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?

Nobody needs 22 properties but many would disagree with me. Usually the sort of people that say they worked 24/7 to have all this but drill down and it transpires they had a big inheritance to start with or something similar.

Anyway, covid has shown that those who are least likely to be able to afford their own homes, like supermarket workers and carers, are actually indispensable. They deserve a decent, stable place to live too
Yes, like my DS who managed to save his deposit working in a supermarket.

I don't know why people bring up the NHS in this discussion. There are no reasons to compare the two. Two totally different industry and business. One is public, the other isn't.

My eldest has savings but nobody would give him a mortgage based on his earnings on his own , not at the moment anyway.
His pragmatic about it , but you can only work and save so much on your own etc.

Landlords are parasites and the older I get, the more firmly I believe this. I have spent tens of thousands of pounds paying off the mortgage of the person who owns my home. It's such a waste of my money - I hate it. Partner and I are in our early thirties, above average income, one child. We have no hope of buying a house
Above average income? Both working FT? Why can't you buy?

You've spent ten of thousands to be housed in the home of your choice. Don't you think that landlords might have been tenants themselves once upon a time? I rented for 14 years before I was able to buy my property. It was another 10 years before I became a LL.

@dontdisturbmenow Housing for the masses should be a matter for the state. The government has spent taxpayer monies on council housing, housing benefit and on Help to Buy so its not unprecendented in the UK. The government is in effect sponsoring home ownership with Help to Buy with your taxpayer monies, except that most of the money ends up in the hands of the developers as they inflate the prices accordingly .

The government wants to encourage home ownership which is why they are squeezing small landlords like you so you give up and sell to first time buyers. I read a study that said when house prices rise, people are less likely to vote Tory. I bought my flat from such a landlord myself They can't squeeze their donors so they have to squeeze someone. Also it helps that most landlords in the UK are small time landlords.

Like healthcare, housing is a basic human right. the fact that there isn't enough council housing to go around means that many landlords now have the happy responsibility of housing the bottom 40% who cannot afford their own homes and also have little choice in the matter. So yes like it or not, their business has become a social one with the effect that the government has no choice but to regulate and tax it heavily.

Put it another way, if rental was something that people did voluntarily or was something reserved for expats/people with short term job contracts, there would be no public interest in fighting for more tenants' rights or increasing taxes on landlords. Landlords are now the bad guy in the uk housing crisis because the government has failed to take responsiblity.

I don’t actually understand the endgame with this nonstop house price inflation. The price goes up and up and eventually, when Mr Landlord wants to sell his houses to pay for his retirement, nobody can actually afford to buy them off him? What’s going to happen?

Sounds resentful that someone has made a living being a landlord and unfortunately worldwide our incomes absorb a larger portion of renting.
They chose and saw a income
I see a well thought out income and future security
It is further from your area this issue of impossible home ownership look at ours in Nz.

@MsPeachh people sadly can afford it. Dh and I don't have high wages but we lived with his mum rent free for 3 years. saved up 70k deposit and bought our flat at 27 and 29 respectively.

My Dh has a family friend who isn't very rich but sold her house for £ 1 million, bought her 2 kids apartments. 1 of the children is earning minimum wage. Dh has another friend whose parents bought 3 BTLs which they later gave to their kids. Btw these are not particularly rich london families, just families who did well in the property game.

Its just very unfair cos whether a big factor in whether you can buy are your parents. if your parents have a london property and you want to buy in london, you are at a huge advantage esp if you earn a decent income and even if your income is on the lower end, you can make it work if your parents are willing to help.

The market will crash eventually. But the reality is that many of the homeowners I know had other means to buy their property other than their income.

Housing for the masses should be a matter for the state
Yes but not of private landlords.

The government wants to encourage home ownership which is why they are squeezing small landlords like you so you give up and sell to first time buyers
Except it's not working. Three years of tax increases and first time buyers still can't afford these properties.

I don't intend to sale, just continue to let to people who are happy to rent.

As soon as anyone dares to criticise anything, there will be someone along to declare “you’re just jealous.” I’m sure in the factory owners in the 19th century said their workers were “just jealous” when they demanded a 2 day weekend, too. Know your place, proles!

So yes like it or not, their business has become a social one with the effect that the government has no choice but to regulate and tax it heavily
Be careful, a poster earlier accused me of lying when I mentioned that was how some people viewed the business of bring a landlord!

In no way do private landlords should care for the social housing crisis. Most pay taxes on the rent they receive, that's enough contribution. Housing our society is not my business.

@dontdisturbmenow i agree housing our society is not your business, but what can you do? the government is even paying housing benefit so that people can rent privately rather than the state.

I am not sure, when i was house searching, almost every property i viewed was owned by a landlord. The prices had fallen 20% which was why i could afford to buy due to Brexit but also because a lot of landlords in london (who mainly own flats) were exiting the market. In a way, i owe my home ownership to the tax cuts!

@dontdisturbmenow

So yes like it or not, their business has become a social one with the effect that the government has no choice but to regulate and tax it heavily Be careful, a poster earlier accused me of lying when I mentioned that was how some people viewed the business of bring a landlord!

