To think that Landlords have a bad name.

🙄

I don't believe anyone needs 3 houses. You don't need more houses than you can live in at any one time.

As a renter I appreciate that you are a good landlord, but it really frustrates me that private landlords are the reason rents are so high in general, and housing so short in supply. If there were a limit on the number of houses landlords were allowed to own / rent out then there would be much less of a housing crisis. It pisses me off no end that I pay more in rent than most people do for a mortgate on an equivalent property - this keeps me in poverty. And yes we also need more houses built. I'm not blaming it all on landlords here but many of them are making a profit and gaining assets at huge expense to people trying to get on the housing ladder.

A massive factor in why there are 10 year waiting lists on social housing is because Thatcher sold them all off and the landlords have cashed in on it. We need more balance, more social housing and to stop landlords hoarding cheap housing and leave some for others to either rent or buy at affordable rates.

I hear you. Nationally last year LL's sold more properties than they bought. This resulted in higher rents and less rentable accommodation so more families with little kids in temporary accommodation. Most LL's only sell 1 house per year because of CGT but more will sell this year too. In Scotland where they had rent caps there was a higher rate of LL's selling which resulted in even more people in temporary accommodation.

Yes i think there are good landlords. However they don't make the headlines. I have one buy to let- which the rent is £200 cheaper than my mortgage a month. However it will be my daughters home when she moves out so I see it as an investment and anything that needs doing gets done quickly in it.... I don't know if in 15 years I would have money to help with a deposit- but I can afford £200 a month (plus the nealy £1000 tax I pay on £7000 of income a year) so I doit... lots of my friends have a property for similar reasons (for their children)....

On the reverse - there's good and bad tenants.
Why are we not up in arms about the BAD tenants - believe me, they are 100x worse than the bad landlords and they get away with it most times.

People are honestly trashing homes and causing such damage. Currently doing remedial works on a house which was left to rot by tenants. They never turned the heating on, infact they have removed the boiler !, never opened windows, never cleaned, its mould central. I estimate this cost will be 70% of the total rent they ever paid (14 months) plus the fact it's been empty 2 months trying to heat/dry it out.
This is why multi landlords are reluctant to do 'nice ' things for tenants like new bathrooms and kitchens, carpets, as every other time it gets trashed!

Landlords have a bad name because a lot of them are either bad, incompetent or just plain greedy. If you choose to go into a market with a reputation like that then..... Well it's going to happen isn't it? I work in hospitality, there's people who insist I haven't got two brain cells to rub together because I do that job because that's how those roles are perceived.

I think it's interesting though that you describe the houses as 'just an asset' that you don't make money on. That's an asset (or 3!) that is worth thousands of pounds that you can actualise should you wish to, an asset that maybe if not making you money, is maybe not costing you money to maintain either. Therefore it's something that does benefit you and will benefit you if you need it or if you want it in the future.

The other reason landlords have a bad name is because as you rightly say, they provide a service, but, the service aspect of it is often forgotten in favour of the attitude that landlords are somehow doing their tenants a favour, conveniently forgetting that the tenant is essentially the customer here, that they are paying their hard earned money in return for that service and it is an arrangement of mutual benefit, or at least should be, but there's those who believe tenants should be grateful to be allowed to hand over large amounts of money each month for a roof and 4 walls.

Even you seem to have a bit of the attitude that your tenants should be grateful that you rent your assets out and certainly that you don't treat them badly, fix things and charge a fairer rent than others in the area, while trying to insinuate that because you don't make an income every month from it (although it does still benefit you) you're a good landlord and shouldn't be tarred with the same brush.
Treating those who are your customers essentially with a bit of respect is the least that you should be expecting, as you said, you're providing a service, and it benefits you as well, so stop expecting a pat on the back for doing what you're offering you will do by offering this service.

Have you read this thread? Some people definitely are saying that.

Yes.

Because over time the houses will go up in capital value.

@caringcarer I appreciate you might be a pleasant person but surely you see that some of that 40% of people might be homeowners if people like yourself were not owning multiple homes. Also you say you are not forcing anyone to try and rent from you & then say 47 applications were made for your one rental property. People are evidently desperate to find accommodation. So much so that they are battling against 46 others. People who own multiple houses are perpetuating this system.

No one has a solution. They’re just narrow minded negative and jealous.

I was both a landlord, and renting.

The reasons for that are beyond the wit of most of the critics. They’re too stupid to get it. We need a mobile society, and ownership doesn't always deliver that so some transience needs to be catered for and there needs to be a marginal profit on offer for that or the resource will be pulled.

No one says there shouldn't be rentals at all. What is needed is a proper balance. Unfortunately, I think there are far too many landlords who have bought far too many houses, which has screwed the market balance. Add in to that all those who have bought "normal" houses to rent out as holiday lets which is even worse for the housing market as it removes those homes from people both wanting to buy and rent.

