Greed of ‘buy to let’

[LittleLottieChaos]

When did people start to think that they should profit from housing? It all feels incredibly Dickensian. Pees me off when I see housing being listed as buy to let investments rather than ‘here’s a house for a nice young family to live in’. Especially with the market so horribly skewed right now.

It is shocking that people seem to think they have a right to profiteer from those less fortunate by whacking on high rents, that more than cover their mortgages. Legit: you need one house, one house only. Or maybe I’m missing something... or these are genuinely just bad people.

Interested to hear how people justify it? Do you just think, fuck ‘em I want to be rich? Do you not think about the morality?

(I rent but am saving to buy an appropriate house to live in... not to profiteer from)

@Viviennemary

Does letting through an agency help to filter out potential non-paying tenants. I don't think its wise to let to people on UC. It is risky to to let out a house that you have a substantial mortgage on. HMHO.

A good letting agency will thoroughly vet prospective tenants and manage everything but nothing is foolproof.

We’re a similar age to you OP (bit younger) and rent out 2 houses, as well as owning the home we live in outright. One of the rentals was bought outright using savings and profit from another house and the other has a small mortgage on.
I don’t understand your comment from earlier in the thread about your age being a factor?
If nobody bought houses to rent out, a lot of people who don’t have the means to get a mortgage would be homeless. Is that a better solution?

We are landlords. We own a one bed flat in London which we rent out.
Our current tenant owes us over 10k in rent and we are having to take him to court to remove him.
Our flat is/was in lovely condition and we make sure it is deep cleaned before every tenant.
I don't know any bad landlords but I know one pita tenant!

CirclesWithinCircles

Fortunately not in Scotland but interested to know given the circumstances how would the Scottish government suggest we put a roof over our heads?

@Bythemillpond

CirclesWithinCircles

Fortunately not in Scotland but interested to know given the circumstances how would the Scottish government suggest we put a roof over our heads?

I think the idea in Scotland is that private landlords get rooted out and the rental market is taken over by companies run by former employees of local authorities/SNP supporters? Or landlords are forced to sign their properties over to the local authority to house benefits claimants under that 5 year arrangement where the (low) rent is guaranteed and the local authority is supposed to put the property back to its original state but don't?

Same with holiday lets but mainly government run hotels. All Scottish holiday lets are now to be licensed, and if theres a complaint about a neighbour regarding one, the local authority instantly "closes it". So I would be wary about booking holiday accommodation here.

I would sell up but I can't find a buyer as mine is in Aberdeen and the market has crashed!

There are not enough rental properties around. I am a LL and now have a waiting list with 3 couples on it. I have 6 houses I let out but tenants tend to stay for years and years and I hardly ever get one empty. I have not had to advertise for over 10 years. I get tenants from word and mouth very.often a tenant asks me if I can rent a house to their sister, cousin or colleague. There are so many houses to buy on Rightmove but very few to rent and rentals are too high because of this.

When one of my tenants got Covid in first lockdown she could not go out, not get a delivery slot and could not get baby milk, Calpol or toilet rolls. She rang me because she has no family close by. I went out even though I did not feel safe. I visited 3 shops to get her baby its brand of milk and gave her some of my toilet rolls. I could not get Calpol anywhere. I then asked a neighbour who I know has her young GC over sometimes and she gave me half a bottle. I dropped it all off with some paracetamol I had spare. I think that is a pretty good effort for a greedy, lazy LL.

@NoBetterthanSheShouldBe

I don’t think buy to let is bad, it’s not taking homes of the market. Second homes ownership and holiday letting of liveable properties is despicable.

This.

I have been a renter and an owner, but people owning homes that aren't lived in, but just sit empty most of the time are the problem.

As has pointed out elsewhere, there are many reasons why a person may prefer to rent, or why buying simply isn't an option, but if so many homes in their area sit vacant, this takes the property away from someone who needs it.

In spite of what people think rents are determined by supply and demand. You cannot just whack out a price based on your mortgage, plus ownership costs, plus profit, and wait for some mug to pay it. Unless there is a surplus of renters you need to pitch the rent at the market. If there are a surplus of properties rents go down as LL can't afford the property to be empty.

The Government needs to look at ways of identifying vacant properties and taxing the eyeballs out of them. In reality though, it may not be that easy to do.

We had to move abroad for DH's job. His company sent us and if we'd refused he'd have lost his job, no other jobs like his in the country, so no choice. We tried to sell our modest 2 bed terrace but several potential buyers lost their mortgage offers so now we reluctantly rent it out. The rent barely covers mortgage, agent fees, insurance, repairs, annual safety checks, tax (20% because we live abroad). If the tenant doesn't pay, we're screwed. If the boiler breaks, we're screwed, if the fridge or washing machine need replaced, we'll get no rent that month. It's not all fat cats rolling in it. We've spent a lot of money on our house so our tenant has a lovely, safe and warm home to live in but it's cost us a lot of money to do that.

Our friends who also live abroad in the same country were deployed here too. They rented out their UK home for the time they were going to be here and have now been made redundant. They can't break the rental agreement on their UK home for another year, so are trying to rent somewhere else for a year but have no job security and nowhere to go. The rent on their property doesn't cover their mortgage.

In the 90s we had to sell our small house because the interest rate shot up to 15% and we couldn't afford to pay our mortgage, it was cheaper to rent. We were on the bones of our arse and we sold everything just to pay the bills and eat. Not every LL is brutal and money grabbing, some are just trying to keep a bit of security.

It is the leveraged purchase of second properties that is the problem. There is nothing wrong with purchasing them in cash.

Because there are many reasons people need to rent, and where are these rental properties coming from? And it sure isn't a get rich occupation. It's an investment, and it provides an essential commodity: housing.
My current tenants are: students who only need a place for one to three years.
People on secondment who only need a place short term.
People who can't afford to buy or don't want to.
My son fits in the latter category. He is 18, has a job and is doing work training. He earns less than £10k a year. His normal route would be a house share, or bedsit, or (as he is doing) renting a cheap studio with his girlfriend. I am grateful that there is a landlord willing to rent to him as he has no credit history and many would refuse a teenager.
My own rental properties are a very good standard. I'm also still not receiving full rent on one of my flats as the tenant lost their job during the pandemic, and another tenant paid half rent for three months. Problems are dealt with promptly. I have previously let to tenants on HB without issue.
Rentals are an investment, I choose to invest in property rather than stocks and shares. I provide an essential product. I do not compete with first time buyers more than any other property owner- in fact, as I have to make a profit, I am less likely to buy as a live-in owner can improve a property themselves over time - I can't.
No doubt there are unscrupulous landlords out there. But there are unscrupulous teachers, doctors and bankers etc.