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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think pre 1989 tenancy rights should be restored?

402 replies

fideline · 13/03/2014 11:06

And that Assured Shorthold Tenancies should be abolished (or severely restricted?

Pre 1989 nearly all rents were subject to 'fair rent' adjudication and private tenants had much better security of tenure.

Reintroducing similar measures would vastly improve quality of life for millions of people in the UK (including children) and help to reduce the Housing Benefit bill.

Special exemptions and phasing arrangements could be made for accidental LLs and amateur LLs with small portfolios.

Reasonable?

OP posts:
LessMissAbs · 14/03/2014 15:52

Noddy buy to lets are taxed - rental income is taxed and CGT is payable on sale if its not someone's main residence.

If you regulate rent, you risk the payoff in it not being viable to provide properties to exactingly high standards.

Rents need regulating full stop Why?

Good luck in finding someone to rent you a cheap, desirable, perfectly maintained property for life. You might be searching all your life...

wowfudge · 14/03/2014 15:57

noddy - rents aren't determined by how much the owner has borrowed. They are determined by the market.

Without BTL there would potentially be many homes on the market with no one living in them or people wanting to move who can't because they can't sell. BTL is taxed.

Original poster
fideline · 14/03/2014 16:02

" I'm sorry if the OP's life has panned out disappointingly for her, but that's not my fault - I've also had my share of living in rented rooms in shared flats on not much money while working towards my end goal, but I think intelligence is also about learning from your environment as much as academics, and I learned a lot from how my own landlords came about having their properties, rather than wanting to restrict them and crying out "its not fair"."

Abs

I'm not remotely disappointed with my life Confused

Is there a reason I should be?

Rented rooms? Shared houses? What on earth are you talking about?

OP posts:
LessMissAbs · 14/03/2014 16:04

Rented rooms? Shared houses? What on earth are you talking about?

Have you actually left home OP?

You know, when you fly the parental nest, at age 18 as was my wont, generally you can't afford to rent a whole house, so you rent a room in a shared house.

you actually need this explained to you?

Original poster
fideline · 14/03/2014 16:05

"Oh, and what else was it? A "class of accidental landlords who weren't professional either" who were a new invention. Because no-one ever in the history of the UK has had a property which they cannot sell but can rent out."

I do understand how accidental LLing comes about Abs. My DH is an accidental LL since he moved in with me. That is why I said they needed special consideration; being thrown into LLing without having a chance to swot up is quite full on.

OP posts:
Original poster
fideline · 14/03/2014 16:07

Why am I supposedly disappointed with my life? And what is the relevance of rented rooms?

OP posts:
Damnautocorrect · 14/03/2014 16:07

A point that I feel is missed not all private renters claim HB
I don't, we can't buy through circumstance, shit timings, abusive ex partners leading to a lack of deposit. So when I say we are being priced out the area we really are

Original poster
fideline · 14/03/2014 16:12

Indeed autocorrect, a third of renters don't claim a penny.

Slight lack of calm discussion in here at the moment, unfortunately.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 14/03/2014 16:12

I agree, but it will never happen because everyone in power needs to keep this house of cards that is the property market standing up as a crash would be very bad considering we have basically no industry, widgets or people to sell and limited natural resources to flog. When you have an economy like this, you either become a tax haven or go bust.

Original poster
fideline · 14/03/2014 16:13

Yes I left home more than twenty years ago Abs but I don't quite see the relevance of that either.

OP posts:
LessMissAbs · 14/03/2014 16:15

OP - you are beginning to sound increasingly erratic.

Do you have much experience of life at all?

I mean I, like many people, have rented rooms in shared houses, whole flats on my own, a whole house with my then partner, bought and sold flats and houses, rented abroad in Germany for work.

And oh my goodness, its hard to find somewhere to rent in Germany and the standards of rental properties are so low. They do have protected tenancies and rents there, and I think the UK market is so much easier and healthier for tenants. We ended up renting a horrible studio apartment in a high rise block miles out of the city for an inflated rent, and never saw a gas safety certificate.

Never have I felt any overriding desire to rent one property for life. Who does? Its always at the back of my mind that I might need or want to move elsewhere for work. Work dictates where I live, not some fear of moving.

Original poster
fideline · 14/03/2014 16:20

No Abs I have been entirely consistent. I suspect you have been making some pretty inaccurate assumptions about me and misreading some most posts.

OP posts:
noddyholder · 14/03/2014 16:21

Not where I live I have been told by several agents when I asked why one 2 bed was 850 and another in the same block 1200 that the owner had to cover their mortgage. I know lots of landlords and they all do it.

noddyholder · 14/03/2014 16:23

I work in property and I hope for a crash! Don't think you should be allowed a mortgage for a 2nd property cash or forget it and hope interest rates rise asap

Original poster
fideline · 14/03/2014 16:23

You still haven't told me what is disappointing about life Abs

I'm worried because I am feeling remarkably content actually. What have I missed?

OP posts:
LessMissAbs · 14/03/2014 16:24

You're scrabbling now, OP.

What is it that you are actually trying to say?

Caitlin17 · 14/03/2014 16:25

Oh I see Fideline security of tenure for all tenants except your husband's because he "accidentally became a landlord"

No it wasn't by accident. He deliberately chose to keep a house he doesn't need to live in. Nothing wrong with that but what a hypocrite you are coming on here and going on about how unfair AST/SATs are.

noddyholder · 14/03/2014 16:26

I agree with you fideline on accidental and esp amateur landlords.

Original poster
fideline · 14/03/2014 16:27

No don't duck it.

Why are you sorry that I'm disappointed with my life?

What makes you think that I am disappointed?

What was the hyperactive little rant about rooms in shared houses in aid of?

OP posts:
LessMissAbs · 14/03/2014 16:28

How can anyone, never mind someone who claims to be interested in improving the lives of millions, not know what a rented room in a shared house is?

How is that even possible?

Please define an amateur landlord noddy?

noddyholder · 14/03/2014 16:29

I sold a bog standard 3 bed terrace 3 years ago and it was on the market to let 2 months later as a 6 bed??????? £400 per room. £2400 a month. They had done no work to make the 3 other bedrooms. It would be a perfect house for a family as near good schools and yet what family can afford that! So its let to sharers.

Caitlin17 · 14/03/2014 16:29

And you have the nerve to criticise me but your husband was "thrown into it without having a chance to swot up on it"

What nonsense. Did he wake up one morning and suddenly find he'd acquired a house with tenants?

It is his duty and responsibility not to become a landlord until he has "swotted up"

Original poster
fideline · 14/03/2014 16:31

DH is only offering holiday lets and has kept the cottage quietly on the market Caitlin. He has no interest in being a LL. It's been quite a stress.

However it does give me insight into how it can happen in a sluggish or nervous market.

OP posts:
LessMissAbs · 14/03/2014 16:31

Nevertheless Noddy people who can only afford to rent a room and not a whole house and who aren't families also have a need to rent.

noddyholder · 14/03/2014 16:33

Chancers Hoping to cash in in a few years while somebody pays over the odds for their house and covers the mortgage because they can't buy their own. Then when any problem arises with the property they move heaven and earth not to fix it. Our last house we rented was riddled with damp and our landlords after 2 years asked us to leave as they wanted to sell. What they actually did was paint over the damp with white gloss and let it to 2 poor students whose parents now are taking action.