Selfish bastards on Homes Under The Hammer

[SquishyBones]

Watching this shit show as I was bored and a family bought a house. The woman then proudly explained that they already own 700(!!!) houses in the area already and are hoping to own 1000 by the end of the year. How the fuck is this even allowed?? AIBU to think selfish bastards like this should be stopped and there should be a cap on how many properties a person can own? Even 10 houses per person would be ridiculous but would stop the likes of these people

Without us parents being able to buy a second home, the younger generation would be renting forever and never get on the ladder but according to so many on this thread everyone relishes renting

You know you can’t rent to family if you take out a BTL mortgage.

There is a mechanism for poor properties to be investigated by the council housing department, and if found to be unliveable/need work, they get a court order to get the work done- e.g. dangerous places, damp, overcrowding. Often however, people don't report their landlords as they need low rent and know it will be difficult to get rehousing, or accept (if they say are temp residents) the overcrowding. Watch Slum Landlords, Nightmare Tenants- it's instructive on both sides.

Legislation is being passed as someone says, to try to force landlords into allowing pets without a larger deposit. I would prefer not to rent to people with pets, although happy to with a larger deposit to cover carpets/other damage. Also, a dog barking can be very disruptive to neighbours, so it's pretty obvious that landlords will prefer people who have quiet pets! I don't want to piss off my surrounding neighbours as I can't control if and when they have a dog in the property.

We're buying a flat to rent to our son so it's a buy to let you can't let to family on a standard buy to let mortgage but there are quite a few other types of guarantor and other mortgages that parents can use to do this. If you go to a good mortgage broker who understands the products, they should be able to help.

@Oliversmumsarmy on what grounds can’t you have a buy to let mortgage and not let to family?

I’ve come across more than one situation where family are tenants

on what grounds can’t you have a buy to let mortgage and not let to family

I am sure it is in the terms and conditions of btl mortgages

www.which.co.uk/news/2019/01/buy-to-let-for-parents-should-you-invest-in-a-property-for-your-kids/

It's not a standard buy to let

Imagine taking away all the privately rented properties and you have something akin to what we had growing up.

Really really bad housing.

I even posted a picture and link to others of the truly dire housing I grew up in, nobody seemed to want to comment! I assume it doesn't fit the narrative when you shoehorn in the poor working class experience of yesteryear!

I said I wasn’t saying rental homes were worse today, I have been staring it’s harder to buy!

Curiousabout I agree with you that in general, housing has got much better. You don't see the type of extremely run down, heated with one electric heater, freezing crumbling buildings we rented off landlords at university. In the main, people want to keep their assets from depreciating, that plus central heating or storage heating as a norm, and cheap magnolia paint (how I hate that colour, having been in rental for a decade or so!) has meant that most places now are done up to a minimum standard. My last rental, the managing agent was excellent, and came out the same day for all repairs. Replaced oven when it broke and so on.

One of the worst around here in terms of management is the council. My friend has just been lucky enough to be housed by the council with a child, and they have been given a nice two bed flat- with no carpets!!!! They have to save up out of their UC/measly benefits to carpet the whole place. She does not have a car. If this were me, I have the means to get the carpets on credit, or to get some cheap off Gumtree and transport them myself in my car. Little ways in which people already in poverty get further disadvantaged. The council can be good but are also very aware of their statutory duties and don't go beyond them. They did give her a big pot of white paint though and told her to get on with it!

Housing Associations/Council's don't provide white goods, carpets, furniture etc. so 'let' at much lower rents. Maybe the answer would be for private LL to rent their properties in effect, empty?

My friend has just been lucky enough to be housed by the council with a child, and they have been given a nice two bed flat- with no carpets!!!!

I see this often and it always raises my eyebrow.
Is social housing really coming as a bear shell??? There is not THAT big difference between private and HA rent where I am and if they come bear, then it may actually in the end work out the same like private rent after buying carpets, furniture and appliances...

I think letting a flat with a concrete floor with a small child with a health problem actually is morally wrong. As I say, I would just get carpets on credit, my friend is a single mum with no recourse to credit. She's just put down rugs and doesn't invite people over yet. A carpet or some type of floor covering is standard in every other type of property- even those let as 'unfurnished'.

@NYMM

Housing Associations/Council's don't provide white goods, carpets, furniture etc. so 'let' at much lower rents. Maybe the answer would be for private LL to rent their properties in effect, empty?

I think that would be better to be honest. I would rather decorate my house to my own preference and add furnishings. Because even by the time you have bought everything like appliances and flooring long term it is still far cheaper to live in housing associations. However you can live in nicer areas when you private rent.

