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

They're running a business that provides a service. And I'm presuming, since it's on that show, that the house was run down and they brought it back to life so someone could live in it. Dont see how it's a bad thing tbh but I dont get how people complain about people owning multiple houses .

I am quite surprise at the hate for landlords and claims they are greedy and such. Not something I would expect on a site where majority makes over 100k a year.

Also. Would stop this crazy house price situation where only the rich can afford to buy and the rich/poor divide gets larger.

No. Not only "rich" can afford to buy. Poor can't afford to buy anywhere... i assume you are talking South prices

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 how does this work? I know the way of buying and selling in england is convoluted and drawn out, but if I were in Scotland, put an offer on a house and then found underlying damp/ subsidence I just have to suck it up and buy it?

Only no, they have the survey done independently prior to making an offer, I think. They tried to introduce sellers packs here but they are a bit pointless.

They're running a business that provides a service that’s a bit simplistic, they’ve basically stuck a middle man in the middle of a business (house ownership) to rinse the end consumer

I’m not Fergus Wilson’s apologist but he came from a poor background.

Should he now be vilified for spotting a business opportunity and taking it? He and his wife were maths teachers, I think, and I’ve read articles in which their tenants have said that they are decent and fair landlords.

I think social housing should still exist. Proper regulated, non profit housing for those who can’t buy yet. And how does that 18 year old access social housing for short periods of time? You didn't actually answer the real world question!

How does social housing promote social fluidity?

It never used to, when it existed. It was mainly family homes, long term lets, lifetimes lets etc.

Private landlords always fulfilled a specific purpose.

I understand the problem in letting (I work in letting - not a landlord or agent). I KNOW that private landlords are essential

It's business. Provided they aren't dodgy landlords I don't see the problem.

Nearlyalmost50 oh I see- so quite a lucrative job to be a surveyor in Scotland?

But not everyone wants to buy.

Being a landlord is a business same as any other. It’s not morally bankrupt or immoral to own something and rent it out for a profit. Assuming the people you mention charge fair, market rates and keep the properties in good repair I don’t see a problem with it.

When I first left home and couldn’t afford to buy I rented a tiny studio flat in a big house. The landlord owned many other properties locally but that wasn’t important to me. He was providing a service I needed at a reasonable price and I was happy to pay for it.

Most properties that sell at auction are sold that way because they are in such poor condition (for of non standard construction) that high street lenders won’t give normal purchasers a mortgage on them. If developers and landlords didn’t buy them they would remain unoccupied and fall into an even greater state of disrepair or be squatted by desperate homeless people. Neither of these options do much for,the local economy. If a developer buys them they will be refurbed and put back in the housing supply.

A friend lives in a terraced house in an expensive London suburb. The owner of the house next door went into a home with dementia and died. He didn’t leave a will, has no known relatives and it cannot be established who it now belongs to. It was in poor repair when he moved out and and has been empty for over 10 years. The rotten window frames have caved in and it is full of plant life, birds and vermin. Local kids congregate there to party in partial shelter. All this a party wall away from where she is trying to live, work and raise her family. Her own house value has dropped through the floor because of this. Even when ownership is established there is no way anyone will ever get a mortgage on that derelict house. She would love it to be bought at auction and developed.

I have no idea, but surveyors are supposed to act independently, that's why their reports hedge their bets all the time!

I’ve read articles in which their tenants have said that they are decent and fair landlords. Yep! But fewer and less detailed than the ones where angry ex tenants speak.

They did have issues with a couple of councils, but so did many landlords in thsoe areas at the time a new regulations were being brought in and heavily enforced.

I don't know them, they could be utterly unlikeable as individuals. But that isn't the same as being evil incarnate!

700 properties is an awful lot I’m with you OP. There’s a shortage of houses so I guess you could argue that houses are different compared to a retail business.

If that pair are the Wilsons, then I agree that they are repulsive and come across as bloated with greed.