In no way do private landlords should care for the social housing crisis. Most pay taxes on the rent they receive, that's enough contribution. Housing our society is not my business.

Keep striving to change the world with all that meaningful landlording you’re doing 🤣

To be fair to landlords or ladies , they have always been around. My auntie always privately rented after WW2 and he used to come round for the money every week.
They also must have paid for it over and over too. My late parents and in laws had council housing forever and couldn't buy their homes (many reasons)
It's just sad people are thought less of for not having a mortgage. It's become the be all and end all and SOME of the problems are unscrupulous landlords taking advantage.
It's not an easy thing to solve though.

Keep striving to change the world with all that meaningful landlording you’re doing

I'm not striving to change the world thank you.

I made decisions in life and aspired to avoid having to be dependent on the government. I pay much taxes and don't complain about it. I will be self reliant in retirement even if the state pension is scrapped.

I offer a property to people who are happy to rent it and I'm a good landlord.

So yes I think I do quite enough indeed!

@dontdisturbmenow

Keep striving to change the world with all that meaningful landlording you’re doing

I'm not striving to change the world thank you.

I made decisions in life and aspired to avoid having to be dependent on the government. I pay much taxes and don't complain about it. I will be self reliant in retirement even if the state pension is scrapped.

I offer a property to people who are happy to rent it and I'm a good landlord.

So yes I think I do quite enough indeed!

Your obviously one of the good people. My son had a student rental and his ll was really good and looked out for the tenants. He dealt with problems and did his best to keep it in good repair. It was one less thing to think about for my son being away from home.

I dont think you can compare it to the NHS. Housing is a basic right, yes but not home ownership. And that right is limited - so everyone will not get to live in their ideal home same as everyone does not get their choice of healthcare.

There are certainly benefits to renting rather than owning the same as there are drawbacks. For example, someone else will be responsible for maintenance, you may be able to rent somewhere you could not afford to buy, you can get help with the rent from the state if you cant afford it. The drawbacks are you will have to pay rent always (but the state may continue to help) you will not be able to make alterations and in England (but not in Scotland) the landlord can make you leave.

Also there are benefits to private renting over council renting - better choice of property, they tend to be in better condition and in better areas, repairs tend to get done quicker and so on. Again there are drawbacks that they are generally more expensive and less secure.

so good and bad to each. I think its far too simplistic to say all landlords are greeedy pig dogs.

If you xan live rent free with your folks then of course you can save...many would not have this luxury.
My dad charged me rent when i moved back in which is fair enough but i couldn't save for a deposit too.

Can*

Housing is a basic right, yes but not home ownership

That about sums it up for me
Under any system there'll always be some who can't afford to buy, and that's where Housing Benefit and what's left of social housing come in, to properly support those in genuine need

HB's far from faultless, but at least it can recognise changing circumstances so that, hopefully, it can be focused on where it's most needed

I take rent money from my two because they both work full time, but only towards the bills and it's not much for their own room , food and fuel. They both save too.
I do think parents should take something towards the bills if their children are working. I did ( although I remember moaning about it, then I moved out and realized how lucky I had been!)
We don't profit from them.
I'm just sad they can't buy anything just now. It's the same for many young people though.

@BarryWhiteIsMyBrother it's a fair question I suppose but the answer is because home ownership is such a distant possibility for us - I didnt want to put off having a baby on the off-chance that we might have bought a house before our mid- to late-thirties. Basically, in terms of life priorities, having a child is more important to me than owning a home. Neither of us have any realistic prospect of inheritance and we do not have parents sufficiently wealthy as to a) allow us to have lived with them rent-free while we saved or b) able to help us with a deposit.

And to pre-empt the inevitable responses to this: I do not believe that having a family and owning a home should be mutually exclusive aspirations, nor do I believe that my parents' generation had to make that choice.

My mother bought her house - admittedly, a shithole - in 1990 as a single parent of two on a part-time wage. She had a 100% mortgage and some help from her parents. She has since moved up the property ladder. She still refuses to fully acknowledge that, were I to find myself in the same situation now, the best I could hope for is a place on a waiting list for a council flat.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

Housing is a basic right, yes but not home ownership

That about sums it up for me
Under any system there'll always be some who can't afford to buy, and that's where Housing Benefit and what's left of social housing come in, to properly support those in genuine need

HB's far from faultless, but at least it can recognise changing circumstances so that, hopefully, it can be focused on where it's most needed

The problem is that HB isn't focused on where it's needed. Not any more. Low paid workers (in essential jobs) and vulnerable people - the disabled and long-term ill - no longer have access to, what you correctly identify as, the basic right of housing.

HB covers only a portion of many private rents. And even when it does pay the full rent, landlords won't let to them.

It's not just people in need of benefits. Growing numbers of landlords are saying a blanket no room at the inn to single people (they want a double income) or families with young children.

The massive push for buy to let (instead of increased council housing) has left many families and disabled people without access to stable homes. Which, incidentally, costs the taxpayer a hell of a lot more than investing in council housing. Temporary accommodation, as well as being shabby, is extortionate.

@MsPeachh
OP if you get chance look up Naomi and Jack on YouTube.