My friend is actually fantastically grateful to get a council flat, the rent is half what she was trying to pay (and failing and getting into arrears) in the private sector. She has health problems and cannot work to the max in her physical job. So- better the no carpet hideously decorated out of town not near her job flat then staying in the private sector.

It doesn't seem impossible to have more social housing/council run housing as well as a healthy private sector. At the moment, neither part of the housing market seems to work very well.

Housing Associations/Council's don't provide white goods, carpets, furniture etc. so 'let' at much lower rents. Maybe the answer would be for private LL to rent their properties in effect, empty?
yeah. Unfurnished is already bit cheaper than furnished (for obvious reasons) so if the provide just shell, it would ve considerably cheaper.
It is cheaper to rip out stuff and bin it when tenant leaves, rather than change it for new (like carpet). Less risk of damage (bar kitchen and bathroom units) too.

The irony is of course, that the people best placed to come in and deal with a shell, are wealthier private renters anyway, who have the cash or credit to fit out a house. Least likely are those like my friend, who can't just stump up the money for a washing machine, oven, carpets, and furniture all at once. Hence Bright House (which have now thankfully gone bankrupt I think).

@101jobs

We have a second home, a small flat in a busy seaside town. We cost the local council very little as we don’t use local services like schools, libraries or social services. Effectively we pay full council tax for having our rubbish and recycling collected when we are there. And we put a load of money into the local economy.
We bought in that area because there are so many theatres, cinemas, restaurants, bars etc so it’s a year round destination. When we are there we are very much in holiday mode so we eat out most nights and we make full use of all the entertainment options as well as employing local tradesmen, using local salons, nail bars, shops etc. I use the Mindbody app so I can attend dance and exercise classes at local studios which are mostly small independent businesses. We also support local charities. And when we aren’t there we lend the flat free of charge to friends and family for holidays and mini breaks who also use these services. I am fully confident we are a net gain to the local economy.

Thanks to lockdown we haven’t visited the flat for some months so haven’t been spending there. It is very dependent on visitor and tourist trade so I am sure local businesses are feeling the pinch. I hope to be back very soon, revisiting our favourite venues and spending again.

@Porcupineinwaiting - but your logic fails on that it is hoarding AND profiteering. There is no point in buying up all the antibacterial hand gel (hoarding) unless you aim to sell it at a profit (profiteering). I do find it very easy to believe that not everyone is able to buy a house and this due to them being unable to afford one which in turn is due restrictions on supply from planning restrictions and also speculative behaviour by landlords. I also understand that not everyone wants to buy a house but this is a limited niche market the same as car rental where someone only wants a house (or rental car) in a particular location for a limited period of time. Most tenants stay in rental properties for many years simply because them can't afford to buy it.

Second homes seems an area where planning can easily put a cap though, same as student accommodation if it starts to take over an area. A few second homes- great for the economy, a large amount of second homes pricing out locals- not great for the economy. Ditto student housing.

These things are fixable with a will, we don't have to let the market run rampant.

Aren't second homes already a subject yo 2x council tax?

Where I grew up is incredibly common to have a cottage somewhere nice for holidays, but I saw in here people have actual houses often, not just something like log cabin? I guess that's why it's accepted where I am from

They remove the carpets because if they were to have bed begs/ fleas / pests etc. then the tennant has a right to be re houses and compensation for the trouble etc. (Ex housing officer)

Presuming this came from an incident when this did happen and it cost them a lot of money.

Certainly keeps the carpet fitters in good business!

Second homes seems an area where planning can easily put a cap though, same as student accommodation if it starts to take over an area. A few second homes- great for the economy, a large amount of second homes pricing out locals- not great for the economy. Ditto student housing.These things are fixable with a will, we don't have to let the market run rampant.

Unfortunately, some local councils (who control planning) make VERY strange decisions. I have a client who is a builder and bought a derelict farm with barns etc close to the Lake District National Park. He applied for planning permission to convert into several small homes. PP was refused and he was told he would only get planning permission for holiday homes - i.e. they'd put in a stipulation as to length of time anyone could live in one (several months). That defied common sense as the locals in the Lake District are crying out for small affordable homes for locals to live in. In the end he had to convert into a smaller number of larger homes which are now let as short term holiday lets. Some local councils are really strange!

100% There needs to be a cap - its ridiculous. I think particularly in London 1 person shouldn't be allowed to own more than 1-2 properties MAX!

@Goinghometocallie

They remove the carpets because if they were to have bed begs/ fleas / pests etc. then the tennant has a right to be re houses and compensation for the trouble etc. (Ex housing officer)

Presuming this came from an incident when this did happen and it cost them a lot of money.

Certainly keeps the carpet fitters in good business!

You can actually leave your flooring down if it’s in good condition I did it in my last property. Somebody from the housing has to come out and inspect and approve this though.