To think ending the eviction ban just as the Indian variant is spreading is a very bad idea

[Tealightsandd]

Hundreds of thousands of families and vulnerable individuals could soon become homeless all around the same time. Just as the Indian Covid variant is starting to spread...

It's a potential public health issue - and a taxpayer one too. It will cost loads to house them all in expensive but cramped (ideal Covid spreading conditions) temporary accommodation.

Rent arrears can't just keep building and landlords need the rent paying. But mass evictions during a pandemic aren't the answer.

Lots of people have lost their jobs or are too ill with Long Covid to work. Many are struggling to pay their rent.

The solution is an increase to housing welfare benefits so that tenants can afford private rents.

Separately, rent arrears and severe anti social behaviour aside (which should be dealt with by the police as well as landlords), currently England allows no fault evictions. Tenants can and are evicted, despite being fully paid up on rent. Bad at any time. Potentially deadly during a pandemic.

@vivainsomnia

It's very easy to say that you have money worries, but when those worries are about whether you can afford to go the Maldives or Barbados for your holidays, I have zero sympathy As much a generalisation as stating that all tenants who don’t pay rent spent their HB on fags and alcohol.

Many landlords are nowhere close to living that fancy lifestyle. I make no money at all from the rent. 40% of it goes straight to taxes, you know, what goes to help the vulnerable. By the time I pay for insurance, gas, electric checks, repairs, replacements, all the things that benefits the tenants, pay interests and agency fees, I am just about breakeven. If ,y tenants stop paying, its money that will have to come out of my own earned income from my FT job.

As already said, it doesn’t stop to amaze me how some expect people like me to act as a charity, yet see nothing wrong of having to pay high tax on the business, unlike charities.

If its so bad then, sell the house and invest the money in something else or just save it.

You can hardly complain about lack of money when you own more than one property. You're still better off than those who have none. If it's that much of a problem and you only break even, why bother?

Don't expect any landlord to be a charity. Just have a bit of empathy towards others. I've known landlords tell me they have money worries, yet they own several properties. If it's that bad, you're either doing something wrong and should sell some of them, or you're lying.

ClarkeGriffin have you actually read the thread??

I would love to sell my property. However it is not that easy. There has been an eviction ban in place. 🙄

Section 8 is worthless.

So the tenant carries on living in MY property, claiming benefits, smoking, drinking, causing damage, harassing the neighbours and me and being a general all round twat and I have to suck it up.

But it’s ok they need a place to live and I will go out to work and save my hard earned money to provide a home for them and make sure they are nice and comfortable and they can enjoy spending what should be my rent on whatever they fancy.

Sounds like a fair deal.

This is about after the eviction ban isn't it? So soon you'll be able to evict the twat.

I'm not on about them. I'm meaning the landlords who try to say they have money worries when they have good tenants who do pay and they have multiple houses being rented out. Others are trying to say that not every landlord is like that and I'm sure a lot aren't. But I've had many landlords before I bought a house that despite me being a tenant that paid on time etc just whined about having no money, but many properties, holidays etc expecting sympathy. They are the ones that made me get a house, I was sick of paying for someone else's mortgage at a profit to them when they didn't give a shit and tried to claim they were worse off than me. People like that are why tenants don't like landlords, especially when the house or flat is in bad condition.

Ye gods! WHat you mean was that wehen it was convenient you rented and let others bear the cost of upkeep.

Then it became more inconvenient so you bought a property.

And are now pissed off that landlords still exist and are providing housing to many other people who find renting convenient.

Not everybody rents because they cannot afford to buy! Far from it.

I have not read the whole thread but it's going to take ages for the bailiffs to work their way through so I don't think it is going to be hundreds of thousands all at the end of the month plus they can't evict if anyone had corona symptoms, so, you know, cough, cough!
On a separate note, the rental market does need to shift back towards the Rent Acts, so people stop holding property
as an investment, IMO.

@Lollipopmum0183

ClarkeGriffin have you actually read the thread??

