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Original poster

Housing

83 replies

titbumwillypoo · 29/05/2023 20:21

If you look at most of the problems in the country at the minute the root cause is housing. Rents are too high, wages haven't kept up, not enough houses being built and mostly a finite resource being used as a basis for our economy.
I think there's a simple solution, a two pronged system. Option 1: If you rent out one house you pay 20% on income and then for every house after that an addition 1 percent up to 80%. So couples who have got together or people who've inherited etc and have a spare house (and don't want to sell yet) can make some money but they'll not get massively rich and are more likely to want long term tenants that will look after the place. What it will do is dissuade people buying up lots of houses who then get rich off the backs of other people working without having to contribute much to society.
Option 2 is if you do have lots of houses then you can become a charity. You don't pay income tax BUT you cannot earn more than 10 times minimum wage (£216,736 a year) and you cannot charge more than 10 times minimum wage per week rent. (Say for a 2 bedroom house) Obviously there would need to be some tweaks for bigger houses and HMO's but you get the principle.
Finally, housing benefit should be reduced to a flat rate across the country (over a period of say 5 years) of 10 times minimum wage per week. The money saved could be used by councils to build more social housing under the proviso that it cannot be sold off and to pay more housing officers to inspect bad landlords.
Basically my plan allows people the freedom of choice. If you believe in unfettered capitalism that allows you to set market rates that squeeze people until the pips squeak then you can have it but in doing so you will be giving back to society. Or you can make a decent living that positively helps vast swathes of society.
YABU: Market forces and the profit motive are what makes this country great.
YANBU: Secure housing should be accessible to all for a functioning society and not a way for a minority to get rich(er) off the hard work of others.

OP posts:
CantFindTheBeat · 30/05/2023 12:11

Rental income IS taxed already.

Have I missed something?

LouReidPark · 30/05/2023 10:44

I agree we need more social housing. It is a big problem that so much is given to private landlords via HB. With building I think it would help if we built more good flats - make them spacious, give them balconies - so much more space efficient than the typical new build estates which are full of small-proportioned nominally detached houses.

GasPanic · 30/05/2023 10:13

Six things must be done IMO.

More social housing. Thatcher built more council houses in 1 year than Tory Blair did during his entire tenure.

Limit lending. Needs thought. You could put in a maximum multiple of 3.5x wages, but it probably needs more thought than this.

Stop government market interference like help to buy and messing around with stamp duty.

Force builders to use landbanks within a certain timescale.

Aggressively improve new build quality (lack of new houses is not the only issue, the build quality of new houses is appalling and warranty these days seems hardly worth the paper it is written on).

Start up a nationalised house building company so that if the private sector does not produce houses it can.

OttoGraph · 30/05/2023 10:02

Wages are to low, the disparity between those at the top of a company earning a million plus a year whilst those at the bottom earn £10.42 per hour

if minimum wage had kept up with house prices it’d be £23/24 per hour

OhmygodDont · 30/05/2023 09:58

I was thinking more along the lines of hotels, static caravans, wood lodges.

Letsallthinkofaname · 30/05/2023 09:47

Holiday let’s or get away properties should be purpose built for that not current homes taken away from people

No. This leads to the creation of areas such as Jaywick in Essex. The chalets were/are old holiday lets from the early 20th century, not fit for housing but used as housing nonetheless. It's now the most deprived area in the UK

OhmygodDont · 30/05/2023 09:43

Holiday let’s or get away properties should be purpose built for that not current homes taken away from people.

Everytime a house or flat is turned into a holiday rental or weekend only get away it takes away a home somebody could live in full time. It means the people who work in those very tourist places cannot live there to work there to provide the experience tourists come to want and expect either.

It means the people who do manage to live there lose local facilities too, not enough enrolled children, school closes, doctors close, post office closes etc because there are not full time residents just visitors.

ticketstub · 30/05/2023 09:18

It doesn't seem fair to ban second homes. I live in a busy town for my work (& you see people on MN being rebuked for living rurally and not being able to work easily). I pay a lot of tax and live frugally, spending little on alcohol, food, clothes and days/nights out.

Why shouldn't I be able to choose to use my savings on a second home in a rural location, which visiting regularly contributes positively to the physical and mental health of me and my family.

If people can't have second homes, then all holiday rentals will only be owned by big companies who'll charge high prices without competition and dictate where and when I can have a break.

Health issues, including mobility problems mean the second home is suitable accommodation with the supplies and equipment available to us. I know from holidaying how many times a property is advertised as being accessible but is actually unsuitable.

Prettypaisleyslippers · 30/05/2023 08:15

Rent is already taxed, at same % as other income. So either 20% or 40%

OhmygodDont · 30/05/2023 08:14

Air bnbs, second holiday homes and frankly hmos are what need to go.

To get around the loss of hmos proper buildings need to be build for those kind of place, one it stops family homes being torn apart, it solves the issues of then lack of parking and you can then have proper spaces for socialising etc not just people being crammed into anything that might class as a bedroom.

No selling to foreign investors, no selling off more social housing and none of this “affordable” housing bs that are really executive housing estates that just plonk one or two cheaper houses to pass the grade.

