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

I lived in various rentals from the age of 17-31, without those rentals where was I supposed to live?

Yes, the rental system does need changing, but those wanting to scrap it are just as awful as bad landlords as they’re happy to see people without a home.

OP, you need to get educated on this issue. Landlords like these are not the key issue. The fact is, you cannot build affordable housing on expensive land, and it's all expensive because we're on an island and huge tracts of land are tied up by private landowners, plenty of whom didn't even BUY their land in the first place. If you want to solve the issue, push for land reform and remove thousands of acres of land from people whose families were gifted it because they sucked up to some monarch or other in the past and they've just held onto it for hundreds of years since. Or lobby for a change in laws so James Dyson and his like have to stop buying up agricultural land with their millions so they can dodge inheritance tax when they pass everything on to their heirs. If land were cheaper and more freely available, housing would not be so expensive and we wouldn't be more than a million homes short in the UK. That's the issue to solve.

I’m not talking about a “getaway house”, I’m talking about a place for other people to holiday in what’s the difference, still not lived in much of the year round.
Tbh I don’t really shed a tear for the middle classes struggling to get a cottage rental when a whole generation can’t afford to put a roof over their head.
I appreciate we need a rental market but we need a fairer system with better regulation, controlled rents and higher taxation.
I also detest the “well we saved and worked hard” etc, usually spouted by someone who bought 30years ago! Oblivious to the cost of living today. I did an exercise with my nephew yesterday, I told him he was a nurse earning 30k a year in London, we went through his rent and bills etc and proved that he’d probably have £100 left at the end of the month (if that)....to buy a flat c. 250k he’d need 25k saved....he was shocked!

I hate most of the property programs including the architecture ones. They fuel a totally unrealistic view of the property market or they normalise some shady property development practises (particularly people doing buy to let on some shitty run down flat, slapping on some magnolia and some new kitchen unit doors and charging huge rent for it).

I just get fed up with the lack of care for others that many on this programmes have, particularly those on the architecture programmes where they are causing massive impacts on their neighbours and act like they are the ones who are the victims. I saw one programme once where a couple were basically completely rebuilding a property in London in a very tight street where they were building mega-basement and caused all their neighbours massive hassle by bringing in excavation plant that was really too big for the road. At one point they damaged a neighbours wall and the women was so lacking in empathy she simply couldn't see why their neighbour was so pissed off.

There will always be a rental property sector, but it has become such a big housing sector that it needs further regulation more like the German model. There are too many shitty landlords and Covid has highlighted that. The additional protections brought in in the last decade are welcome but there need to be more to allow tenants long term security. I also think that the idea that buy to let had not inflated property prices is utterly ridiculous. The boom in buy to let activity and the huge inflation in property prices are completely contemporaneous.

700? 900? Wow! Why would you need to have a property portfolio that big? Are there towns where they're practically the only landlords to rent from? Not good.

Aside from the naff presenters, awful music puns and repetition I like watching HUTH! It's always good to see a desperate property brought back to life and especially if it's to be someone's real home not just a bland refurb then tenanted.

I work for a letting agent and see all sorts of reasons for people renting - people who are relocating and want to get a feel for the area, young people making a first step away from home, new couples moving into a first home together, separating couples who desperately need to get away from each other, people who are having houses built.. All these reasons to me seem different to social housing needs, though I suppose in my lifetime I've never seen social housing working properly so I don't know if they would previously have fitted into that category. We also have a heck of a lot of long term renters who would love to be in social housing but can't get near the top of the list ☹️.

Most of our landlords are great and happily maintain their properties. The ones we have to push a little are those who are struggling for money themselves. We haven't got any huge multiple landlords, 3 or 4 is big for us. 700 is eye watering.

BTW it’s just not true that it’s only the U.K. where people prefer to own rather than rent - if they can. I don’t know why this is so often spouted on MN.
Plenty of people in much of Europe as well as elsewhere, do buy their own homes. The difference is that the rental sector is often much better regulated, so a LL can’t evict a tenant just because they’ve changed their mind.