Having said that, a rental market is necessary but it needs to be so much better regulated - much more severe sanctions for bad/slum landlords and a ban on those so-called ‘accidental’ landlords (or any other) who decide not long after letting a property that actually they’d prefer to sell, and give tenants notice, with all the expense and hassle that entails.

I’d also like to see compulsory registration of all landlords, to make it a good deal harder to avoid paying tax on rental income, which I’m convinced is rife. And I say this as a LL myself, albeit with just one small property and very good long term tenants.

And although I’m very far from a Tory lover, before anyone starts bleating about them, it was actually they who started phasing out the grossly unfair mortgage tax relief for landlords when it was no longer available to owner occupiers, and introduced extra stamp duty for anyone buying a 2nd or subsequent property.

When Labour were in power and the buy-to-let sector was soaring, they saw fit to do nothing to redress the balance. Might add that Gordon Brown’s raid on pension funds certainly helped to fuel the BTL boom, since many people no longer trusted pensions and put their money into solid bricks and mortar instead.

@CuriousaboutSamphire

I was talking about the ‘buy-to-leave’ market, mostly centred in London. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thelondoneconomic.com/property/almost-11-billion-worth-of-london-housing-is-sitting-empty/30/10/%3famp

This is property bought as investment usually by overseas investors, sometimes used as Air b&b but often left unoccupied.

I think the council policy you’re describing is excellent, in fact I’ve reported a property myself! I often wonder if anyone does it about the infamous rotting mansions on Bishops Avenue?

I’d also like to see a clamp down on discrimination, landlords refusing to rent to HA tenants, those with children, those with pets if a house...that might put a fair few off

If it wasn't for landlords DD would have nowhere to live while she is at university. They do provide a service.

Lots of people WANT to rent... people who have to move around for work, people on short contracts, people who cannot get a mortgage for various reasons.......

I’m NOT a landlord and I do own my own home (just the one) but we have been considering a property as a holiday let at some time in the future..... is owning a holiday let bad too?

So how would council operate renting houses? How about housing associations? If these organisations are banned from holding housing stock - where are the thousands of tenants going to live?

You haven’t thought this through

Most of the thinking on here is unfortunately muddled. It’s based on a concept of everyone wanting and being able to buy their home at every stage of their life. Margaret thatcher would be proud.

We need a rental market. One that is professionally managed and subject to proper regulation and governance which provide a variety of tenancy arrangements. This would necessitate the ownership of large volumes of stock by a variety of organisations. Including companies, Housing associations and the public sector. They need to be able to make a return to make what is otherwise a huge capital investment viable. Our current systems undermine a long term rental model which is prevalent in other countries.

The focus by the OP on the behaviour of one couple to inform thinking and solutions is just simplistic and doesn’t even solve problems in the short term. It’s this type of emotional discourse that drives the popularist opinion that has resulted in generations of failed housing policy in this country.

It’s not greed. It’s speculating and accumulating. Taking risks. If you don’t want to do it because you don’t have the stomach to do so then don’t begrudge others. Envy is a nasty trait.

is owning a holiday let bad too? well look at all the Cornwall/ Dorset posts at the beginning of corona to answer that one. I love the idea in theory of having a get away house but you have to recognise these are real areas people live in, and their towns are ghost towns out of season, no decent up keep of the houses and no investment in the area for 9 months a year.

If it wasn't for landlords DD would have nowhere to live while she is at university. They do provide a service
And when your daughter is 30 and trying to buy her first home don’t you worry it will just be too unattainable?

I have enough money to buy a BTL. I don't, because I consider snapping up a first-time buyer priced home in order to thwart that FTB, then not only, via pricing them out of the market, making them pay my mortgage plus a tidy profit for me, on top- is morally reprehensible.

Yes, owning a 'holiday let' is bad, too, if that house should be available to a local family, who will integrate and strengthen that community, not profiteer from it.