I would love to sell my property. However it is not that easy. There has been an eviction ban in place. 🙄

Section 8 is worthless.

So the tenant carries on living in MY property, claiming benefits, smoking, drinking, causing damage, harassing the neighbours and me and being a general all round twat and I have to suck it up.

But it’s ok they need a place to live and I will go out to work and save my hard earned money to provide a home for them and make sure they are nice and comfortable and they can enjoy spending what should be my rent on whatever they fancy.

Sounds like a fair deal.

As of 1 June you can serve a s21 with four weeks notice if they owe four months rent.

@ClarkeGriffin Investors are getting terrible yields on everything due to low interest rates. I know landlords who own properties outright who have significantly lower incomes than people on benefits.

You can hardly complain about lack of money when you own more than one property. You're still better off than those who have none. If it's that much of a problem and you only break even, why bother?
I’m not complaining. I assume my choices and my situation. I just don’t like it when I’m tarred with society issues and expected to act like a social landlord. I pay my taxes, a lot of it, I don’t need to sort out the housing crisis too.

I guess you imagine me as a middle class women, who married well and have received a good inheritance to afford another property.

15 years ago, I was a single mum of two toddlers, working FT in a demanding and stressful job, received no maintenance and had no help at all from family. I was no different to many families who struggled, but I made the choices and sacrifices the to significantly increase my income.

I was a tenant for 20 years, and never had a problem with any landlord. I never failed to pay, I looked after the property as it was my own, didn’t cause any trouble. I wish all my tenants had the same principles.

I bought a house that despite me being a tenant that paid on time etc just whined about having no money
What a strange conversation to have with a tenant. I have certainly never discussed my financial standing with any tenants nor do I inform them of my holidays destination.

Our tenants have lied to us, refused to pay rent for months, claimed HB (and got it, just failed to pay it to us), they have unsavoury friends who are often in trouble with the law but only for 'minor' or petty infractions, their guests piss on our driveway, have threatened us with violence, the male tenant exposes himself to us from time to time purposely, they have dug up our garden (without permission, and it's our garden not part of the tenancy), and many many other things, none of which are serious enough to count but which build up to such a pattern of behaviour that we just want them gone,

The flat they rent is part of our house, we have let them use a small patch of the garden but they've rotavated all over the places so about 3 large patches of lawn ruined, as well as bits of flower beds dug up etc.

We can't wait until the ban is lifted.

I wish it was just tenants with loads of arrears but anyone can be evicted. I had to go back after refuge because no safe housing to violent partner even though risk of murder because disabled and landlord will have prejudices like ones on here tarring all with same brush and won't want benefit tenant even though I can afford it. I'd rather be dead than homeless and plan to kill myself if my partner leaves. I don't care if he's violent because at least housed.

I've been on housing benefit before and always paid rent. Went without meals to pay rent when had to to because we not all like the bad minority.

@vivainsomnia

I bought a house that despite me being a tenant that paid on time etc just whined about having no money What a strange conversation to have with a tenant. I have certainly never discussed my financial standing with any tenants nor do I inform them of my holidays destination.

That's what I'm meaning, just don't discuss it with them. It shows zero empathy if you do, for one it's not their problem and two you own more than one house when they own none. You're in a better position than them.

The shitty tenants will always be shitty sadly. Nothing we can do about them except more laws to stop them thinking they can just stop paying. That shouldn't have happened and it's stupid that it was allowed to.

@vivainsomnia

It's very easy to say that you have money worries, but when those worries are about whether you can afford to go the Maldives or Barbados for your holidays, I have zero sympathy As much a generalisation as stating that all tenants who don’t pay rent spent their HB on fags and alcohol.

Many landlords are nowhere close to living that fancy lifestyle. I make no money at all from the rent. 40% of it goes straight to taxes, you know, what goes to help the vulnerable. By the time I pay for insurance, gas, electric checks, repairs, replacements, all the things that benefits the tenants, pay interests and agency fees, I am just about breakeven. If ,y tenants stop paying, its money that will have to come out of my own earned income from my FT job.

