to think a London Renters Union is a brilliant idea!

[twerkingbabyje5us]

As a London renter, I would jump at the chance of joining such a Union as tenants have virtually no rights and just get completely screwed over in terms of money, quality of life, security of tenure etc.

Anyway, Sian Berry, the Green candidate for Mayor of London is proposing this;

www.sianberry.london/news/housing/2016-01-28-london-renters-union/

[cleaty]

Yes a great idea.

[evilcherub]

Yep, this is a brilliant idea and sorely needed.

[specialsubject]

ah, the genius idea of rent controls, repeatedly proven not to work in the UK.

does she not know the basics of supply and demand? This sweet idea would, if implemented, result in a lot of evictions as landlords sell up. Presumably the idea is that those 'ordinary londoners' will then be able to buy. I believe that there is a big flaw in that.

what needs to be worked on are property standards, especially from housing associations who can rent out shitholes that even the beds-in-sheds lot wouldn't do. Private landlords are regulated (and should be).

what also needs to be worked on, although sweetybumps greenies don't notice this because it involves some knowledge of the situation, is the insurance issue which often prevents longer tenancies.

regulating agents is a very good idea, liking that. Encouraging squatting is not and will make landlords even more selective about who they rent to.

luckily I don't live in London so this is a DILLIGAFF situation. If you want me I'll be trying to look after my rental, which is currently being slowly wrecked.

[Parietal]

the only thing that will help London rents is building more houses / flats. really a lot more, not just a few here & there. That means changes to planning permission and more tower blocks.

regulating agents and changing insurance / tenure rules is all just tweaking around the edges.

[LurkingHusband]

the only thing that will help London rents is building more houses / flats

Or reducing the pull factor of London and the South East ?

[cleaty]

If lots of landlords all suddenly sold up, house prices would drop. Basic supply and demand.

[specialsubject]

yes, but would they drop enough to be affordable given the massive overpopulation in London?

and where would all the evicted people go in the meantime?

diverting resources and population from the bottom right-hand corner is indeed the answer. Much as those of us who don't live there might not like it.

[jay55]

The thing that will help London renters is to properly tax overseas buyers.

[cleaty]

There used to be more home owners and less renters. The buy to let market has changed that.

[evilcherub]

There is no point in building more homes as they will just be snapped up immediately by buy to let landlords and overseas buyers. What needs to happen is for the government to start taxing property properly so that people can't just use property as an asset class. Housing should be a home, not an investment.

[evilcherub]

Best would be to make being a landlord totally uneconomic and taxing unearned property gains and rental income much more heavily. If landlords sold up prices would fall meaning a lot of renters would be able to become home owners because prices would be cheaper. Houses don't just disappear if landlords sell they just change ownership. Soon there will be more renters than home owners when you factor in tenants in renting from private landlords and tenants renting social housing. Once there is a criticial mass change will have to happen as currently so much of peoples income just goes straight into the pockets of landlords which is ridiculous.

[specialsubject]

bile central on this thread, as expected. Trouble is, this level of naivety is held by the green candidate. Green being the operative word.

it would need to be a big oversupply for London prices to drop, and of course a lot of home owners (do we hate them, too?) would be left in negative equity. They also have 'unearned property gains' so would be severely hit by taxing those. That one's a guaranteed vote loser so no politician will do it.

stopping buy-to-leave and building energy-guzzling luxury flats would be a good idea. I thought the Green party would be into that kind of thing, but perhaps it is too obvious.

[Chattymummyhere]

I'm all for tenants rights and making sure the properties are suitable. However forcing landlords to sell up won't solve the bigger issue you will just have more homelessness or banks will have to be willing to give out 100%+ mortgages again as a lot of people renting stand no chance of saving for a deposit.

I personally don't get the appeal of living in London. However to change a lot of people's want/need to live there means forcing companies to move into other areas of the country. Up north has a lot of empty and cheap houses but no jobs, what we need to do is make it enticing for companies to move into places like that.

[DeoGratias]

We need to see what will happen in April when most new landlords have to pay 3% extra stamp duty. At present where I live (London zone 5) as soon as anything comes up for sale it is gone. I checked a new block recently and every flat on every single floor has already been sold (my son is looking to buy at the bottom end of the market). After April things might change a bit - we shall see. The problem is there are jobs here and people want to live here. In other parts (I am from the NE originally) it is utterly different so it is hard to generalise across the whole country.

The BBC moved to Salford. The Met Office moved to somewhere like Devon a while back. The Law Society even moved most people out to somewhere like the Midlands. The Government is trying to work up the Northern Powerhouse and get Chinese contracts for Northern manufacturers and more regional power. I suspect London is thriving because of work ethic and loads of very hard working immigrants and a high birth rate.

[cleaty]

Yes equity would drop for those who are home owners. I am one. But prices need to come down. Housing needs to be a home again, and not a financial investment.

[ReallyTired]

I think the phasing out of tax relief for mortgages will really bit some btl landlords. I think that mortgage relief should be removed entirely. We also need higher taxes on buyers who live overseas and empty properties.

[catsinthecraddle]

I wish property owners had a lot more rights when they are letting their properties.

Tenants can stop paying rent, destroy the place, it takes months of loss income and legal fight before being able to evict anyone.

Not every landlord is wealthy, many landlords have a mortgage to pay, finance the repairs of their property, and don't actually make a profit. They are just normal people, who are making a lot of sacrifice.

You want to stop buy-to-let? What do you suggest people do to finance their retirement then? Are you aware that state pension will be next to nothing in a few years?

I don't know if a super tax for foreign landlords would help, I suspect it would be discriminatory.

[Sallyingforth]

I'm afraid this is just another unrealistic Green Party idea. I know they mean well, but very few of their suggestions could ever work in practice.
What power or influence would this Union have? None.

The housing crisis in London is a very simple, classic case of supply and demand.
You either reduce the population or build a vast number of new houses. One of those is impossible and the other nearly so.

No amount of talking will solve this.

[specialsubject]

That's it, basically. Cheap and unworkable electioneering won't help.