A French SiL of mine has inherited two flats in Paris, which she is not going to rent out, although she’s spent a lot on renovations and they’d bring in a good income - because tenancies there are much more secure and you can’t evict just because you feel like it. She’s holding on to them for family to use on their frequent visits.

A Swedish friend who hadn’t lived in Sweden for decades, recently returned to live there, and although she’d rented in the past, she didn’t even consider it this time - she bought her flat. Her son, married with children, is in his 3rd owned house, having done up and sold on for a profit, the previous two. I’m told that buying is increasingly common now and on a recent visit to Stockholm we saw masses of new blocks of flats - for sale, not for rent.

@CuriousaboutSamphire

I wouldn't even say "children of wealthy people". A lot of people on a thread asking if they had help to buy said they got at least some help from their parents. And those who didn't may have had support in early years that other people didn't.

I'm glad you managed to save up and buy. That's what I want to do. Unfortunately life has given me a lot of setbacks. I'm starting over at 30, essentially.
I'm not angry at people who had better circumstances than I did. It's just the way things go. Of course I wish it was different, who wouldn't, in my position?

Sorry, I know that sounds vague. I don't wanna get into my life story or make what seem like excuses, but I worry people like me are seen as lazy or just bad with money. That's not the case.

one of the biggest issues for landlords with tenants on benefits is when they swapped it from paying the landlords directly to paying the tenants directly, so there's a chance of not being paid, and it suddenly became much harder for tenants on benefits or who don't have a substantial deposit to get into tenancies Yep! One of those unintended consequences! The change was meant to allow tenants mor control, which was fine if they were good tenants, normal people. But the bad tenants, the minority that make the headlines, leave landlords reticent!

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER is right - a private rental market is neccessary, but needs to be better regulated. Social housing is also important - and the sell-off of council houses is responsible for a lot of the current problems IMO. We were told that the income from selling council houses would fund the building of new ones, but I remember hearing the statistics a few years ago, and only a fraction of the sold-off houses have been replaced - which is an outrage.

But social housing on its own won't meet all the needs of the rental market - the students who need a house/flat for a year, for example, or people who are moving and need somewhere for a few months - when we moved from Essex to Scotland, we rented for six months, in the area we wanted to live in, so we could look for a house to buy without having to travel hundreds of miles to viewings. It meant we could learn more about the area, and where we'd want to live, in a way that would have been much harder, long distance.

I have watched all the series of Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords - and there are clearly arseholes on both sides - tenants who trash properties or default on thousands of pounds in rent, and landlords who are only in it for profit, and who treat their tenants appallingly. I suspect both groups are in the minority - but I also think that landlords have a fair amount of protection in law already and maybe the rights of tenants need to be made better.

Of course, this is just speculation on my part - it's a long time since I rented anywhere, so my experience isn't that relevant. Even the Scotland move rental was over 10 years ago! I was in rented shared houses as a student nurse, as a nurse and then again as a student when I went to Uni - my landlords were all OK, even though I was mainly renting at the lower end of the market - and I like to think I was a reasonable tenant - paid on time and treated the property with respect.

YANBU
Can't really blame them if it's within the rules, but yes there should be a cap as there's a shortage of housing stock.

There is a place for rental properties, but it needs to be more heavily regulated.

Private landlords get away with housing people in awful propties. I know of a private landlord that will not do any work on a property unless he's taking on a new tennnancy. So properties are left for years somtimes decades without basic maintenance. It's dickensian.

My mil lives in a flat with terrible damp. I lived in a rented place with damp and then was chucked out with nowhere to live when the landlord wanted his relative to move it.

Only foolsnMothers My own Son was at Cardiff University ,and with 30000 students there how would any of them find somewhere to live!The first year in Halls, then everyone expected to find accomodation.In very short supply as it is and meaning lots of kids having to go further out .My own Son has now bought a flat and so have many of my friends DC .We are in the SW so not as expensive as a city area maybe

I don’t even think people should be allowed to buy a second home.