Obviously, we need accommodation blocks for students and homes for people who move around with work, or simply don't want to buy, but the market has gone way too far with landlords buying multiple properties, especially those with 10/20/30, or even hundreds of homes. I personally think that "private/individual" landlords should be limited to 1 or 2, and that larger portfolios should be owned only by housing associations, councils, etc. so that there can be proper due process as to where rented housing is needed and proper control of it to maintain good standards and avoid profiteering. The "free market" has failed - not the landlords who are rolling in it, but for those actually needing a home to live in!

So the point remains if you want to know the answer to the question you asked me just read my existing answer to the exact same question

@caringcarer Voice of reason there.

Buying is different to renting though isn’t it.They're making a profit but you get something at the end of it to show for it.

If every LL in the UK sold their btl properties tomorrow. Where would the families who don't earn enough multipliers to get a mortgage or who don't have a deposit live? 27 percent of people live in the private rental sector. That's a lot of families with young children. Why do you think there is a post most weeks with a poster worried sick because their LL is selling their property and the tenant has been given a section 21? Do you think these tenants want the LL to sell up? Do you think they Want to be put in temporary accommodation? Did you not read the thread on here only yesterday really upset because her LL was selling up and she was being put into temporary accommodation in bed and no breakfast room with no cooking facility and a 5 year old DD? There are so many empty houses for sale near me. The council won't buy them to let out as social housing. People who would like to live in them don't have a deposit and don't earn enough to pass the bank stress test for income multipliers. You seem very naive. I rent out my houses but they are in good condition, always well maintained, all paper work is in order. I do make a profit and increase rents by a little each year but by less than inflation and if inflation is low I don't increase rent every year, only when my 2, 3 or 5 year fix comes to an end or tracker goes up. Many of my tenants have been with me for 8 years or similar. When we had the lockdown during the pandemic I dropped off toilet rolls and Paracetamol for some tenants with COVID. I'm the Godmother to one DC born in one of my properties and still there 6 years later. Her Mum is alone and her family lives overseas so she has no one in the UK who could stay with her DD while she went into hospital to have her second DC as she'd broken up with her partner. I went and stayed with her elder DD whilst she had her second DD. She was out the following day. I went to collect her from the hospital with her car seat. She asked me to be the new babies Godmother. I've babysat for free a few times as well. I've also been invited to a wedding of some tenants in the past. The government need to step up and build or buy more social housing. It's not the fault of LL's that they don't. I'm offering a service not forcing people to rent from me. In fact I had 43 applications last time I advertised a 3 bedroom house with a garden in just over 72 hours. I'm not twisting anyone's arm. I'm not taking a house away from anyone else who could buy one because there are so many empty houses for sale near me. Why don't you do a little experiment why not ask people who rent from a private LL 'Would you like your LL to sell up and issue you a section 21? I think you'd find most would say no.

If house prices hadn't been hiked up by demand from landlords, your tenant would be able to afford to buy. Simples! In more and more areas these days, rents are more than a mortgage would be for a similar property. Renters can't afford to buy because they're paying so much in rent that they can't save for the deposit required for the mortgage!

So? The point remains.

Didn't take long for posters to pile it on!
So, @Applescruffle where are your kids going to live when they go to uni? Where are they going to live when they have their first few years in their job?
Where are people who are here in secondment going to live?
Where are people who are in between (owned) homes for a bit going to live?
Where are people who, for whatever reason, do not want to own going to live?
Where's that woman (or man) who has just split from their partner going to live?
Well? Where?

I think private landlords have their place. I rented for a good decade Before I bought. It was fine, nice flats in the city centre. I’m not sure where students/ young people starting out are supposed to live if nothing to rent. I couldn’t of bought earlier and didn’t really want to. I studied for a year abroad, travelled, worked in Europe for a bit you can’t do that if tied down.

I don’t want to reply to one poster in particular but can anyone tell me what their solution for renters would be if landlords didn’t exist? I rented at uni, I didn’t want to buy, it wasn’t a decision born out of house prices being too high. I rented when I first moved to London, equally I wouldn’t have bought even if I could. I understand the objection to landlords to some extent but I would genuinely be interested to hear what people would suggest for those who don’t want to buy?

It annoys me when people say that people don't want to rent or shouldn't want to rent.

I WANT to rent - the boiler in my rented flat packed up last week, cost 2 grand to replace. Guess whose problem it was? Not mine

Few years ago, a leak from behind the bath caused huge damage in the flat downstairs (it was actually a screw up by the original builders) but guess whose problem that was? Not mine either.

Replacing the heaters when they got old and stopped working? Right again - not my problem.

I find renting brilliant 🤷‍♀️ I just don't have the spare money to be fixing stuff when it goes wrong, so I make it somebody else's problem by renting