To hate landlords?

[MsPeachh]

Last month, I had to move suddenly. I found the flat I’m in now, it had just been bought by my landlord and I’m the first person in after the former owner moved out. It’s an ex-council house that the owner had purchased under “right to buy” and now I have to pay a third of my salary to a private landlord for what was originally meant to be affordable housing.

I’m a scientist in my late twenties with good qualifications and I feel total despair that I might never be able to afford my own home, and I will be lining someone else’s pockets via rent for the rest of my life. Let alone what anyone in a position less fortunate than mine is supposed to do.

To make matters worse, I looked up my landlord’s info on Companies House and I discovered that they have 22 properties in my area! It’s a village on the outskirts of a town where lots of people move when they are ready to move out of the hustle and bustle and settle to raise kids. And more and more of these properties are being snapped up by this landlord. It makes me sick, honestly. I know a lot of people become landlords accidentally in later life due to remarrying etc and ending up with two houses between one couple, but this landlord sucking up 22 houses in such a small area disgusts me. I feel like I’m completely losing hope for the future of people my age and younger as house prices keep soaring and soaring.

AIBU?

@20mum edition.cnn.com/2015/10/29/asia/singapore-public-housing/index.html

90% of Singapore land is owned by the government. Of the 80% of residents who live in apartments built by the government, 90% own them. They're helped by government loans, and use the money saved through the government-run pension scheme, the Central Provident Fund. What people own is the 99 year leases on their government flats (which they have to save a 5% deposit for and get a mortgage for). Yes unlike me who can extend the lease on my london flat, their children can't inherit it. But then the home ownership rate is over 90% so as long as your kid is not in the bottom 10%, they will be able to buy their own flat. As they own their own flats, they don't need to worry about being evicted, don't need to pay rent during retirement or can move to a smaller flat if they wish to release equity. When the lease expires after 99 years, the singapore government takes back the flats when the lease is up and redevelop it to build more flats, which is why a country half the size of london with 5 million people can have such a high home ownership rate. Unlike Londoners who can move outside London in search of cheaper housing, Singaporeans have no choice but to stay in their tiny island country.

This isn't the Mumsnet ideal of freehold homes with big gardens. However, it was based on post war Fabian socialist principles, as the founders of a newly independent singapore studied in Cambridge and LSE and were influenced by the British Labour Party of that time. I feel that it is what the British welfare state should have evolved to become but didn't - the state providing modest, well built state housing for the middle classes and lower classes, rather than relying on the private sector. Its not a perfect system but I don't think most people like the current setup in the UK either!

YANBU, don't blame the landlord for depleting housing stock, blame the councils for selling it off in the first place. He would have bought it at market rate, why can't he charge market rent?

Landlords need to exist because people need to rent, it's a job and not every landlord is evil.

@sqirrelfriends

YANBU, don't blame the landlord for depleting housing stock, blame the councils for selling it off in the first place. He would have bought it at market rate, why can't he charge market rent?

Landlords need to exist because people need to rent, it's a job and not every landlord is evil.

Because a first time buyer who actually plans to live in the property could’ve bought it instead.

@MsPeachh

I think it is teenagers who need to make it clear to the older generation: it is much more difficult to get on the housing ladder now than it used to be. Affordable housing, free education, wages, NHS stretched to breaking point, free movement within the EU all gone and the environment trashed... a real mess has been left behind for younger generations.

What the exactual fuck were us oldies supposed to do? I didn't vote for this fucking shit - any of it - and yet it's my fault just because I'm old? No. I repeat I didn't vote for these shit things. Trying to fucking claim teenagers should give me shit about something I haven't done is just ignorant.

@DynamoKev I think it's not blame, but serious frustration at being told we don't work hard enough and are just making excuses when the reality is, financial and living security is much, much harder now. And it hurts to be preached at by people who on the whole had a much easier time of it. That doesn't mean people didn't work hard. Of course they did. But it means they worked hard and as a return were able to do things like have a pet or hang a picture on the wall.

@DynamoKev I’m perfectly aware that not everyone of a certain age thinks the same way. This is directed at the comments here who think I “just need to work harder and save more” and have no idea of the challenges faced by the younger generation today.

