To think we should ban private renting?

Yep there is a name for this.... checks notes.... communism?

Some more

"The uncomfortable truth behind baby boomers and Britain’s housing crisis" https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/buying-selling/how-baby-boomers-fuelling-housing-crisis/

Here.

"English Housing Survey - GOV.UK" https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/english-housing-survey

All in Hell? It's a good job there's been private landlords because the government certainly haven't provided enough social housing. There'd be a hell of a lot more homelessness if there hadnt been any landlords. It goes without saying that yes, there are some shit landlords, but most aren't.

We used to have council housing. Much better idea.

Have they? How do you know this?

Well the government have asked local councils to go through the electoral roll and put it against homes number of bedrooms. So in theory two on the electoral roll, three bedrooms, we have one spare bedroom but some have to a lot more.

Now I'm curious as to why they feel the need to do this. Are we going to be given lodgers to house.

It's not just about owning more than one property.

Well this is a stupid idea. I cam afford to have a huge property- but i don't NEED a big property. Instead I have a modest semi and have bought a small bungalow that i rent out below market value. I am making an investment and also helping an older family who will struggle paying market rent. Should I sell that property and buy a big house i don't need ? Of course I can save the money but that's not the point

Our council in Wales are placing our homeless waiting for accommodation in England. We don't have anywhere here to put them. Because rent smart Wales was set up with onerous expensive courses to complete and pass every few years. Because rent smart Wales want energy ratings of C in every private rental. Many accidental landlords and those with one to let said fuck it and sold up.

Now some were purchased by overseas investors from Germany, Holland and the UAE others by big boys from the cities. Others were bought as homes.

Our council didn't have the infrastructure budget to take over hotels locally for these families to temporarily house them. The children and parents have had to move many miles from local family, schools into accommodation in Cheshire and Lancashire.

My parents' house is a listed property in an incredibly remote area. Houses in the area take a very long time to sell, and are almost exclusively owned by bougee WFH arty types, and just sit on the market until someone buys. There is zero rental market.

We are weighing up options including rental to educational groups, artist retreats, medium term lets etc, as it's a ridiculously impractical place to live.

I'm not really a fan of these dogmatic all or nothing solutions.

Paying a mortgage isn't the only reason rents go up. In fact, it's probably not even the main reason. Rents go up because like everything else, costs increase. As a landlord you need to pay for a gas safety certificate every year, a boiler service every year, electrical check every 5 years. You need to keep the kitchen and bathroom updated, you need to replace carpets and redecorate (often much more frequently than you'd need to in your own house when you see how some people treat their rental home).

All that maintenance costs money and the costs from trades to come in and do the work go up over time. It is therefore reasonable to expect rent to increase yearly in line with inflation, reflecting the increased cost of maintaining the house.

The cost to the LL is not just paying a mortgage (if there is one - and btw, where there is, most BTL mortgages are interest only and are not tax deductable as they used to be). The cost to the LL is the cost of maintaining a house, which by law needs many more things doing to it to maintain it than most people would bother to do on their owned properties.

What about tenant farmers? Who is going to buy their farms?

Or The Crown Estate or other landowners who own large swathes of of the country and rent out whole villages in some cases, who care for their tenants and want their tenants happy? Should they hand over their well kept (because they are) and well maintained properties to a housing association who don't care about their tenants and will let them get into disrepair?

Sounds like a good idea, or that landlords shouldn't be renting out a property they've bought with a mortgage. I only know three landlords personally, one is my dad. All own the property outright (inheritance in all cases) and they charge a fair rent that doesn't go up because they need to pay more on their mortgage.

What happens if you want to rent @honeyrosesandwich ? You have to rent social housing? But what if you want to rent a 5 bed detached house somewhere because you are only going to be working in that area for 12 months?

Or are you just meaning for those people who require social housing?

So I feel conflicted about this one to be honest. Because I agree with you in situations where renting is likely to be a person’s long term lifestyle.

However private renting works for a large portion of the population who want to rent for a couple of years before they then buy their own property, for students, and for people that need a second residence for a short period of time. Some kind of private rental market would still need to exist.

I’ve explained earlier that older social housing can be uneconomic to repair, especially when updating water/heating systems, rewiring etc. However they are under an obligation to rebuild, but unfortunately that obligation doesn’t mean within that immediate area.

Yes we are in that group - we earnt quite well when older and hence beyond level we could get a mortgage in an area we actually wanted to live - especially being self employed ( business together) - so we rent nice houses and treat them as home instead of buying . We might buy if/when we inherit , but possibly not -

Let me guess - you vote Reform or for Corbyn?

Or is voting too capitalist for you?

Council/social housing can be passed on once, and that tends to be to the surviving spouse.

As a junior doctor we moved jobs every 6-12 months and many of these weren’t commutable.

hospital accommodation as a perk was removed at least 20 years ago. So yes we rented - generally renting from past doctors so landlords were pretty keen on us as an easy change of tenancy. no lengthy tie ins and often direct from the landlord etc.

how on earth would social housing work there. It absolutely wouldn’t. And no I don’t want to buy and sell every year.

Sometimes it’s the state selling. In our village a council house became vacant and the council have sold it.
It was has sitting room and kitchen downstairs and bedroom and bathroom upstairs - with a front garden 20ft long + parking, and I’m sure there are plenty of single people or childless couple who would been happy to live there.

But not everyone who rents needs social housing? Years ago I moved around the country with work and have rented homes with land for my family with horses before settling in one location.

I think when a private landlord sells they should get exemption from CGT if they sell to the State.
i think the state should embark on a programme of buying/ building housing stock as they did 80 years ago. It is needed now as it was needed then.
I think there should be real affordable housing, rather than people without deposits paying off some else’s second or third house.
I think that I should be able to have state housing when I retire.

Housing shortage!! High Rents!! No council housing!!!

You know what’s caused this? Mass illegal immigration.

People come here, unemployed, have 10 kids, 4 ex-wives. Bring over 25 family members who alap want a house each. All these people go down the council and demand free council houses.

Of course there aren’t enough council houses. But then again, a recent study said 60% of council homes were owners by foreigners living abroad who were illegally subletting their council home.

instead of jealously & enviously finger pointing at rich landlords who aren’t a drain on the taxpayer, try evicting criminals who should have never been given council homes in the first place. We are talking millions of council homes.

What about the tourist industry - no more cottages to rent for your family holiday as the owners have been tarred and feathered