A couple on Homes Under The Hammer own 900 properties?!

[nc777]

How is this even ok?!

Just now on Homes Under The Hammer there was a couple who work in the family business with 30 other staff.

They buy 30 properties a month. Renovating 60 properties at any one time. They then rent them out and sell some on as investment "packages" I.e. several properties jumped together and sold on to an investor who then rents them out.

They're not even renovating to sell on, they're renovating to rent out.

900 properties???!!! That's 900 properties that could have otherwise been left for the local population to buy.

Am I the only one who finds this sickening?

The whole housing market is a mess, to those saying it is a business yes I fully understand that but to be on that much of an industrial scale is the extreme and those that can't afford to buy in local areas where property is being snapped up by business as it is called if it is a business where is the competition commission then.

It is a business to some pensions to others but whatever it maybe everyone deserves a home rented or owned and for too many it is becoming a luxury to live in a decent home.

We would all be quick to moan if shelves weren't full or our older relatives where not taken care of we do across the board look at news feeds local papers. And some not all landlords look at it as such a business anyone who can't afford high rent is turned down as they may need help via state for rent.

We all have a right to home.

Sorry not getting this - if the local population wanted to buy why could they have not bought them in the first place? Unless you are telling me there is some catch and only this family are allowed to buy the homes they bought?

Next door has a crap land lord the guttering is leaking. My front room was growing mold dye to it. I tried to get it fixed but because it was next doors side no roofer would touch. I even offered to pay but she still didn't mend or give me permission to get it done. It's a nightmare living in these houses and a nightmare living next to one.

I hardly ever see this program but saw this and agree with you 100%. It was horrific to think of a business on this scale. There needs to be proper taxation on companies of this size.

@ittakes2

Sorry not getting this - if the local population wanted to buy why could they have not bought them in the first place? Unless you are telling me there is some catch and only this family are allowed to buy the homes they bought?

Well yeah good point. Everyone - 100% of the population - has multiple tens of thousands of pounds, stashed away in the bank, and the ability to get a huge mortgage that is (in many cases,) 7 to 10 times more than their yearly income.

What silly billies they are, not snapping up those properties, and just renting somewhere, or staying with mum and dad instead!

Being a landlord isn't a job. It's being a leech 🤢

Nothing wrong with being a landlord if you do it properly. The banks pay nothing on your savings so why not. A good landlord is a god send a bad one is a devil.

@maxelly It doesn't all have to be council housing or privately owned. Other countries seem to manage pretty well on rental housing being managed by insurance companies and the like investing their funds in community housing. Properly managed, good standards.

Over 50% of ex council houses are now BTL

This is my pet peeve.

I lived in a lovely two bed council flat in Notting Hill for years. Beautiful low rise block, just off Portobello Road, opposite a park, lovely communal gardens.

Out of curiosity, a while ago I had a look for my old flat on Zoopla. It's now a flatshare with 5 bedrooms. Each room is being rented for £250pw, apart from the smallest - what used to be the back balcony, which they've bricked up and turned into a bedroom that's a tiny bit bigger than a single bed. That one is a bargain at £200pw. All the rooms are shabby and the kitchen/bathroom are the same ones that were there when I lived there, 25 years ago. Nothing has been decorated since I left.

The landlord is getting £1200pw for a flat that cost me £40pw to rent from the council in the late 90s (of course it'd be more than that now, but nowhere near £1200). Almost all the flats in my block have ended up likewise.

RTB is an outright scandal. I've lived in my current (not London!) council flat for almost 20 years and could buy it for £15000 if I wanted to, but I never will. I pay my rent and it goes back into the SH pot - locally, social housing is well invested in and new homes are being built all the time. There's a sense of community here. Not one flat on my small estate is privately owned, but all are beautifully maintained both by the council and the tenants (who are from all walks of life and many have lived here for longer than us).

Selling council homes to private LLs, whose tenants will often need to then claim UC/HB to cover the far higher private rent, simply makes no sense. Neither does selling your housing stock when so many need properly affordable homes.

well said @DavidDevantsSpiritWife. RTB is a bloody scandal.

Some of these arguments are truly pathetic! Of course there should be more legislation in place. But only if you want a fairer society of course. Some people would rather keep the poor impoverished. All in the name of ‘business’. Puke!

In other European countries renting is the norm not owning however in those countries it’s also much cheaper to rent than buy and there are tiers for rents depending on the quality of the property and you don’t just pay random amounts but per square meter. The UK needs restrictions on rentals.

I saw the program and have no objections to a family run business owning 900 properties. They buy them with their own money, bring them up to a good standard and rent them for a fair price. Some of the council properties I have seen on the news in recent months are not fit for animals to live in let alone people!

I agree Justplodding. Houses sold at auction are often unmortgageable and this business will be making them habitable again and providing a home for a person or family who could not have afforded to make and do up the place themselves. If they own and manage so many properties and employ 30 people they're similar to a housing association but probably more efficient.

