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AIBU?

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Original poster

renters should support their landlords against the government

178 replies

carmellas3 · 05/08/2015 15:16

The government are starting to tax landlords more (removal of interest tax relief and ware and tear rules). If nothing is done renters will just end up paying more for rent and landlords fees increase.

There are some bad landlords, but the vast majority just want a stable income and provide a good service for people to rent.

I think the time for landlord bashing has ended.

OP posts:
londonrach · 05/08/2015 15:24

Why? As a long term renter i think there should be a rent cap as its got silly in london. Also think you should tax ll more as the buy to let market is really hurting the market. Also have reported your other post as it was posted twice and i think there was a fault in the system...

dragonflyinthelillies · 05/08/2015 15:39

I second the rent cap I'm in the se, commuter town and my rent is double what my friend pays for her mortgage and she is in a three bed detached whilst I'm in a small 2 bed terrace.
Our ll has several properties in the area and must be making a packet. Everything is done through an agency so he has very little involvement.
As far as I'm can see if you have the money to invest in the first place it is fairly easy money especially if through an agency where the risks are massively reduced.
There are cuts everywhere why should ll be exempt?

dragonflyinthelillies · 05/08/2015 15:41

Sorry meant semi detached

TheSkyAtNight · 05/08/2015 15:49

Landlords need to pay tax & rent should be capped. Maybe then buying up affordable homes for financial reasons rather than to live in will stop & this will ease one of the pressures on our ridiculous housing market.

Original poster
carmellas3 · 05/08/2015 15:51

Dragon but if these changes went through you would end up paying more rent as the landlord passes the cost onto you! That's the point.

Rent controls would be a very bad idea, its interference with the free market and might discourage people from investing their hard earnt money in providing a service for renters. If they all stuck their money in gold where would the renters live?

OP posts:
KittensOnAPlane · 05/08/2015 15:51

i think there should be a rent cap too, people need affordable housing and where i used to live every time any new houses were built they all seemed to be bought up by landlords, and i think its wrong.

(i dont know what the answer is)

QueenStromba · 05/08/2015 15:54

Hahahahahahahah. Hahahahahaha. Ha.

Rent will not go up because rent is set by what the market will bare. You're already charging as much rent as you can. Not all landlords will be affected by this, just the over leveraged idiots who have been depriving young people of the opportunity to buy using the unfair tax advantage. It was about time that this loophole was closed and I'm looking forward to the removal of all mortgage interest tax relief.

JeanneDeMontbaston · 05/08/2015 15:57

Lots of landlords are great, but I do think we need better rights for tenants - the current system is absurd.

I agree with you, OP, in worrying about increased rents for tenants - but the answer is to make it illegal for LL to cash in like this.

Lurkedforever1 · 05/08/2015 15:57

If they all stuck their money in gold the housing market wouldn't be as much of a joke as it is. If from now on all buy to let vanished, house prices would fall, and many currently private renting would buy. There would then be less demand on the pr market, thus an over supply would lead to a drop in rental for those unable/not wanting to buy.

ilovesooty · 05/08/2015 15:58

hard earnt money
providing a service to renters

Oh that's side splittingly funny. Hmm

TheSkyAtNight · 05/08/2015 16:00

"Providing a service for renters". You maybe are, op, but I'd describe my experience of renting as living in hovels due to a massively over-inflated housing market driven by landlords looking for me to line their pockets, & those of their agents. Without all the landlords in my city, I'd imagine I would have got onto the housing ladder years before I did.

ThatBloodyWoman · 05/08/2015 16:03

I'm in favour of a rent cap and a tenants charter that obliges landlords to give tenants certain rights to make the house their home,including being allowed children and pets.Furthermore,there shoukd be a good look at deposits,and their return,and security of tenure.
So,I think the governement should support tenants.

Original poster
carmellas3 · 05/08/2015 16:06

Sorry to hear you have had some bad landlords, like every industry there are rogues out there.

I have a very modest portfolio and I provide a good service that people choose to buy off me. No one is forced to rent off a landlord so it is a service in the free market. I think many people are unaware how much work is involved, it isn't just easy money!

OP posts:
ThatBloodyWoman · 05/08/2015 16:08

How is no one forced to rent off a landlord if they can't buy? Confused

LazyLouLou · 05/08/2015 16:11

I don't think renters need more support than landlords.

I don't think landlords need more support than renters.

I do think that when a landlord rents out unsuitable property there should be more done to force work to be done.

But I also think that the current situation where a tenant can refuse to pay for months and just walk away owing thousands also needs to be changed.