As already said, it doesn’t stop to amaze me how some expect people like me to act as a charity, yet see nothing wrong of having to pay high tax on the business, unlike charities.

But your not breaking unless your house is mortgage free? And if it’s mortgage free only if it’s not gaining value. That’s kind of the whole point of being a landlord isn’t it?

I'm not a landlord or a tenant but I genuinely don't understand why housing benefit isn't paid direct to the landlord. If the tenant is claiming it, surely that's what it's for?

The argument it gives tenants more agency is weird to me. I don't mind that my employer pays my tax direct to the government - is that treating me like a child?

Curious about how you think it will help if tenant doesn't pay rent - LL can't pay mortgage - house repossessed - tenant made homeless. What's the difference apart from a) the timescale and b) the LL ends up no longer owning property but with big debt, which may mean bankruptcy. It's a difficult situation but it's the way it is unfortunately.

@Orangelizard

I'm not a landlord or a tenant but I genuinely don't understand why housing benefit isn't paid direct to the landlord. If the tenant is claiming it, surely that's what it's for?

The argument it gives tenants more agency is weird to me. I don't mind that my employer pays my tax direct to the government - is that treating me like a child?

It used to be when I rented, then for some totally inexplicable reason they changed it. Goodness knows why...

my husband and I are both out of work due to the pandemic and reliant on income from a property we rent until we can get jobs again- if our tenants defaulted and were allowed to stay in the property we wouldn't be able to pay our mortgage - not all landlords are millionaire BTLers.

The problem with paying housing benefit straight to the landlord was it then made the landlord responsible for any repayments if the tenant had falsified all or part of their claim (ie if they claimed to be single and they weren't, or misrepresented their income - or even just underestimated it if self employed). So it was always a risk from the landlords point of view.

@BarbarianMum

The problem with paying housing benefit straight to the landlord was it then made the landlord responsible for any repayments if the tenant had falsified all or part of their claim (ie if they claimed to be single and they weren't, or misrepresented their income - or even just underestimated it if self employed). So it was always a risk from the landlords point of view.

but in those cases, claim the money back from the Tenant who signed up for it

The shitty tenants will always be shitty sadly. Nothing we can do about them except more laws to stop them thinking they can just stop paying. That shouldn't have happened and it's stupid that it was allowed to
And that’s why you can’t blame landlords for being picky. Remember that they don’t know YOU. They don’t know that you are reliable, that you would always prioritise paying your rent, that you are home proud and look after the properties, that you don’t cause trouble with neighbours, or sell drugs.

They have to go by what on paper is the list risky for them. I took on tenants who were not great on paper. I went by the recommendation of the agency who claimed to know them and a reference from previous landlord. Turned out the landlord write a good reference because they were desperate to get rid of them and the tenant was a friend of the agency staff.

That’s kind of the whole point of being a landlord isn’t it?
Well it is used to be, but the government has made it harder, which is why many are deciding to sell, which is what OP is complaining about. I am not selling because once I have paid the mortgage and retire so not paying 40% tax any longer, I then should get some income out of it.

@Bringminimoons

My parents are waiting to evict their current tenants, they have lost so much money the last year due to this so they are very relieved. What are landlords meant to do ?

Same I know someone in a similar stressful situation.

but in those cases, claim the money back from the Tenant who signed up for it
How when they don’t have the money to pay rent in the first place (or used the hb on much more worthy expenses?).

@vivainsomnia

but in those cases, claim the money back from the Tenant who signed up for it How when they don’t have the money to pay rent in the first place (or used the hb on much more worthy expenses?).

Surely this should be up to the agency that awards the housing benefit to check the claim is genuine :O ?

I appreciate from what BarbarianMum said that this wasn't the case but it seems mad that it was the landlord's responsibility!

Surely this should be up to the agency that awards the housing benefit to check the claim is genuine
How? How do they pick up people who are lying. Or are genuine then but stop being so as soon as they move in (with their partner for instance when claiming to be single)?