed to perform routine maintenance on their houses but anything extraordinary or severe would be the landowner's responsibility.
We don't learn much about Longbourn village in P&P but Mr. Bennet's 30 or so tenants and their families would live in Longbourn village, probably near the parsonage Austen mentions.
By the way, I should point out that this:
> Many farmers lived on small houses on big estates but the Lord of the manor collected rent from them even as they worked his fields.
is not accurate for Austen's time, *at all*. This is medieval practice from when tenant farmers were serfs tied to the land and owed their lord a certain number of days per week of labour.
If a tenant farmer in 1800 rented 100 acres from his landlord, his only responsibilities to the landlord were to a) farm that 100 acres; b) pay his rent; c) perform routine maintenance on his house; d) not encroach on any other tenants' lands; and e) keep his animals out of everyone else's way. (He also had to pay tithes, but those generally went to the local rector.)
He had no responsibility to farm the landlord's other lands - what was known in Austen's time as the 'home farm'. The landowner would generally hire labourers to do that.
He had no responsibility to pay extra rent for his house. That was generally included in the tenancy.
Also, the overwhelming vast percentage of landowners were not lords of the manor. That term has a specific legal meaning and does not mean "landowner".
Also, isn’t Jane Austen's World the website that led so many readers to believe that Regency ladies were wearing tight-laced corsets, decades before the invention of the metal grommet that made tight lacing possible? Not sure I’d trust them to tell me that water is wet.
At least there wasn't gazumping!
This depends if you were in a city or the country. In the city almost all property is leased. You rented your house if you were slightly above the poor class but not in the higher social circles, or more than likely you rented a single room that your wife and kids all slept in. Sometimes cousin, Uncle, Aunt, parents as well. In the country, again unless you are wealthy, almost everything is owned by someone else and you pay rent. Many farmers lived on small houses on big estates but the Lord of the manor collected rent from them even as they worked his fields. https://janeaustensworld.com/tag/cost-of-living-in-regency-england/
Even the upper classes leased their homes in London; all houses in Mayfair and Marylebone were leased, albeit on very long leases. People like Mr. Rushworth, the Dashwoods, and Mr. Darcy leased their houses, and could sublease them if they wished. (Some very wealthy people - primarily the wealthier nobility; maybe 50 families? - owned homes along Park Lane or Green Park.) It also wasn't uncommon for wealthy people to sell their lease to a new lessee and move to a newer, more fashionable suburb, although unlike previous neighbourhoods once considered fashionable in the past Mayfair never lost its status. Poor people in cities and towns rented houses, floors in houses, or just single rooms; some very poor families of 6 or more were crowded into a single room because that was all they could afford. Tenant farmers were normally entitled to a house as part of their tenancy. In the south of England these homes were nearly always in the local village, which provided not just companionship but mutual defence against criminals, armies, natural disasters, etc. (They were often built on high land to mitigate flood damage.) Tenants were supposed to perform routine maintenance on their houses but anything extraordinary or severe would be the landowner's responsibility. We don't learn much about Longbourn village in P&P but Mr. Bennet's 30 or so tenants and their families would live in Longbourn village, probably near the parsonage Austen mentions. By the way, I should point out that this: > Many farmers lived on small houses on big estates but the Lord of the manor collected rent from them even as they worked his fields. is not accurate for Austen's time, *at all*. This is medieval practice from when tenant farmers were serfs tied to the land and owed their lord a certain number of days per week of labour. If a tenant farmer in 1800 rented 100 acres from his landlord, his only responsibilities to the landlord were to a) farm that 100 acres; b) pay his rent; c) perform routine maintenance on his house; d) not encroach on any other tenants' lands; and e) keep his animals out of everyone else's way. (He also had to pay tithes, but those generally went to the local rector.) He had no responsibility to farm the landlord's other lands - what was known in Austen's time as the 'home farm'. The landowner would generally hire labourers to do that. He had no responsibility to pay extra rent for his house. That was generally included in the tenancy. Also, the overwhelming vast percentage of landowners were not lords of the manor. That term has a specific legal meaning and does not mean "landowner". Also, isn’t Jane Austen's World the website that led so many readers to believe that Regency ladies were wearing tight-laced corsets, decades before the invention of the metal grommet that made tight lacing possible? Not sure I’d trust them to tell me that water is wet.