To ask for your experience as a buy-to-let landlord?

[iPaid]

I'm thinking of buying a house or two and renting them out to hopefully fund my retirement in 15 years or so.

Would appreciate any advice or sharing of experience - good and bad!

Sleeponeday,

BTL as an industry is doing no more damage than any other industry.
Energy companies, transport companies and supermarkets are all selling their essential services / goods to people. Some of these people are struggling and / or in receipt of benefits.
Arguably, and using Cruikshank's logic, gas and bread would be cheaper if benefits money were not bring spent on these goods.
Because, apparently, we don't have free market but a market supported by housing etc benefits.

What is the answer?
Cancel the benefits?

With regards to tightening the legislation in order to ensure properties are repaired etc. I agree that this area needs to be improved.

Good LLs have nothing to fear, and bad ones will go out of business. This would benefit the rental sector on the whole and, hopefully, stop undeserved attacks on responsible LLs.

However, I don't agree with capping rents. It won't work. LLs would simply make rents more expensive from year 1 and/or operate via shadow market (official rent vs real rent).

It's a bad idea trying to control market economy as past history shows.

On the other hand, there is a slim chance of meaningful controls being implemented anytime soon. Tories will have at least 15 more years in the office, thanks to Labour's choosing Mr Corbyn as their new leader.
Too many years of sensible centre politics and noone remembers anything that happened before. History lessons are quickly forgotten.

Depends where you are inthe country. In London there are lots of tenants but they also have lots of power and will move tenancies every year if that will save them a bit on the rent and they negotiate quite hard when each year is up as they know the landlord does not want a void period.

As someone said we need not fear rent control as Corbyn means the Tories thankfully will rule for a generation. Thank God.

It's a bad idea trying to control market economy as past history shows.

Really? So you think bailing out the banks with public money was a bad idea? Quantitative easing? The artificial suppression of interest rates - terrible? Or is intervention in a market economy suddenly okay when you, personally, benefit

Sleeponeday,
Yes I am against any intervention in a market economy, in principle.
Although sometimes, in highly exceptional circumstances, for example during the worldwide economic crisis, it's a necessary evil on which country's survival depends. We don't live in an ideal world.

And yes I think that the struggling banks should have been allowed to go down. However the consequences would have been too much for this country to bear. Hence the lesser of 2 evils, bailing out.

Yes, I think it was bad to say they were too big to fail. I also don't like interference in interest rates either.

People might be interested in today's new in the Times or FT (not sure as I read both) that rental rates in London have fallen in the last 3 months which is market forces I am sure.