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?

There are other means of investing your money outside of property. The fact that so many people in the UK are seemingly unaware of this and hold property as a massive chunk of their investments is part of the problem.

There should be some form of landlord vetting. Too many frauds and crooks in the property game. Of course not all landlords are Evil People, but the UK private rental system is badly broken. If it was better regulated and more like continental Europe, there wouldn't be such a problem.

People suggesting social housing could replace private renting - many people wouldn't want to live in social housing. I wouldn't. Why shouldn't we have the choice?

@DerbyshireMama

People suggesting social housing could replace private renting - many people wouldn't want to live in social housing. I wouldn't. Why shouldn't we have the choice?

Because there's a difference between want and need. I quite fancy a yacht. I don't need one. But everybody needs a stable affordable home.

I'm not seeing how that analogy is relevant unfortunately.

I said upthread that I rent because right now, I want to. I don't need to, it's a choice. Many people will be in the same situation. I wouldn't want to have the choice of renting privately taken away from me and be forced into social housing. Why shouldn't I have the choice? Just as other can choose affordable housing?

The issue isn’t landlords, it’s generations of government housing policy.

^^i agree. The council house tenant was able to buy her property and then sell it onto a landlord.

I have mixed feelings about this policy, because I fully understand the desire to own your own home. Long-term, though, it was bound to deplete the council housing stock.

But can you tell a homeowner whom to sell to? Perhaps a cap on rental properties would be the best solution?

Yabu. Save up 5% and move areas if you have to. That's what lots of people that are buying are having to do 🤷‍♀️

That's what I did. My deposit was £5750. Hardly out of reach.

I don’t hate the woman who bought it at all, my ire is directed at the landlord
I have more negative views towards her than the LL who bought from her.

She was fortunate to get a council home, liny due to bring a single mum. She would have received help from the government, paid a lower rent than in the private sector and get all her maintenance paid. Yet she would have gained a huge profit from selling, all of it going into her pocket.

At least the LL will be paying tax on the income from the rent.

"People suggesting social housing could replace private renting - many people wouldn't want to live in social housing. I wouldn't. Why shouldn't we have the choice?"

Depends on where you live. The area I'm in has really lovely social housing in nice areas. I would have loved one of those rather than extortionate private rent (£900 a month for a small house...) but there simply aren't enough and people in much greater need.

How many of you who hate the current system voted Tory last year? Corbyn wanted to restock affordable housing. The Tories want to abolish it. We get what we vote for. Landlord Britain.

Yanbu op. Have you thought about other ways to afford a home, are there any affordable housing projects near you (such as a community land trust) or any like minded people you can form one with, or form a housing cooperative? Housing cooperatives don't have to be communes! Some people have collaboratively bought a whole terrace, for example, or set up an self build or eco housing project where each household has their own home/flat.

How does someone with 22 properties qualify for right to buy?

@Meraas

How does someone with 22 properties qualify for right to buy?

They didn’t.

Hate the government(s) who have not regulated this, not the individual landlords who take advantage.

Yanbu op. I own my home but it was tough going and a lot harder for me than my older sibling who brought in the late 90s before the boom.

Unfortunately I don’t think anything will change and there is no way the government will allow houses prices to drop (the latest stamp duty relief proves that). I suppose because too many of the government ministers are making money from property.

I really feel for young people starting out now with high living costs and zero-hour contracts etc. Seriously is this what we want for future generations, no hope of a decent standard of living unless you are lucky to inherit or be given money. No wonder people are becoming more grabby with inheritance.

I am a landlord.
I certainly don’t make £££££.
Me and DH have just spent a week redecorating and recarpeting our house when the tenants decided that COVID lockdown II was too much and did a bunk.
Not only do they owe us 2 months rent, there is the around £3k that we have just shelled out.
Absolutely no chance of getting it back, they went to Nigeria

We still own my first home(2 bed flat), we have rented it out for 20 years, majority of mortgage was paid by the tenants, but all of the tenant's were more than happy with renting it, as in desirable area(Bath) and we maintained the property to a high standard.

Its cost us money on upkeep and repairs, and early on in the mortgage we made a loss each month.

The property is now mortgage free and gone up considerably in value since I purchased it in 1997.

Its our retirement fund/nest egg. Wasn't purchased as such, but we made the decision to retain it. We weren't high earners at the time and often went with as we were more concerned about our future.

If that makes me a bad person, then so be it

What a strange post to make @Whammyyammy. Why did you feel the need to brag about having almost your entire mortgage paid by people like the OP on a thread where she is clearly struggling with that very thing?

YABVU. You’re able to live there because the landlord purchased it and kindly let you rent it.

It’s nobody else’s fault but your own that you can’t get a deposit together to buy a house, and people that can shouldn’t be prevented from doing so (repeatedly, if they do choose) simply because some can’t.

Landlords aren't exploiting people. They're providing housing to people that cant buy. If you want to prioritise purchasing over having your own home then go rent a room to save money.

You wouldn't be in a better position to buy if he didn't own this house, you still wouldn't be able to buy a house but you wouldn't have anywhere to live either because you still wouldn't qualify for a council house.

If we stopped landlords buying houses the house prices would go down, but rent prices would go up, and you still wouldn't have magiced a deposit. And everyone that already owned a house before the house prices went down would be stuck in negative equity and lose a shit tonne of money.

@Smallsteps88

What a strange post to make *@Whammyyammy*. Why did you feel the need to brag about having almost your entire mortgage paid by people like the OP on a thread where she is clearly struggling with that very thing?

In fairness at least they have admitted they have done it for investment purposes. Much better than the landlords trying to make out they are making no money from their additional properties. I suppose they are just providing a public service 🤣

In fairness at least they have admitted they have done it for investment purposes. Much better than the landlords trying to make out they are making no money from their additional properties. I suppose they are just providing a public service

Yes that’s a refreshing change. On MN all the LLs are poor accidental LLs who can’t stop being LLs

@HollyCarrot

All very true, but where are people supposed to live while they save a deposit? I had to rent for years, extortionate rent, add to that extortionate childcare costs and it took an inheritance to be able to buy a house. Granted I had a good time in my twenties and wasn't saving massively, but I would hate to think people have to leave school and suddenly knuckle down to house buying. There should be a few years for having some fun. You can't get that time back. Add to that some landlords (as with any cohort of people) can be awful. And it's scary being held hostage by a bad LL when the rents are shooting up. As it happens my rent led to a MH breakdown for me and I'm still suffering the effects.

That’s the problem then. In past generations they had to leave school and work hard/save hard to get a house. Your twenties before kids are the best years to save, it gets much harder after that. Too many people want to go to uni and have fun, go travelling, spend money on nights out, cars, holidays, tech then complain when they hit thirty and have no savings for a house deposit. I say this as someone in my early thirties, in an expensive south east area. I saved in my twenties and got my first house before thirty. I’m now about to love to a much larger house quite easily and have a baby. It really annoys me when people say this, like they want everything in life but you can’t party away your twenties and expect to walk into a family house in your thirties.

YANBU

Landlords aren't exploiting people

Be very thankful you have clearly never dealt with vile, dangerous landlords then.

Try living abroad op. The world is full of opportunities.