Anyone who thinks this is a one sided issue is missing the wider issues. The kneejerk reaction that btl landlords are stealing the houses first time buyers would buy is ridiculous and ignores the vast number of people who need to rent and would be without any options if rentals were not available.

BOTH sides of the issues need to be brought together in a joint charter. Pitting one side against the other is counterproductive and only makes it harder to rent securely for reasonable prices.

JeanneDeMontbaston · 05/08/2015 16:14

carm, of course people are forced to rent from landlords.

How do you imagine most people find homes?

Of course it isn't easy work - but, that is what you are being paid for, right? Ideally, there would be stricter controls on LL so that they did not have to do so little, too. It shouldn't be so easy for people to make money on property by taking advantage of tenants, and England is quite unusual in putting the laws so much in the LL's favour.

Of course many LL are excellent, but the good ones can't make up for the fact the system is skewed.

JeanneDeMontbaston · 05/08/2015 16:15

Cross post.

Agree strongly with lou that this can't just be about buying - some people need to rent and need proper rights.

FuzzyWizard · 05/08/2015 16:20

I think buy to let mortgages are a huge part of the problem. I think there needs to be a massive rethink of how much of a property the landlord should have to own outright. At the moment landlords are swooping in with 10% deposits and then expecting their tenants to pay rent that at least covers the mortgage, pushing up prices. I don't think but to let mortgages should be allowed to cover more than about 40% of a property's value. We do need landlords but the return that some seem to expect on relatively small capital investment is ridiculous. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect landlords to actually own the majority share of the property they are renting out.

Backforthis · 05/08/2015 16:24

Aw, diddums.

Cheby · 05/08/2015 16:30

OP this is pretty delusional. In essence, Landlords are people who are already rich enough to put a deposit on a house in addition to the one they live in. They then get someone to pay off the mortgage for them, either making a profit as they go or at least building up an asset which could be sold at any point. Where rent is paid by housing benefit, then taxpayers are paying to build up that asset.

On top of that, the increasing practice of buy to let means that fewer and fewer people can afford to buy their own homes, rents are pushed up further and landlords' profit increases.

So no, I don't think tenants need to back landlords in their pursuit of greater profit. I agree with a rent cap, I think we need social housing stock to be massively increased and I think more should be done legally to make private landlords offer long term assured tenancies.

In short I think it should be more difficult and less profitable to be a buy to let landlord. That's the only thing that will put the brakes on this situation.

I say this from the perspective of a homeowner and as someone who could have chosen to invest in buy to let last year (I didn't). So I'm not an embittered tenant.

FloralFancy · 05/08/2015 16:33

Landlords already maximise the rent they can get on any given property. Sure they do, it is a business. So how on earth they think they can pass this new cost onto the tennants is beyond me. Of course, in reality they don't really think that, they are just trying to scare tennants into signing their petition.

I would say let these over-leveraged BTL (BORROW buy - to - let) reap what they have sown. They have forced millions of young couples and familes off the property-ladder even though they won't admit that (or they are too blind to see that). All the friends I have spoken to agree with me on this, so perhaps it is a generational Thing (with my parents Generation being the HAVEs, and my generation being the HAVE-NOTs).

QueenStromba · 05/08/2015 16:40

There's not a chance in hell that the Tories will U-turn on this as home owners tend to vote Tory and renters tend to vote Labour - way more votes to be won than lost on this one. Pretty much everyone hates landlords as a class. Obviously not all of them are complete wankers (I've invited mine to my wedding, for example) but it is something that draws in selfish bastards who cannot see that owning extra homes is depriving others of their chance to own their own home.

fredfredgeorgejnr · 05/08/2015 16:43

If the return on investment for rental housing falls due to higher taxes, then people will move to other investments, that's unlikely to be bad for the economy as housing is a pretty poor investment for an economy as a whole (it doesn't move money around)

So it makes complete sense to tax it more heavily, just sell up and invest in something else, you'd only be pleading to keep the same thing if your return is good...

Onetwothreeoops · 05/08/2015 16:47

The government are targeting borrow to let landlords who have been identified as having an unfair advantage when it comes to buying properties. This is only a relatively small number of prospective landlords and probably not enough to be able to pass the costs on via raising rents as there would be plenty of other properties available where the landlords are not affected by the changes.

I don't think there will be many tenants around who would be on the landlords side against the government regarding this.

hairtoday1 · 05/08/2015 16:49

I could afford to buy on my salary ten years ago. Now I can't. So I am forced to rent.

I'd like to know where the good landlords are btw.

Maybe the landlords you're talking about could sell up op, the poor loves

(Yes I am a bit bitter. The inheritors and investors have priced me out. Anything in my price range is CASH ONLY! and need of major refurb, so not for me.)

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