I think we just heard and experienced the horror of bad landlords, muck sticks

@RachelHasThoseInBurgundy

It’s disgusting! No one should be allowed to own that many residential properties. It’s nothing but greed. Personally I think outside of housing authorities/council housing etc, there should be a two property limit for everyone. I’ve no problem with people having their own house plus a holiday home that they rent out or air B&B but buy to let and having the government pay your mortgage on 3/4/5 or 900 properties is wrong.

Arguably, those who own holiday homes or rent out Air BnBs are worse because not only do they stop a local resident being able to buy that property and drive up prices, they also kill local communities

@Davygran - check your pension! A lot of companies are into property investment...

@LittleDandelionClock - how on earth are local authorities going to afford to buy all the properties? People would moan like hell when their council tax went up to pay for it!

@Smashingspinster - there is proper taxation. The company on HUTH are being completely open about their finances - (have to be especially now they're on tv!)

@Fleshmechanic - of course being a landlord is a job. Whether you have 1 rental property or 1000, it is work - houses don't look after themselves!

I don't get the posters only referencing mortgage payments too. Rent covers far more:
Mortgage
Conveyancing fees
Tenancy agreement plus inventory, deposit scheme etc
Landlord insurance
Gas certificate
Electric certificate
Maintenance
Risk! Anyone can leave a property with 1 month's notice
Also deposits can only now be 5 weeks' rent - that covers jack shit when your tenant leaves the property in a mess

It is far more involved and nowhere near as profitable than a lot of people think

Only reason we got into it was DH's parents split, they were in a house where splitting the value would not have got them a property each. DH had been made redundant and used the money to put down a deposit on a home for his Dad

The whole industry needs an overhaul, granted - but my word there are some blinkered people on here!

enforcement raid cancelled due to political correctness

cool story bro

And how many do the good socialists, Ex Prime Minister and Mrs Tony Blair own?

Fuck me how far to the right do you need to be to consider Tony Blair a socialist, probably further to the right than Stephen Waxy-Lemon

@TheAntiGardener

There is a way in which landlords create the very market they’re serving, though, Eden. Without limits on private rentals, people with access to finance can easily outbid those with limited funds. Who continue to rent instead.

There will always be a market for rentals. But would it be as big as it is if it weren’t so attractive to become a landlord?

If we had decent social housing and more reasonable house prices, it would be fascinating to see just how much of a market there would be for private landlords. It’s hard to imagine that it would not be vastly reduced. Proving that they are not providing a service to willing customers.

I honestly doubt that those who see no problem with this would feel the same if they were being priced out of home ownership entirely and forced instead to be the customer for someone else’s business. If home ownership was limited only to a small percentage of the population while the great majority had no option but to paid over large chunks of their salaries to the benefit of private landlords in exchange for homes they cannot decorate and can be evicted from on notice, do we really think society wouldn’t be in uproar over it?

Hear, hear Government and LAs need to implement better regulation of landlords & developers. Housing standards are falling & the high demand means tenants are often loathe to complain. It is not right that people do not have adequate living space in rented properties, just to maximise profit.
In fact, in certain areas there have been increased occurrences of Covid & TB due to overcrowding of HMOs.
It is all well and good to build up portfolios. But, before property investment came the thing with the Blairs, most young people on average jobs could put together a deposit over some yrs & get a mortgage on a starter property or one that needed work done. As work they way up to what they needed. Fat chance of that now,. Our actions affect society, your children are not the only children that count, everyone deserves a shot at a decent place to live social housing or otherwise. Just because our leaders, don't feel they should lead by example, doesn't mean we can't be better than them.

Didnt the government introduce a tax on landlords who own only a few extra homes but not on those who own many. Sure I heard that, it was about 4 or 5 years ago. If it's TRUE, that's rather elitist. Let's look after the rich again but make it rather obvious

Interestingly, our council has set up a company that buys flats and rents them out. It is a way to stop RTB which was a drain on the availability of affordable property. Should they also be limited in what is after all providing rental property.

@squirrelslikenuts - but in this case, the family were buying in and around Bolton. The house featured was, iirc, worth £55,000 after they had bought it and done it up - well within the reach of a couple on a low wage and definitely affordable for someone on an average one. I'm genuinely curious about why they can buy literally hundreds of properties in this price bracket - and generally LLs and developers pay less than owner-occupiers as they want a margin on the property - instead of locals buying them. The price suggests that affordability isn't the problem, it's desirability.

I’ve had similar issues living next to a property that is owned by a housing association @Ddot

Standards for rentals are abysmal.
Home owners shouldn’t suffer house issues because of how abysmal the care is.

And renters shouldn’t have to put up with it either. They deserve fresh, clean, functioning homes.