[quote MsPeachh]@JGACC don’t tell the posters on here you’ve got a car... they’ll soon be telling you to walk and pull your shopping home on a donkey-driven cart if you ever want to buy!

Our generation is crying out for change, and something to feel hopeful for in our futures![/quote]
I did cycle for a long, long time...but sadly no jobs within cycling distance of parents! In fact I cycled so much that I ended up so fit that I managed to run a marathon without pausing at all, with no running training. Hardly bloody lazy arrrghhh!!!!

[quote JGACC]@DynamoKev I think it's not blame, but serious frustration at being told we don't work hard enough and are just making excuses when the reality is, financial and living security is much, much harder now. And it hurts to be preached at by people who on the whole had a much easier time of it. That doesn't mean people didn't work hard. Of course they did. But it means they worked hard and as a return were able to do things like have a pet or hang a picture on the wall.[/quote]
I get the frustration angle - but it wasn't all plain sailing in the "good old days" either. Health was often worse and many manual jobs were hazardous.
Some things are harder, some easier - and just saying it was caused by my generation is vastly over-simplifying it. I went to demonstrate and Greenham and Molesworth but no-one listened. I have never voted Tory and therefore didn't support Thatcherism or the "right to buy"

@MsPeachh my dad is a landlord (not in the UK and a commercial landlord). Its a high risk business- just like the landlord can evict you easily, the tenant can also leave. During lockdown, my dad's premises for a pub and restaurant could not operate, they did not pay rent. People gave up their office space due to wfh so he did not get rent for at least 4 of his offices. The same can apply to residential properties , i understand city flats were struggling. When I was little, the property prices went down so much the bank actually asked my dad to repay a big part of his loan for one of his properties so he had to sell- if it had sold for lower, he would be declared bankrupt and my family plunged into financial difficulties but that didn't happen. But every BTL landlord, there is always a chance that could happen.

This is not any sympathy for landlords, they accept the risk that comes with BTL. This also means they need money to pay for repairs, to cover for void periods. Its a business like any other. You can probably say that this is a business thats provides a necessity for an elevated price but i am not sure if you are reserving the same amount of disdain for sainsbury, Thames water and BT, which are all privately owned entities. I need food, water and electricity just as much as I need housing. But the real reason is because you can afford Sainsbury, Thames Water and Electricity so therefore you are not angry at them for their prices or not giving free stuff to poor people cos they need them.

Which is why as I said before, your anger should be at the goverment who allowed the housing of the masses to be at the mercy of private individuals whose main interest is profit.

@DynamoKev lots of progress was made and rights hard-won by previous generations, and believe me we do really appreciate it 👍🏻

[quote MsPeachh]@Lou98 Help to Buy is for new builds only- I don’t want a new build house, nor could I afford one. I just want a little flat in good condition.

They may have “chosen” to work as a landlord, but I work on my feet all day whilst they drive around in a Mercedes and put a call into a plumber once in a while. Hardly comparable “work.”[/quote]
Wow!

You're clearly very resentful of people who are successful.

I'm sick of people complaining about not being able to buy their own home and being spiteful about people who are able to.

It's quite simple really save the money for a deposit and then buy a home I don't understand what's difficult about that? If you really want to buy a place then you will make the necessary sacrifices in order to save the money and eventually you will get there.

@Smallsteps88

I know a lot of people become landlords accidentally in later life due to remarrying etc and ending up with two houses between one couple

There is absolutely nothing accidental about that. It’s a conscious choice to retain two properties for the financial benefits.

And you begrudge them retaining a bit of security why?

@hopingforonlychild thank you for that fascinating explanation about Singapore

Renting is a service. One that large numbers of people require at various times for various reasons. Landlords provide that service.

And long term lettings don't drive up prices. The idea that mortgages are cheaper than rent is false- we could rent out house for £950, our mortgage is £1120, our past house- rent £695, mortgage £750.

Landlords generally pay less for houses than owner-occupiers.

There are various points I've rented and wouldn't have wanted to buy. If rentals had been in short supply, prices would be driven up.

Unscrupulous landlords, I grant you are a blight on society, but maybe I've been lucky and had predominantly good ones?

