to think that banning 'buy-to-let' would go a long way to solving the housing crisis?

[carlajean]

It seems so obvious to me that there's sure to be some flaw in the argument, but it would be easy to enforce (i.e. one family, one house) and there would be a large number of houses/flats released onto the market, forcing the price down (to a rational level) so that people could afford the newly-available housing.
Because interest rates are so low, housing is a good investment, particularly with older people who might have pulled down their pension early, resulting in private landlords buying up cheap housing a letting it out.
I await flaming, but am interested to hear what people think.

fine, ban it. I'll evict my tenant and sell. He rents for reasons which suit him fine, he doesn't want to buy at the moment. So he'll be forced into buying. He probably can, what about those that can't? Where will they live if you make all the landlords evict and sell up?

I agree that the tax breaks on the mortgages need to go, and are going.

don't believe the 'early pension' crap - anyone who does that IS insane. Many are buying property because interest rates are so low and their cash is disappearing with inflation, but it isn't because of pensions.

at the moment we have negative interest rates on savings AND mortgages hard to get. Worst of all worlds for everyone!

rent caps do exist and ARE linked to local wages, if you realise that there is more to the UK than London.

I think that a massively high stamp duty for non-UK residents would be useful.

All renting should be through social housing.

So if I want to rent an agreeable cottage in Cornwall for a couple of weeks in the summer I'll have to get it off the council? I can't imagine them offering a friendly greeting and a few fresh eggs on the table when I arrive.

And I wonder if Manchester City Council fancies acting as landlord for 80K students, turning over annually?

A close friend was advised by a solicitor to rent out her mothers house rather than sell it . The rent along with her pension and some other savings enabled her to pay the care home fees without selling the house. Is that wrong?

The London market for houses, rather than smaller flats is stalled at present due to 12% stamp duty rates. Are people saying stamp duty should be higher than 12%?

I think that a massively high stamp duty for non-UK residents would be useful

There is a world outside Zone 2, you know.

I rent, there is no way I could afford to buy. I wouldn't want to either, at the moment DP and I need flexibility to move around and go where the jobs are.

I do agree that we need more social housing. Repeal Right to Buy for a start.
I think the real undiagnosed problem is the huge swathe of people who are not eligible for social housing but can't think about buying either. It is the private rental market that is in dire need of regulation, and has been for years.

Massive increase in social housing would effectively reduce demand in many areas for private rentals, so would make it less attractive as an investment. And there is clearly a need in some parts of the country for a massive building scheme by the state.

Rent controls, greater tenant rights would again, make it more of a risk. These would reduce numbers picking this over other investments.

I do wonder if it's a one generational blip though, cant imagine many of the 30-somethings struggling with their own massive mortgages making a killing int he housing market in another 20 years time. Surely we'll get a lot of properties coming back on the market for sale when all those baby boomers start dying off...

Which part of it would you ban? Mortgages for buy to lets, or the whole enterprise of renting?

And yes, I actually would forgo my 'right' to a twee waterside cottage holiday! A solution would be to issue a locally agreed (by local residents) number of holiday let licenses in a given area, and to tax the pants off others left empty. I 'get' that young families don't necessarily want twee cottages that are expensive to maintain, so the number of these holiday-let licenses should be reflected by development in the village/area suitable for FTBs.

That sounds like a great way to kill tourism.

I think that Btl properties should be treated as a separate class of commercial property and taxed differently. Higher sdlt a percentage of which is ring fenced for social housing projects. If you own and then decide to rent it out at a later date then a tax return can be made at that time and the tax paid accordingly at that stage as a,lump sum.if uou can't afford it you'll have to sell which would be Good for the market as a,whole.

Make Btl mortgages full repayment. Interest only mortgages are virtually non existent now for owner occupiers so why is Btl different!

Tax income from rent at highest rate 45%.

Introduce the right to buy from private landlords not at a discount but at the market rate as independently valued.

Would people not be allowed to move into their boyfriend's flat if they had their own? or be forced to sell it?

Why would banning BTL mean she wasnt allowed to move in with her boyfriend? she can move in with whoever she likes. She just couldnt rent out her own place. She would only be forced to sell it if she couldnt afford to keep it. Which is something many people would of course be considering before taking on a mortgage if the law didnt allow them to depend on other people paying it for them.

Specialsubject rent caps do not appear to be in place in rural Shropshire, or Cheshire, as rents here are far higher here than local wages allow. They are frequently topped up by housing benefit for those of us on W&CTC.
About half of my street (terraced, 2 or 3 beds, on-street parking, one of cheapest in my little market town) are rentals. They vary between £575-675 pcm at the moment. 5 years ago the top rental price was £600 (my friend paid it for what looked like a really lovely house, but turned out not to be). Every time they come up for rent, the price goes up, and they don't stay empty for long. I know most of my neighbours well and none of us are in exceptionally well paid jobs, with several not working at all.
So I'm not sure how this rent cap of yours is supposed to be working and I'm well out of London.
Oh, and we have a lot of what used to be social housing but is now in private ownership. You can tell how many as the council has just retiled all the rooves of its housing stock in town, and there's about 40% untouched. Which is a shame as we could really do with those couple of hundred or so houses.

she can move in with whoever she likes. She just couldnt rent out her own place.

That is fascist nonsense. There's this thing called 'property rights'. Once you've bought something, it's yours to do with as you see fit.

What about AirBNB? Would that have to go as well?

Why would banning BTL mean she wasnt allowed to move in with her boyfriend? confused she can move in with whoever she likes. She just couldnt rent out her own place. She would only be forced to sell it if she couldnt afford to keep it.

The problem with this idea is that it does take a property out of circulation and is then unavailable for another family. My friend can afford the mortgage on his property he just can't find the approx £25,000 he would be short if he sold up. Prices round us have dropped that much, for his house £25k is a drop of about a third

Let her rent it out but pay the tax accordingly

Yabvu

she can move in with whoever she likes. She just couldnt rent out her own place

So you are proposing a move that actively reduces the amount of available housing stock in the country? Very sensible

My friend can afford the mortgage on his property he just can't find the approx £25,000 he would be short if he sold up. Prices round us have dropped that much, for his house £25k is a drop of about a third

I dont know why people keep complaining being surprised that houses are worth less than they borrowed against them. did they really only expect the market to keep booming? This is a risk you take when you take out a mortgage.

That is fascist nonsense. There's this thing called 'property rights'. Once you've bought something, it's yours to do with as you see fit.

nope. There are restrictions. And they can change.

Yabu. A lot of people prefer to rent. You can't just ban buy to let, ridiculous. Buy to let is not the money spinner you believe either!

Flaws aplenty OP The real problem was Thatcher's introduction of the Right to Buy if you were a social housing tenant, and the prohibition on local councils to replace social housing thus privatised by more social housing.

My tenants rent a lovely family home, which they really could not afford to buy. Renting allows people to live in houses they couldn't afford to buy, and gives them freedom at particular points in their lives.

Your idea is naive in the extreme.

I'd ban non residents buying first and having massive taxes on empty properties.

indeed. Although I prefer raising costs to banning (i.e. some sort of tax on foreign buying).

As for the OP, I doubt this would lower prices to a rational level, and so what do you do? some people still couldn't buy, and now are out on the street because there is nowhere to rent.

Massive increase in social housing would effectively reduce demand in many areas for private rentals,

why focus on social housing? I massive increase in housing would do this.