AxolotlOnions · 30/05/2023 08:13

We need to build council houses. Even with the reduced rents offered they were a massive money maker for councils and provided genuinely affordable houses. Housing Association 'affordable' rents are now based on the local housing allowance rate which is supposed to reflect the bottom 20% of rents (it was 50% under Labour) but in no way actually does cover rents in most areas.

Swrigh1234 · 30/05/2023 08:07

Seagullsbythesea · 30/05/2023 05:53

Just ban second home ownership & BTL mortgages - no one needs more than one house (inheriting one is different!

BTL mortgages weren’t really a thing before the late 90’s - it was Blair that created the landlord boom- get rid of them & start focussing on safe, secure, affordable homes for all. No one needs to become a Landlord!

This sort of idiotic nonsense is spouted so often, people have really latched onto it.

Do you know what else changed since Blair came to power? Net immigration. Running at around 50k a year in 1997, increasing to 606k last year.

And what do regulation and tax do? Push up rent. That’s exactly what has happened since the Osborne reform to tax landlords more.

gogohmm · 30/05/2023 07:54

We already have a shortage of rentals due to changes making it less lucrative for landlords, that is the main reason for high rents here. We need a private short to medium term rental market for those of us relocating, getting divorced etc whilst we sort out finances for long term accommodation (buying in my case). In my opinion allowing individuals to own up to 5 or 6 properties to rent out (as part of their pension) is the answer as small landlords will be more attentive usually and it's their future too on the line. We also need a long term rental sector which I think should be council/housing association or trust run, they should be open to anyone with rents capped based on income in some way (how exactly I don't know but if you earn lots you should be paying market rate basically).

roundcork · 30/05/2023 07:52

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the request of the user.

midgemadgemodge · 30/05/2023 07:42

The only solution is to rebuild council homes

Low cost rent ( no profit motive ) with secure for life tenancy

They will act as a natural dampener on all other prices

And because it will take some time to rebuild stock it won't happen overnight so won't yank peoples lives if they are paying mortgages- the adjustment will be slow

Not ideal for people now but the only thing that will work

MillicentTrilbyHiggins · 30/05/2023 07:37

KatieB55 · 30/05/2023 07:23

Housing Benefit is not paid at market rate. Local Housing Allowance hasn't been increased for years so not kept up with inflation or the actual cost of rent. Social housing is scarce. For those who have no choice but to rent privately the housing element of UC doesn't cover the rent.

Absolutely. Add the benefit cap into the mix and it can be almost impossible to make up the shortfall. (And yes people who can work should work. But its not always that simple)

I just had a look, the LHA for my area, for 2 bedrooms is £946pcm.
A 2 bed house will set you back £1300 easily.

MooseAndSquirrelLoveFlannel · 30/05/2023 07:33

Reducing LL will drive rent up, not down.

We need more social housing, for sure. My city had 11,500 ish homes built in the last 5 years. The number of affordable homes in that total, 350. In a growing city, outskirts of London. All I see is blocks of expensive flats being built, where a 1 bed will set you back £2k a month. They're mostly rented by businesses for short term accommodation.

We need social housing so more of our current renters and young people can get those, freeing up rental properties for the rest & driving those rents down. It'll also mean social housing stops only being able to be allocated to the top 1% of the housing list.

TodayInahurry · 30/05/2023 07:28

Landlords are already selling because of government measures, hence the shortage. The UK has imported about 1 million immigrants which is one of the causes

KatieB55 · 30/05/2023 07:23

Housing Benefit is not paid at market rate. Local Housing Allowance hasn't been increased for years so not kept up with inflation or the actual cost of rent. Social housing is scarce. For those who have no choice but to rent privately the housing element of UC doesn't cover the rent.

Theunamedcat · 30/05/2023 07:19

There are plenty of houses they just arnt where the jobs are and they arnt where you can commute to a job from

TeenagersAngst · 30/05/2023 07:18

@Larner You want affordable housing? You and all the other investors in this particular asset class need to cash in your investments.

Then we'd have affordable housing.

So, you're suggesting that if all LLs sell up, we'll suddenly have affordable housing? How? LLs have been selling up in recent years and house prices aren't going down.

AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii · 30/05/2023 07:15

Surely making use of every empty property and second homes should be looked at first before building on even more green space

Thesunnymood · 30/05/2023 06:40

Landlords are already selling. So do some councils BTW because they can't hit EPC C.

There were lots of properties for sale, formel or current rentals, in my area in last 12 months. I calculated about year and half ago how much could cheaper rental make if I got one and quite frankly, not worth the hassle.

Seagullsbythesea · 30/05/2023 05:53

Just ban second home ownership & BTL mortgages - no one needs more than one house (inheriting one is different!

BTL mortgages weren’t really a thing before the late 90’s - it was Blair that created the landlord boom- get rid of them & start focussing on safe, secure, affordable homes for all. No one needs to become a Landlord!

rwalker · 30/05/2023 05:24

if you had 100 houses then you’d just break it down into 10 ltd companies

not all LL then the massive profits you think this would drive more LL to sell up making less rentals available
making rents higher and less properties to rent