To think that Landlords have a bad name.

Of course my answer isn't that they should start paying extortionate rent. I agree that rent in many places is too expensive, and you make a good point about banks needing to take income into account and not asking for huge deposits.

However you're ignoring the part about people in their first job in a new area not actually wanting to buy a house. I certainly didn't. I didn't know the area, or if I'd want to live there long term. And more importantly I didn't earn enough to be able to pay for a mortgage, bills, and repairs and maintenence on a house. I also didn't feel ready for the responsibility of home ownership.

My solution was to move into a rented house share. In your world of nobody is allowed to be a landlord, I wouldn't have been able to take the job and would likely have had to move back in with family, in a area of the country where jobs were scarce, and where I would have been sleeping in a sofa bed in the lounge. What would your solution for me have been?

I don't agree with landlords, there's very few good landlords and even then the power dynamic is wrong you can't make it a home and due to a lack of legislation you can be turfed out at any point.

I'm glad some of you charge under market but it's few and far between and if you did sell you'd probably gain a bit of money whereas the tenant gains nothing.

Additionally it's also meaning most people now can't afford to buy a home and increasingly landlords are taking family homes and turning them into HMO's

@CurlsandCurves it is true, some people prefer to rent, even with the means to buy, but I think this is a small percentage vastly outweighed by those sad that they are not in the situation to do so.

I have 2 rental properties. The first tenant has been there for 19 years. The rent is well below market rate because he’s happy there and he’s a great tenant so why rock the boat. Obviously I don’t know his earnings but I know what he does for a living and I’d imagine he could easily get a mortgage. But for his own reasons he’s happy where he is.

Second rental property the tenant was very well off, came into an inheritance of several hundred thousands a few years ago. But again for his own reasons didn’t want the hassle of owning. He sadly passed away couple of years ago and the house is now being rented by someone who has been there since we put it back on the market.

Not everyone wants to buy is my point after all that waffle!

I do make some profit. I don't make a profit on 2 of my houses because they are on expensive trackers but I do make a profit on them overall from my portfolio. I also expect capital appreciation over time. I rent now to help my DC and DGC in the future. I do however rent out some of my 3 bedroom houses for less than I see a few 2 bedroom houses up for rent for. I have good tenants so I want to keep them and treat them well. I agree they can paint it how they want provided it is white when it comes back. I've agreed to people having cats because I like cats and have 2 myself.

It's been on for 5 years now. More LL's sell up every one of those 5 years. The government don't want LL to all sell because then they'd have a huge housing crisis. In my btl houses there are 16 DC living in them. If I sold them all where would those 16 DC go to live? They'd be dumped in temporary accommodation maybe far away from their schools.

@Arewe29 I am with you! I detect a smidgen of jealousy here!!!! there are many good landlords out there and to be honest the housing they offer their tenants is mostly always better than the housing offered by the councils and the larger social landlords. repairs are nearly always completed on the same day if not within 24-48 hours! you dont get that kind of service from social landlords and councils! In scotland where I live, landlords have more rules thrown at them than I follow in my own home! we have been following the same rules for many years now and I know for a fact that one of the major social landlords in my area have only just started this year following that rule!! we are all registered up her and god forbid you dont follow the rules or are late carrying out one test by a day!!

My landlord is wonderful. He fixes issues without delay, has dressed down my next door neighbours who were being very difficult regarding shared side gate access, he raised my rent 10% this year but I wrote back to ask if we could meet half way and he agreed as he didn't want to lose me as his tenant. I couldn't ask for more from a landlord tbh and feel incredibly lucky I found this rental for myself and DC.

But the OP said they weren’t doing it for profit, and weren’t making a profit. They’ve insisted on this thread that they don’t make any profit and when I asked why they’d do it, if not for profit, your answer seems to be “duh, for profit”…

So your answer to that is that they should start paying extortionate rent? Because that's how you save up a deposit?

How about - and hear me out - banks stop asking for fucking mental deposits and take income into account like they do for their other loan products?

Fairly obvious really. If you want to talk about what any of us ‘need’, I’m sure most of us have got an excess of many things, and many of them probably exploit someone somewhere. Do you feel you’re perfect?

I've always owned the food I've bought and I can't say I've ever had it snatched back off me on the whim of Tesco. So it's not quite the same thing.

That's how the housing market works. All owners of property would expect for their house prices to go up over time. We live in a capitalist society. Average families own most property yet only LL get the blame. Some people are so naive.

Of course. All of the homeowners on this thread that are slating LL are all going to collectively sell their houses for 15% under the market value because profit is dirty and they want to do their bit to reduce prices…

Obviously sarcasm

@PeaceOnThePorch I'm not sure what they eye roll is for.

If they have the deposit saved and earn the money required to pass the bank stress test they can buy their own home. I'm not stopping them. Lots of LL's have sold up over the past 3 years. There are plenty of houses available to buy = more people in temporary accommodation. The more btl houses sold the more families homeless. With all these houses empty why don't renters buy if they want to own their own homes? You know why they don't have the necessary deposit or couldn't pass the bank stress test. Why is that LL fault? As more LL's sell up there will be more and more families stuck in temporary accommodation because councils or housing associations are not buying these houses.

A fact which will go conveniently unnoticed by most on this thread, unfortunately!

Rents have gone up more in Scotland than elsewhere due to anti landlord laws. Punishing landlords won’t increase property supply which is what’s needed

Imagine the Relationship board if everyone had to get a mortgage and buy a house before living together?They would not be able to co-habitat first with that quick escape route after seeing what an arse their boyfriend was. I moved to a new area and we rented because I did not want to tie myself in with a boyfriend who might turn out to be an arse and in shock news, not everyone has a massive amount of instant cash to spend on a deposit. My landlady was testing out her new partner before moving in with him, we rented her house cheaply, she let my cat move in- we still regret buying a house as loved that rental house so much and no stress re household maintenance which now causes lots of stress.

That's very new legislation brought in to try and encourage BtL landlords to sell.

So, profit?

You're right - nobody ever criticises bankers... 💁

There isn’t a beneficial tax regime for landlords. It’s the only business where you are taxed on income that’s not profit

The idea that house-prices should always rise and property is an investment and not somewhere to live is one of the things that has caused many of the housing problems we see today in this country.

The whole market has become distorted.