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AIBU?

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Original poster

Selfish bastards on Homes Under The Hammer

533 replies

SquishyBones · 02/07/2020 07:59

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

OP posts:
GertrudeCB · 02/07/2020 08:16

I wish people would be as outraged that the Right to Buy money that went to councils under Thatcher wasnt used to build more social housing.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 02/07/2020 08:17

I don’t even think people should be allowed to buy a second home. Would stop this crazy house price situation where only the rich can afford to buy and the rich/poor divide gets larger.

So... how does that work, in real life?

Students
Just left home
Just moved in with partner
Moved for new job
Short work contract away from home
SAHP/Single parent, no job
Don't want to own yet

If you get rid of the rental market you glue peope to the place they were born.

Without the rental market social mobility ceases.

Without private landlords you couldn't easily move areas for a new job, a temporary contract.

Without the rental market young adults have to live at home ntil they can afford to buy... and they won't buy a flat, they will want to buy a family home, with their partner, who they can't live with because they can't rent.

The rental market provides a fluidity that we all need at various times in our life.

Such absolute thinking about second homes, property portfolios etc is ridiculous, has no basis in the real world!

BustyBroke · 02/07/2020 08:18

Someone once suggested to me that a property should need to be on the market for three months before it can be sold to someone who isn't going to live in it. At the moment, EAs have developer/landlord contacts that they contact ASAP for every property that meets their requirements - often the adverts don't even go up so regular people don't get a chance. The vendors are encouraged by the EA to take a low offer for a quick sale. The only people who win are the EAs, and the career landlords/developers - it should be stopped.

Jimdandy · 02/07/2020 08:18

No I don’t agree with stopping people owning properties.

If we’re going to stop that then we should stop people having as many children as they like. Then the need to for housing wouldn’t be so bad. We should this or that.

This is one extreme couple.

I’ve worked bloody hard to get to where I am all off my own steam, nobody gave me anything.

I am going to buy a second property tough

Fanthorpe · 02/07/2020 08:18

Yes we live with a capitalist system but most of our markets are regulated and have checks and balances to ensure that the nature of markets doesn’t work against the desired outcomes.

The housing market as it stands allows a product to be unused for its purpose because of the value that it holds, what’s the point of that?

The first thing that should change is non-resident foreign citizens being able to own property in the U.K. It not allowed in several other countries so it’s a workable policy.

I’m really pleased to read about the drive to get residential properties back in town centres, I think that would be transformative. Towns and cities are much nicer when people live in them.

WhereILiveIsWhereIStay · 02/07/2020 08:19

He sounds horrendous. Not all landlords are evil money grabbing bastards but there's enough of them around.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 02/07/2020 08:19

not buying this!. The rising rents and uncertainty means most people are desperate to get on the property ladder.

So... how will it work. Think it through.

There are no rental properties, none.

You are 18 years old, what are you going to do next?

Tell me about it....

AriettyHomily · 02/07/2020 08:24

Do you think the government will step in and buy them up then op?

Monsterpage · 02/07/2020 08:24

If you’re going to stop people owning more than one home then you need to overhaul and update the house buying process to give buyers and sellers some security.
You also need enough properties for all under the social landlord system as people need to rent. I rented for 14 years before buying.
I’m not a twat or a capitalist b***d or whichever other phrases have been bandied about but I am a landlord. Happened because when we were moving from our flat to our new house our buyer fell through just before exchange. We desperately wanted the house so borrowed from family, cashed things in and used every penny of savings to still buy the house without using the equity from the flat. We were still planning to sell the flat but not as part of the chain.
We got the house, still had the flat on the market and the house prices crashed and no-one was buying. It was empty for a year whilst we tried to sell and in the end we rented it out as we were broke.
We don’t make much money from it once we’ve paid fees, mortgage, repairs, tax on the income.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 02/07/2020 08:25

The housing market as it stands allows a product to be unused for its purpose because of the value that it holds, what’s the point of that? I don't understand. Are you saying the property market encourgaes houses to stand empty?

That isn't true. All councils, in England and Wales, can enforce various improvement notices, impose fines, increase council tax, even force a sale. The lack of adequate housing stock is making this more and more common.

There are enough empty homes to make many new developments unecessary, so it is quite possible that empty houses will have such measures enforced. The government should be lobbied to do more,

www.bigissue.com/latest/there-are-enough-empty-homes-in-england-to-meet-72-of-the-new-homes-target/

The housing market has all sorts of things worng with it. Private landlords aren't necessarily the biggest evil or source of useless houses!

FirTree31 · 02/07/2020 08:25

This is gross. I don't understand how anyone can agree with this when other people go without food and clean water, or heating and electricity, or school clothes and equipment. The reason there is often a general consensus that landlords are vile on MN is because there are so many incidents of them being vile, there's no smoke without fire.