So all rental property including holiday cottages would be government owned?

There is a need for renting but these landlords are greedy, where I'm from renting a 3 bed house in an average area is £1000 plus per month. Don't know about you but that's over half my monthly wage! When the cost of renting costs more than a mortgage how is anybody supposed to save enough to get onto the property ladder? It's a vicious circle. 700 properties is not just business it's pure greed

If rents where you live are expensive it’s because there are more tenants than houses, which drives up prices.

In which case, you should want MORE rental properties to be available, not fewer. Does it matter who owns them?

Other posters have correctly pointed out that there is a need for a private rental market. I lived in rented accommodation for years before I bought: it suited me, and gave me flexibility to move around with my career.

Plus you've always got all the rip off fees from letting agents Nope! Not any more. Not for any tenancy, new or old!\

@Mumoblue@mum That's true. I know a couple of people who are in no way at all well off who have put themselves to a lot of trouble to give their kids some deposit money. One couple don't own their own home and have, essentially, given their kids their retirement!

We started in our 30s too. We both went to university in our early 30s and, having got used to one wage, saved as much of the other whilst renting. We bought in our 50s, about 5 years ago! Lazy or bad with money isn't what I think about anyone who doesn't own their own home. For us it was a choice. We have balanced home ownership woith retirement planning - which we didn't do much of at all, until after we had bought. We are doing what we can. Which is more than some freinds and nowhere near as much as others! But, as you say, I'm not angry about those that have more.

It can be done! Just keep on saving and one eye on the housing market!

@Iamthewombat

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.

Not if they were "black"! Because he didn't want the houses "smelling of curry". Or single parents. Or battered wives. Attached is an example of the guidance he sent to EAs who were letting his properties for him.

I think there's a place for rental property, and unfortunately I think the demand is going to rise soon given the likely future economic situation.

I think it should be more regulated and tenants should have more rights and security. This is happening already in Scotland where I rent out property and I think it's a good thing all round.

There is a place for rental properties, but it needs to be more heavily regulated. I suspect there wil be a lot of people thinking the same who do not know about the changes being made right now!

Scotland has made a lot of changes, Wales has some of its wn and now England is making more and more changes that are aimed at benefitting the tenant.

There will be some unintended consequences, but Shelter can take the blame for that, with is weird drive for fixing issues that, by their own statistics, do not exist for the vast majority of renters or landlords. Regulation by banner headline, again!

I don't think all landlords are utter cunts but we've never experienced a good one. 😂

@CuriousaboutSamphire

That's actually given me a lot of hope.
I wasn't able to go to uni when I was younger due to being out on my own from 17 and I've always felt kind of embarrassed about it.
It's nice to know that other people have made it work!

I suspect both groups are in the minority

I dunno. Being badly treated by a landlord seems very common. Maybe not to the extreme extend as on nightmare landlords - but badly ventelated properties, mould and damp, rodent infestation, not replacing faulty boilers or white goods, old crumbling windows and doors, gardens not maintained so large trees left to overgrow and fences falling down. Not returning deposits when no damage has been done.

I know lots of people that have and do rent - I don't know anyone that has trashed a property.

My landlord has been amazing. Our house has a downstairs bathroom (ds has a disability) and they are like hen's teeth around here. The LL knows I need one and hasn't increased the rent since I moved in ten years ago. He could easily get 50% more than what I pay, but says he is happy just to get his costs covered.

I agree with a PP that safe, long-term and affordable housing should be universal.

It's not just that owning a property is out of reach for so many, it's that in some areas even adults working full time are often priced out of even renting if they happen to have failed to find a DP.

I know people in their 30s and 40s with good jobs having to live in shared houses like students while a landlord lines his pocket with £500 a month for a fucking bedroom.