@ElleL91 not really, I consider myself to be successful in my own right. This thread has lots of examples of why people find it hard to save for a deposit nowadays.

I get a bit narked at people ranting about how landlords are scumbags etc. I am a landlord. I rent out one property. My tenants have been there for years. We have never raised the rent, because they have been such great tenants. Whenever there is an issue with the house, we deal with it, and pay for it, immediately, which is something that I think is often overlooked by renters. If something goes wrong with your rental property, it’s the landlord’s responsibility to organise repairs and pay for them, which is time consuming and often extremely expensive. As a tenant, you are paying for flexibility (you can move out whenever you wish, with no fuss) and, crucially, for the convenience of having someone else deal with all your maintenance or emergency repair issues.

It often comes as a shock to people when they buy a house just how much money and time is needed for repairs when things go wrong.

There's been times in my life due to moving for work frequently where rental has been the best option for me.
I have had to rent my flat out when I moved abroad for a work contract for two years. I just could not afford it and my rent overseas, I had one great tenant and one that caused so much damage and upset with my neighbours and needed evicting that I ended up severely out of pocket.
There is no magic answer, people need rental flexibility and people need housing. More affordable housing needs to be built and not sold to landlords.

@MsPeachh I only bought my house 4 years ago and I'm young.

Working full time with a really crappy wage and still managed it.

I don't feel that it was an incredibly difficult thing to do and I don't feel that all of a sudden four years later it's super super difficult for young people to get on the property ladder.

I didn't have much growing up and started working when I was in my teens everything I've got I've had to work hard for and the problem is these days it's the "younger generation" that believe they are entitled to everything without having to put any work in.

I know I absolutely cringe at the term ‘landlord’ we aren’t in the 15th century so why is this outdated term still being used
. Owning a property does not make anyone a ‘landlord’ sorry but this really winds me up and I can’t see it ending, plenty of outdated terms are offensive now but ‘landlord’ still prevails ....sorry OP no offence - needed to get that off my chest ....’land lord’ wtaf 🤬🤬🤬

@MsPeachh btw my neighbor who is going to rent out her flat and buying a house in the home counties told me she would be renting out her flat at a loss. She bought her London flat 5 years ago for 370k, it's worth 400k. She is not selling it cos she likes the flat...of course she is very privileged to have 2 homes,.

But yeah proof that not all landlords are making oodles of money. I agree with her calculations, it cost me the same to own my flat as to rent and I have also lost £70k of my savings to my equity. My only consolation is that I can overpay my mortgage which may help me become mortgage free younger or upgrade (yay more debt!). But those two goals are long term goals that are highly dependent on our future earning power. I am 28 and there is no telling what would happen in the next 40 years. !

Most my foreign friends managed it on actually the lower wages. We all lived in sharedhouses for a while, worked etc. I know some couples who lived in shared house even after having a baby for a bit to svae the rest for the deposits. For all of us sheredhouse and extra shifts were how we did it. Not the ones in London though. London should have a border around and just be it's own country.

[quote ElleL91]@MsPeachh I only bought my house 4 years ago and I'm young.

Working full time with a really crappy wage and still managed it.

I don't feel that it was an incredibly difficult thing to do and I don't feel that all of a sudden four years later it's super super difficult for young people to get on the property ladder.

I didn't have much growing up and started working when I was in my teens everything I've got I've had to work hard for and the problem is these days it's the "younger generation" that believe they are entitled to everything without having to put any work in. [/quote]
Genuinely well done to you.

I don’t think it’s entitled to expect housing to be affordable, it is a human right after all.

Where my brother lives prices are the same, wages lower and common deposit wanted by banks is 20%.
The 5% here for ftbs is bloody blessing

Renting out property isn't a service. It's charging people money for rights of occupancy that vary from country to country but which for residential tenants in the UK are fairly limited by comparison to countries that are politically and societally similar. The idea that landlords serve tenants is nonsensical.

My landlady owns my house outright so she makes a massive profit from me renting it. So when she threatened to kick me out as I was £5 behing on my rent ( lost job) then yes, I am very inclined to agree with you. Hateful behaviour.