Coffeecak3 · 02/07/2020 08:25

I saw that episode.
It wasn't the couple in the link.
It was obviously a business run by a large extended family.
They had 900 properties already.
Their business model obviously worked for them and the home looked well renovated.
In the rest of Europe renting is very normal it's only the UK that are obsessed with home ownership.

LadyFlumpalot · 02/07/2020 08:26

I rented for over a decade before I bought, in two different houses, both my landlords were utterly lovely. My parents are accidental landlords (probate properties) and are decent to their tenants, the only people I know of in our area who are rubbish landlords are the people renting to the university students.

I don't buy into the narrative of evil landlords, as with every single walk of life, some people are dicks and just happen to be landlords, that doesn't mean every landlord is a dick.

Marpan · 02/07/2020 08:27

You sound really angry and disturbed.
It’s a tv show, property is a great investment.

GertrudeCB · 02/07/2020 08:28

The reason there is often a general consensus that landlords are vile on MN is because there are so many incidents of them being vile, there's no smoke without fire.

Perhaps because nobody starts threads to share that their landlord is a decent person.
Its reporting bias.

GingerFluffycat · 02/07/2020 08:29

@Coffeecak3

I saw that episode. It wasn't the couple in the link. It was obviously a business run by a large extended family. They had 900 properties already. Their business model obviously worked for them and the home looked well renovated. In the rest of Europe renting is very normal it's only the UK that are obsessed with home ownership.
Was it the ones from Stoke on Trent?
grafittiartist · 02/07/2020 08:31

I love this program! But I do feel really uncomfortable when the buyers have loads of property already.
It makes me so happy when I find out that a family want to buy it for themselves to live in.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 02/07/2020 08:31

Ban non U.K. residents/ citizens buying property
Limit rental properties to 1/2 per person/ household
Stop all right to buy on council housing

Nearlyalmost50 · 02/07/2020 08:32

That is a lot of properties.

Buy to let is not automatically profitable now, at a small scale, as there have been tax changes, and more regulation in terms of certification/minimum standards for HMO's. Students are now living, a lot of them, in better housing than I do! The unheated cold damp disgusting houses of my university days may still exist, but usually they are bought up and converted.

I would like to see a move in England to a better buying system such as Scotland, to stop chaos and uncertainty about buying, so a substantial deposit on making an offer and penalties to move out.

I'd also be amenable to rent caps (even as a landlady!) because the market and benefits would adjust and I'm not looking for huge rents, but a fair one, given the cost of borrowing/maintenance. Also, longer-term contracts for some types of properties/renters.

Mumoblue · 02/07/2020 08:32

It does piss me off a little as someone who will struggle to get a mortgage.
I'm probably going to have to move back to where my family lives in the Highlands to even have a chance, and that comes with it's own downsides.

So yeah I get a little jealous of people with hundreds of houses who probably had a lot of advantages that I didn't. But that's life.

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 02/07/2020 08:33

@CuriousaboutSamphire

not buying this!. The rising rents and uncertainty means most people are desperate to get on the property ladder.

So... how will it work. Think it through.

There are no rental properties, none.

You are 18 years old, what are you going to do next?

Tell me about it....

I think social housing should still exist. Proper regulated, non profit housing for those who can’t buy yet.

Instead this 18 year old is forced in to house sharing or high unregulated rent they can barely afford, often forced to turn to benefits.

There isn’t enough social housing to do this because families like mine can’t afford to buy and vacate their HA house. I’d love to own and not rely on social housing. We both work in good jobs, this shouldn’t be unattainable.

Mad circle could be helped and spread the wealth bit of course though already able to buy won’t want to see this change, why would they?

GarlicSoup · 02/07/2020 08:33

@GertrudeCB

How is being a landlord pure greed ? They are providing a service.
^ This
CuriousaboutSamphire · 02/07/2020 08:34

it's only the UK that are obsessed with home ownership. To be fair, I think it's only on MN that you see such a level of obsession.

Out here in the real world renting is normal, usually painless for both landlord and tenant. All the statistics gathered by Shelter etc confirm that. It is soemthing like less than 10% of all tenancies that have issues an less than 10% of those that cause real hardship... I think that was Shelter data too, I'll see if I can find itto get the exact %.

But this government data shows a different trend than posters here show

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/775002/EPLS_main_report.pdf

magicmallow · 02/07/2020 08:34

yanbu OP. There's a terrible housing crisis, people can't afford to get on the housing ladder because of people like these. All that rent going in their pockets keeping other people from getting a foot on the ladder. There should be a maximum amount of property someone is allowed to own and rent out. Not fair. Pure greed.

hammeringinmyhead · 02/07/2020 08:35

We do need rentals. At my uni, in second year, you had to privately rent as there was no space in halls. I needed to live in Bath after uni for 6 months, 200 miles from my family. Are you suggesting I was supposed to finish university with a house deposit? We managed the 2 months rent deposit from savings from our PT jobs, just about.